Re: Assessing Blame

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

----- Original Message -----
From: Alex Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>
To: Thomas Murphy <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2000 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: Assessing Blame


> > 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 still claims that the Alvin Williams trade was rescinded on purely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.
>
> Tom,
>
> I find it strange that you use the Alvin Williams incident as "proof"
> that Pitino's word is virtually worthless. I think it's very possible
> that Williams' knee is worse than the Raptors initially let on, and
> that he doesn't have any sort of long-term future in the league because
> of it. And as a result, the trade SHOULD be rescinded. In fact, Pitino
> said that the Raptors didn't send a crucial MRI, so finally the Celtics
> doctor did it himself and concluded that he should be failed. Could it
> be that the Raptors were trying to pull a fast one themselves and dump
> damaged goods on us? The Raptors themselves forced Portland to compensate
> them for Williams' damaged knee, so all their complaining about Williams
> being fine is a bit hypocritical. And since the trade, the Raptors have
> played him all of 6 minutes. Maybe now that the whole league knows that
> Williams is damaged, they've given up on trying to play him because they
> know that he has not future in the league because of the injury.

What you say may be perfectly true. That was simply one instance where
circumstances have cast doubt on Pitino's veracity. In some sense I took a
"short-cut" - but, please, understand that I wanted to spare you (and
myself) from having to drudge up every example and circumstance that has led
people to entertain doubts about the value of Pitino's word. I think we can
all agree that we don't need to go there!
>
> But I do agree with you in not believing the "Mercer and the budget"
> routine. I think he wanted to trade Mercer primarily for basketball
> reasons, not budget reasons. And you're right that Gaston is not
> cheap - though he clearly doesn't have infinite pockets. I don't think
> you'll ever see us having one of the top 5 payrolls in the league
> while he's the owner, and that does restrict us.

Can't disagree with you on any of these points.
>
> The point about assessing the coach - I think fundamentally the measure
> is, how much does the team win vs. how much "inherent ability" the team
> has. The number of wins is very concrete but the assessment of the
> "inherent ability" is very fuzzy. I won't say too much about specific
> critiques of basketball decisions like timeouts, substitutions, defensive
> schemes because it's a tired debate and pretty useless. But I'll say
> that what I care about is wins over the course of a season, and that
> Pitino has clearly not coached as well as he did in 97-98 in my mind,
> when he had less talent.

I think we're in agreement here too, except that I'd add that for me wins
aren't as important as the sense that the team is actually coming together
and gelling. We may end up with a similar record to '97-'98 but the losses
(and even the wins) then and now have a very different feel to them.
>
> > 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.
>
> I guess you're reading things differently than me. Personally I don't
> associate myself with the guys who go to the Fleetcenter and boo when
> they don't feel they got their $85 worth, or whatever, and I clearly
> read that he was ripping the negative fans who boo the home team.
> People may feel that they are a paying customer, they're not getting
> their money's worth, and they have a right to boo; but I agree with
> Pitino, it sucks. I feel like I'm a fan, and not a customer, and I will
> never boo the Celtics, ever. It doesn't help the team in any way.

I agree with you on the booing bit. I don't agree that Pitino was only
giving it to the negative fans. I don't see the cause of the problem being
the fans or press per se, but rather Pitino's own fears of failure. Do you
REALLY think the fans have cost us any games? The press and fans have
actually been fairly tolerant of the team (until now - yikes!). Pete Carroll
had a totally different experience. I see Pitino's tirade as a lashing out
because he feels trapped and victimized (he didn't get Duncan) and he
doesn't know how to get out of the situation without tarnishing his national
image. The fans and press are only the last in a string of handy scapegoats.
>
> Let's say that you are in a high-stress situation where you are
> performing for an audience - say you are giving an important speech.
> You stumble a bit and the crowd starts booing you. How many of you
> perform better? How about if the people you make eye contact with
> in the crowd smile and nod? Doesn't that help you relax a bit, and
> perform better?
>
> I heard Vitaly getting booed while missing some early free throws
> and I just had this feeling that it would come back to haunt us.
> You just know that when he walks up to the line with the game on
> the line, he's feeling awful, tons of pressure already from the
> game situation, no confidence, and knowing that thousands of
> fans will be ripping him if he doesn't make it. Good job, boobirds.
>
> Alex

Well, I guess that answers my previous question! I agree, the booing is not
productive, I don't condone it. A minority of fans seem to think their
ticket price entitles them to leave their manners at home. However, this is
not unique to Boston, nor it is something extraordinary either. Poor V, the
guy just had a tooth knocked out! But I really don't think the booing or the
fans can explain what is going on with Rick. I think the booing was only the
match that lit the powder-keg.

-TomM