Re: Pitino on ESPN

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Thanks for this post. The pseudo-anonimity of the Internet makes it easier for
people like me to bash someone as hard working and neurotically dedicated as
Pitino. I love the Celtics but I wouldn't put 18 hour days into it, nor would
I have the knack to think up counter-intuitive defensive switches that baffled
and in many ways revolutionized college basketball. Given his commitment to
Boston and the organization, it is a shame that he has a glib, irritating
personality and that the 28 other NBA teams have gotten decisively better each
year at reading his suicidally inappropriate defensive gimmicks like a
freaking children's book.

If you 1) watch games; and 2) credit the seemingly genuine hustle and sheer
but misplaced exuberance of the Celtics players; then you have to admit that
Pitino is making routine defensive stops much harder than it needs to be with
his convoluted and counterintuitive half-court traps. I guarantee you that
opposing teams have headings in their advance scouts playbook literally
entitled "How to easily create a 7-inch height mismatch against the Pitino
headless chicken outbreak" or "How to rotate the ball around to the weakside
into wide-open three pointers those clowns will NEVER catch up to".

I want to make it clear that I don't dislike Pitino for being glib and phony.
I dislike him for making the Celtics the worst defensive team in the NBA and a
laughing stock.

You can laugh at me for saying this, but there are six or seven young Celtics
that would turn their careers around instantly and be major contributors if
they were traded to "better" teams. Given the present coaching regime, that's
why every proposed trade would end up lopsided in the favor of the other team
on paper (and why we should more or less stay put with what we have including
Fortson until the make or break 2001 draft and a new head coach).

Joe


*****

Roy Enrile wrote:

> Yesterday, Pitino was the guest on "Up Close".  Here are some things that
> were covered.
>
> He (like Chris Wallace), kept saying that the draft is 14 deep, which is
> better than he had thought.  He said the top guys are not as good as Van
> Horn, and that even the number 14 player could become rookie of the year
> (Quentin Richardson with his Pierce-Like game?).
>
> He downplayed Walker and Pierce's current basketball skills saying
> "they're both potentially outstanding players".  Pierce is young and
> eventually turn into a very good player (Maybe he means Paul is available
> for trade?), Antoine needs to have the endurance of Pippen or Karl Malone.
>
> He said repeatedly that former players Billy Donovan and MASHBURN are his
> favorites, and he thinks of them like sons.
>
> He expected Gaston to take his offer of stepping down and terminating his
> contract, but instead Gaston is supportive of him.  Pitino would have
> coached in college or went to the C's front office, not another NBA team.
>
> Gaston would like some roster changes (Pitino suggests 2 veterans).
>
> He reacted to that College tournament commercial where coach K and his
> wife are at a drive-in watching a replay of Laetner killing Kentucky.
> Then the camera shows Pitino and some Kentucky fans in the next car
> looking dejected (very original commercial).  He said Laetner should have
> been ejected early for stepping on a Kentucky player's chest.
>
> He was supposedly there to plug his new book, but was classy and just
> answered basketball questions.  The interviewer was the only one to
> mention the book.