Re: The Orlando Sun-Sentinel

[opi@unesco.org]

Alex Wang wrote:

> > >From: opi@unesco.org
> > >I have no reason to doubt it is Wallace who mucks around for most trade
> > >possibilities and maybe even proposes the vast majority of them. But I
> > >thought the people who voted on trades were Pitino, Wallace and the
> > >assistant coaches (Jim O'Brian and the like).
> > >
> > >If that's the case (or even if it weren't), Pitino's "his staff" comment
> > >(as opposed to the "rest of my staff" or simply "my staff") sounds like a
> > >conscious effort to distort reality. Everyone including Wallace's purported
> > >"staff" answer to Pitino.
> >
> > Aren't you splitting hairs, Joe?  The scouting corps, headed by Loe Papile,
> > certainly have input into trades and probably report to the General Manager.
> >   It just sounds like people who don't like Rick (and I understand why many
> > wouldn't) want to pick apart every last little thing he says.
>
> Jim's absolutely right here. The other thing is that the media, and
> Pitino's critics on this list, use the fact that Pitino credits his
> staff with personnel moves to bash him when he gets it right. Remember
> when he said how he asked Lester Conner, I believe, if there was
> something wrong with Pierce when he slipped to 10? People were
> blasting him for that ("if it were up to Pitino, he probably would
> have passed on him too"). And I really don't think that Pitino is
> trying to "blame" Wallace here because as far as I can tell he's
> pleased with the personnel moves in general. He's actually greatly
> praised Wallace for what he's done with personnel (on his show, I
> believe) and is probably trying to give him credit for it, and it
> looks like the media is distorting reality, saying that Rick is
> trying to blame Wallace.
>
> Alex

As Jim mentioned earlier, I have  given Pitino credit for being a lot more candid
and forthright on several occasions than he's given credit for. I suppose it's
theoretically possible that Pitino was trying to give credit to "Wallace and HIS
staff" for the aborted trade. Or maybe Pitino was just being a little defensive,
like "hey listen, I'll take some of the responsibility but it wasn't just MY
idea."

Pitino does bring onto himself some of the unfair or over-generalized criticisms.
He occasionally acts like he can talk his way out of anything, and obviously I
think that's what puts people on guard.

But having said this, I realize that Pitino is a public figure (one who doesn't
get much sleep) who talks a lot to the press and is almost inevitably going to put
his foot in his mouth occasionally. Anyone in the same situation probably would.

And while I've never claimed that RP is nothing but a pure BS-artist, sometimes he
is exactly that and, in my mind, this does reflect badly on his leadership.

For example, I regard putting himself third after "Wallace, his staff..." as an
example of bad leadership. It is wrong to deflect criticism for a widely ridiculed
trade. Would the trade not have gone ahead without his okay?

I also regard the several "I thought we'd have Duncan and Van Horn when I made
that playoff promise" to be very disingenous and even stupid. To a lesser extent,
I also felt that his continued blaming of his players for the NBA-worst .473FG%
shows a lack of a "buck stops here" accountability.

With regard to the present Fortson fiasco, I resent that Pitino has publically
blamed Walker's defensive shortcomings playing alongside Fortson (an experiment I
for one have never seen in a live game). The coach has to take some responsibility
for his own player evaluation skills rather than scapegoat an individual player
(in this case, the least popular player in Boston).  It would have been a lot
cooler if Pitino just threw up his hands and said: "Hey I don't know WHAT the heck
I was thinking when I recruited Fortson for my style of headless chicken outbreak
in the first place".

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