Bulpett: "Rick will Stick"

[opi@unesco.org]

Maybe it's a bit of "Spintino", but RP informs Bulpett in today's Herald
column that he turned down the Lakers job to coach the Celtics. That's
news to me but I'll take his word for it.

The Celts have had four significant injuries (Pierce, Griffin, Fortson
and Potapenko have missed 39 games combined) and two other nagging ones
(Kenny's hamstring and Walker's hip+ankle). Other teams have lost All
Star and even Hall of Fame talent and done okay, but these injuries
(Cheaney, Barros and McCarty have also missed at least four games due to
injury) consitute one major difference between this season and Pitino's
first season (with only Kenny out).

I stubbornly don't believe the Celts are just a .500 team at full
strength or capable of being this inconsistent even with all their stars
on the floor. My personal (unfounded) suspicion is that other teams have
secretly gotten the hang of the Pitino system, which explains why the
conditioning and team preparation advantages we had in our early wins
(14 extra exhibition games I believe for our first stringers) has
disappeared (after our 4-2 start) as the season progresses and even poor
teams have been able to look forward to career shooting nights against
us.

On the other hand, the Celtics have the skill players to consistently
get 25+ assists per night like they did earlier in the season and most
recently versus the Nets. If they do this and also rebound (they
obviously have the talent to dominate the boards), they will win very
consistently even if they stay at or near last place in FG% allowed.

The confounding thing about Pitino's team is the lack of any noticeable
development or consistency. It took Phil Jackson just a few months of
coaching some of the league's most certified retards to get the La La
Flakers team to master a supposedly complex "triangle" system and commit
to a Bull's style defense.

What's taking Pitino so long to "teach" his system? The hidden disaster
of this season is that the "Pitino system" as he fully envisioned it has
been a failure in today's NBA (league-worst .470FG% allowed). The Celts
are in full "Plan B" mode right now, playing more conventionally as
their base defense. Eventually, the traps and especially full court
press will have a more exciting impact if they are used situationally.
If Pitino eventually dominates as an NBA coach, it will be by largely
abandoning the system he used in college to harass opposing non-NBA
talent into submission. Pitino will have to be more flexible, since he
has all the attributes of a good coach.

I think Pitino will be with us another year at least. I really do hope
he succeeds not only the rest of this season but that his players will
"finally" learn how to properly execute the system in his fourth season
in Boston (although some of them have been with Pitino for longer than
that).

If not I think Larry Bird will be an option to come out of retirement
after a year's hiatus. He'll be joining a young but coachable team with
very likeable young guys who are both mean on the court and pretty
talented. If they stay together and develop and refine some basics under
an experienced NBA coach, the Celts will become a big factor in this
decade I think.

Joe

BTW, Pitino needs to talk with Fortson about his 7 minute night. There
may be good reasons why Overton got three times as many minutes or
Cheaney needed to be out there 42 minutes at forward contributing 4
points. Pitinochio needs to simply explain all this to Fortson or that
kid will look for a more realistic playing opportunity elsewhere at
season's end. And if his game starts to regress a little from this stage
on, I will also blame Pitino. You have to give Fortson a light at the
end of the tunnel, or he will lose composure and not continue the
(remarkably) good faith effort he has seemingly made to aggressively
rebound and take solid, high percentage shots. When you start losing
playing time off of your 12 per game average (and are only used against
7-0 backup centers), this kind of situation can't help but start to play
with your head (especially if you are an unrestricted free agent with no
financial security in the event of injury).

-----

Rick says he'll stick: Pitino in for the long haul
by Steve Bulpett
Monday, January 17, 2000

WASHINGTON - The Celtics aren't doing as well as they'd like, and such
situations always bring about talk of change. But while Rick Pitino may
be looking to make a move or two to strengthen the club, he is not
looking toward the door.

``The likelihood of me going from the Boston Celtics to a lesser
situation is not really there,'' said Pitino, whose troops take on the
Wizards here this afternoon. ``One thing I've always tried to do is move
up the ladder. I've already been the coach of the Knicks. I've already
been the coach of Kentucky, and I did the Big East (Providence) early
on.

``So if I go somewhere else it would probably have to be a different
opportunity altogether. When I'm done coaching the Celtics, it's
probably a totally different field for me.''

As for the hoop field, Pitino cautions that one should not underestimate
the importance of the franchise he now coaches or the city in which he
lives.

``I don't think it's any secret that I turned down the Laker job,'' he
said. ``Probably all together I turned down about nine NBA coaching
opportunities, because it was a matter of where I wanted to live and
what team I wanted to coach. So Boston played a very important role in
it.

``But I also realize that after this year I've got three more years left
of coaching on my contract here, and that could be it for me. I've
always said that this probably will be my last contract. I've got three
more years after this, and I want to enjoy those three years. And that
could be the end of the line.''

The road to that end has contained more bends than Pitino anticipated.