Re: Imagine

[D Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

On 26 Feb 2000, Kestutis Kveraga wrote:

> And we can only hope that Pitino adapts to NBA realities and learns to
> maximize his players' potential. I think our players often look a lot
> worse than they are precisely because they're misused, drowning in a
> torrent of instructions emanating from the sidelines, yanked quickly due
> to Pitino's arbitrary criteria for substitution, and generally treated
> as interchangeable parts in a machine.

So true.  So true.  Guys pick up fouls and like a machine Pitino gets
someone off the bench to sub in.  It doesn't matter that he doesn't give
Potapenko more than 30 minutes a game anyway.  It doesn't matter if the
player was playing well and will go cold and get out of rhythm on the
bench.  It doesn't matter if the person in "foul trouble" came off the
bench in the first place and doesn't have a prayer of fouling out when
playing his regular rotation.  Pitino sees that player X has Y fouls and
the sooper-dooper basketball mind of his has calculated that that player
simply must come out, no ifs, ands, or buts.


> is not optimal. (BTW, is it my imagination, or does Walker get stripped
> more often than a groupie  on his drives to the hoop?).

It is not your imagination.  Even worse, Pierce is making a strong push to
out-do 'Toine in this area.


> I also second
> Tommy in questioning why our players (other than Pot) refuse to run !
> fast break unless they have the ball. Worse yet, why don't they get
> back on D, and why do they give wide berth to anyone willing to drive
> the lane and slam it home (e.g., Rice and Kobe numerous times last
> night).

I can't believe this team doesn't fast break more.  The Celtics of the
70s were not a big team (Cowens, Silas, Havlicek up front, *none* over
6'9") but won games by running the other team to death.  They beat
Milwaukee in the Finals against an awesome Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew
Alcindor) who towered over Cowens by at least six inches.  They played to
their strengths.  This team is ignoring all its strengths and blaming all
of its weaknesses on inexperience.  It doesn't matter how experienced they
get -- if they don't start taking advantages of what they *can* do well,
they'll never win consistently.


> Talent aside, I thought we weren't supposed to have these
> problems under Pitino. Didn't he himself say so during his coronation?
> Forget winning, I just want to see some effort consistently. 

Amen.  Watching them play like this under M.L. Carr was to be expected.
Watch them play like this under our uber-coach Pitino is nauseating.

Dan