RE: on balance

["Sampath, Venkatesh" <Venkatesh.Sampath@microcell.ca>]

Kudos to this post! I agree that M.L. has been maligned all through his two-year stint as coach (!) of the Celtics. There was no doubt that his mandate was to give us a record so poor that the signing of Duncan would be a mere formality. Unfortunately, the balls didn't fall and there were many who held M.L. personally responsible for "losing" Duncan.
Yet he engineered the trades that brought us Walker and Mercer (or should I say Alvin Williams?) - and Walker, like it or not, is still the best player on this team. I am increasingly disenchanted with Pitino's trades, signings and subsequent excuses - he's running out of time. For the salary that he's being paid, he better deliver the goods. 

Coming back to the Utah game, is there any possibility that Anderson and Walker could develop into a Stockton-Malone type combination? Will the pick-and-roll ever be a part of the Pitino era? I think it's high time the coach sat back and allowed his boys to play - fouls or no fouls, poor game or not. How do you expect Fortson to improve (or anyone else for that matter) without giving them a chance to play - just by *listening* to his tactics? I think that for the remainder of the season (which looks like it will terminate in April, the win over Utah notwithstanding), Pitino should be allowing Walker, Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Potapenko, Fortson and even Battie as much playing time as they need to finally feel comfortable (under his tutelage) on the floor. 

Of course, pigs might fly. 

venkat  

-----Original Message-----
From: Kestas [mailto:Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU]
Sent: 16 February 2000 13:36
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: on balance


At 06:30 AM 2/16/00 PST, you wrote:
>I just don't understand all this defending of M.L. Carr 
>recently.  Did he tank the season because he was told to?  Perhaps.  

Perhaps? I thought it was public knowledge. Were you following the Celtics
in those days? If M.L. had actually coached the team to its 15-67 record
without orders from Thanksdad, he would've been fired, not given a $1M
bonus and a cushy job for all the grief he'd taken and still keeps taking. 

>But if 
>you're going to tank things, why tank it for five years by signing Pervis, 
>Minor, Barros and Brown to long term contracts?  Forget cap space, just 
>having to give those 4 players roster spots is a handicap.  

You can say so because of hindsight. At the time, these signings were
viewed in a different light. Don't forget that, at the time of the signing,
Barros was an All-Star, having averaged 20ppg, 49%FG, 7.5 apg, and nearly
2spg the year before. Pervis was a former #1 pick and an injury year
removed  from 3 strong seasons  with the Bullets (around 16ppg, 9rpg, 2bpg
and 50%FG). Brown was a promising young veteran averaging around 15ppg,
4rpg, 4apg, and 2spg. Minor was a solid backup SG shooting 50% and
averaging around 10ppg. 

This doesn't change the fact that these turned out to be bad signings, but
I wonder if Pitino would've done things differently had he been in M.L.'s
shoes. Judging from his record here, I doubt he would've been more
clairvoyant or fiscally conservative. M.L. also made the trade that
essentially got us Antoine and Mercer for Montross and Samaki Walker, but
nobody ever gives him credit for that. It just annoys me that people
wantonly bash a loyal Celtic without considering the circumstances in which
he was operating, yet it is often these same people that rise in defense of
their beloved celebrity coach, using all kinds of situational excuses to
explain away his poor performance. Whatever, if you want to believe that
Pitino is infinitely wise and good, and M.L. incredibly inept and evil,
this won't change your mind.