Assessing Blame

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

On Thu, 02 Mar 2000 13:50:12 -0500
Theresa Lee <tjoyce@mit.edu> wrote
>
> How do we know that Pitino is a lousy coach? His public performances? Most
> coaching goes on out of the eye of the public. Our only public evaluation
> comes from watching him at games making decisions and the performance of
> the players. Maybe he's just as frustrated as we are. He obviously has an
> owner who is not willing to spend whatever it takes to win. He wants to
> stay within a budget. The last time I checked, only those professional
> teams that spend money win especially in baseball and basketball with
large
> guaranteed contracts. Football is different because of non-guaranteed
> contracts, but it is still the team that spends the most and gets the most
> for their money that wins.
>
> I think the Celtics suffer from a combination of the following:
>
> 1. An owner who is reasonable and will not break the bank to win. His Dad
> didn't have to go broke to win and he probably feels he shouldn't have to
> either. If you recall during the lockout, Gaston stood alone as an owner
on
> many issues..he has his own view of the world.

Theresa, I know you're upset just like the rest of us, but your argument is
a bit inconsistent. You claim that most coaching goes on out of the public
eye, but then you turn around and lambaste the owner and his spending
decisions. Aren't ownership decisions even more private and "out of the
public eye" than coaching decisions?

I know it's not popular to stand up for Gaston (after all he's responsible
for both ML and Pitino) but we should at least be fair in our assessment of
him. There is at least one public measure of ownership commitment that we
can rely upon: how many players have actually left the Cs via free agency
since Pitino was signed on? Unlike the Clippers (with whom Rick seems to
like to compare the Cs), the only FAs that have left have been those that
Pitino himself renounced to sign Travis Knight.

Sure, Pitino claims he had to move Mercer because of the budget, but he
still claims that the Alvin Williams trade was rescinded on purely medical
reasons - in other words, Pitino's word is virtually worthless. Don't
forget, in trading Mercer the Cs (and Gaston) assumed responsibility for
Eric Williams' contract - hardly a move that fits with the image of a
miserly tightwad. In many other instances Gaston has proved willing (all too
willing, perhaps) to open the checkbook at Rick's behest. Let's list them:
Travis Knight, Chris Mills, the trade for Anderson (and his contract),
Antoine, McCarty, Popeye, Vitaly, the trade for Eric Williams (and his
contract), Tony Battie. Don't forget Rick's whopper of a contract also. How
many millions do those contracts total up to? $100 million? The contracts
for Twon and Rick alone are worth more than that - $200 million? $300
million?

Gaston has not been exactly frugal. The only time we hear anything to the
contrary is when Rick seeks to spin either his role in forcing a trade or
seeks to deflect the heat that comes with three years of stagnation and
rudderless leadership.

In contrast, the public measures available to assess coaching are far more
available than those available for laying the blame entirely on Gaston's
"miserly" ownership. We have the team's on court performance, various
elements of which have come under fire from different people at different
times: the development of individual players, the motivation/preparedness of
the players, the effectiveness of offensive and defensive schemes, the
substitution patterns, the allocation of minutes. These measures are public
and they all reflect upon the effectiveness of the coach.

While we're on the subject of "coaching: behind the scenes" (closed
practices) I get a laugh every time the "argument from silence" is exhumed
in order to excuse Rick: i.e., he must not be trying "X" or playing "Y"
because it must not have worked out during practice. These kinds of
statements represent the purest sort of speculation, the kind that are not
tolerated if made with critical intent, yet somehow they pass muster when
made in defense of the coach/president and his quirky decisions. It's
instances like those that remind me of Stanley Milgram's experiments
demonstrating human deference to authority figures. Pitino has had a
relatively easy ride in Boston up to now. He's coached in NYC - what was he
expecting, a rose garden?
>
> 2. Young players. Beat the horse, beat the horse....but it's true. What
> would Antoine's role be on say, the Indiana Pacers? He would be a
> workhorse, sometimes go-to guy who scores 20 points a night, but wouldn't
> have to  make his team win.

One simple question: who hired the current roster?
>
> 3. High expectations of the fans, the city, the state, New England, the
> coach, everyone.

Are the expectations really THAT high? I know that after three years and
millions of dollars that I would be satisfied with a team that simply shows
a little progress throughout the length of a season. I don't care if they
make the playoffs this year. What I want is just a little evidence that the
team is on its way to making the playoffs (and hopefully contending)
sometime this decade. But there is none.

It's not the playoff promise that gets me, its the lack of ANY discernable
progress - there is no plan, there is no cohesion. The coach seems to have
completely run out of ideas after A) draft Duncan and B) the college press.
All I want is some evidence that there is reason to hope for the future -
that's all.
>
> 4. Bad luck. No Duncan. Dead Reggie and Bias. No breaks on trades,
> one-sided deals. The only luck they've had is luring Pitino out of
> Kentucky. WHAT IF the Celtics had a new coach in each of the last three
> years? Entirely possible and worse than what's going on right now.

Reggie and Bias (like the big three) are long gone. So is Duncan. It is
Pitino, not the fans, who is living in the past. If you want to see who on
this team has already quit read Pitino's quote saying he would not have
taken this job if he knew Duncan wasn't coming his way:

``But if you're sitting on top of a national championship at Kentucky and
someone tells you you're not going to get Duncan --- and you have a
championship-caliber team coming back --- I think you'd be pretty astute and
say, well, maybe you'd be a little crazy and maybe you should get examined
at Mass. General if you're going to walk into that situation. I think that's
stating the obvious.''
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/sport/cs03032000.htm

Don't you see the mind-set at work here? Through all of this Pitino only
sees himself as the victim! What self-pitying drivel!!
>
> Ok, I admit it. I am upset about this season. Last night was a dagger in
> the heart. But I don't think that blowing up the team is the answer.
Moves,
> yes. Blowing it up? What would that accomplish, really? Much like the Red
> Sox have a long-term plan that is just now coming into fruition (hey,
> everyone HATED Dan Duquette in this town two years ago), the Celtics must
> be patient. Without an owner willing to go crazy with money and with
> restrictions on salary-cap and player movement, you basically have to play
> the hand that's dealt. Pick up a few more cards to improve your hand, but
> folding and starting over is not the answer.

Of all the losses, I wouldn't have pegged Toronto as that terrible - after
all, we lost on a great shot at the buzzer. I thought the Dallas loss was
far worse. Regardless, we're all frustrated - but that doesn't mean we
should all start emulating the coach by simply sticking our head in the
sand, pretending things are not as they are, crying for "mommy" (read:
Duncan).
>
> If it's too ugly to watch, then don't, but don't join the bandwagon of the
> "fellowship of the miserable." Remember, we are the true fans. If I see
you
> jumping off and then rejoining the wagon when the ride is less bumpy, I
> just might have to kick your arses off.

Who is more truly a member of the "fellowship of the miserable": the
fan/heckler at the end of the game or the coach who takes his frustrations
out on an entire town in consequence. Make no mistake about it, if Celtic
fans were dogs Pitino would have gladly kicked each and every one.
>
> Irish, feisty and bleeding green.

Likewise - TomM
>
> Theresa