Re: Bulpett: "Rick will Stick"

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

During the highlights, I thought I saw Fortson on the floor holding what
appeared to be an injured ankle.  Can anyone confirm this?  If so, it may
explain his low minutes for the Nets game.  Joe, please stop with the
Fortson will look to leave stuff due to minutes talk.  The radio duo
discussed this issue the other night.  Maxwell said that Danny knows he is
not in game shape right now and also has not learned all the plays yet.  You
are fueling a non-issue according to Fortson himself.  His minutes will
increase when he can handle it.

Cecil

P.S.  It's also bull about the Lakers taking to the Triangle offense so
quickly.  Their offense has been dump it into Shaq and let him score for 50%
of the time.  The Triangle doesn't work on the premise of having an
offensive-minded C.

----- Original Message -----
From: <opi@unesco.org>
To: <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2000 6:24 AM
Subject: Bulpett: "Rick will Stick"


> 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.
> >From not getting Tim Duncan or Keith Van Horn in his first draft, to
> salary cap burdens, to the budget from above that he speaks about
> frequently, things have not gone according to the hopes and plans he
> arrived with.
>
> ``I think it's become a much more difficult job than I ever
> anticipated,'' Pitino admitted. ``A big part of it is that we couldn't
> build through free agency. We had to do it through the draft. Then we
> drafted two players who are no longer here (Chauncey Billups and  Ron
> Mercer), so the draft really didn't help us as much as we'd like -
> although we do think we got better through the trades we made with
> those people.''
>
> Through a season that has included some hard-to-fathom losses and a
> general feeling the Celtics have underachieved to a degree, Pitino is
> trying to keep things in perspective. He insists he is not thinking
> about any number of other coaching opportunities that could be his.
>
> ``My intention is to coach here three more years and try to get this
> done,'' said Pitino, whose contract calls for four years in the front
> office after that. ``I came to the NBA to be part of a championship.
>
> ``It's a difficult road because of the obstacles, and I still think
> we're one or two pieces away. But people elsewhere are getting older.
> The Lakers certainly aren't old, but other teams are getting older. And
> I  think we've had tremendous growth with the talent we have.''
>
> A quick exit is really not in his nature when you examine history.
> Pitino was actually interested in the Celtics job when Jimmy Rodgers was
> fired in 1990, but he hadn't completed his turnaround task at Kentucky.
>
> ``I've given up so much to come here,'' Pitino said. ``You know, we had
> a great situation at Kentucky. We had the best talent. We had the best
> program in America. We had the program of the '90s. I was maybe coaching
> at the school of the century. We had it really going. So to give that
> up, I've got to make it worthwhile with the Celtics.''
>