Pitino criticisms

[Elgin W Booth <ewbooth@cisunix.unh.edu>]

Pitino does not deserve all the blame. ML Carr really screwed up this team
royally and Pitino has done an admirable job with what he was dealt. I
understand some of the criticisms, and some are deserving. Here are some
of mine:

1) Plays the bench way too much (McCarty, Cheaney, Barros). This kills
momentum, plus these guys barely belong in the NBA. Our guys are in good
shape, you gotta give them big minutes. In the Bird days, the bench barely
played.

2) He's too technical. Chauncey Billups criticized him for this, I can
imagine being coached by Pitino and feeling like I was in calculus
class!! He is very specific and very technical in regards to defensive
schemes and other parts of the game. To me, you gotta simplify the game
for these guys. They seem so intent on all the orders Pitino is barking
out to them, that it's hard to get comfortable in the game. You need to
get into a flow, basketball isn't a difficult sport, at least it shouldn't
be. Pitino's gotta realize that he's not a college professor teaching the
intracacies of differential equations. If you watch the "Rick Pitino
Show" you can realize how highly technical his coaching is jsut be when he
gives his demonstrations. I think at times it hurts more than it helps,
it causes too much confusion.

3) He signs bad players to multi-year contracts. Luckily, we were able to
get rid of Popeye, but Walter? What was he thinking?? Why did he trade
Eric Williams in the first place? 

4) He doesn't play Forton. This guy is going to be one of the top
rebounders for years to come, but he's languishing on the bench. So he
picks up two fouls, leave him in!! Let him play for awhile. You need to
get into the flow of the game to show your true skills. Michael Jordan
couldn't do too much if he only played 3 or 4 minutes at a time. Pitino is
really screwing with Fortson, he is going to come back to haunt us in
coming years when he's on another team.

I enjoy Pitino's enthuisiasm and yearning to make this team a winner, but
I think he just has to settle his troops down, play his starters more
minutes, and let this team develop some good chemistry. We got some guys
who can play (Kenny, Paul, Antoine, Fortson, V, Adrian) we just gotta play
them together more. They are in good shape, they can handle it.

This team should be a 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs this year if we can turn
our act around. In the offseason, we need to find some shooting!! Shooting
is an asset that can cure a lot of woes. Howard Eisley would be great for
this team. I think we need to find a good shooting backup point guard and
also a backup off guard or small forward who can shoot as well. This team
is really one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA. Face facts. We need
a veteran who knows the game and can settle the troops down ( a la
Griffin). 

That's my assessment of our situation.