espn article

["Starke R. Farrell, LMSW" <sfarrell@tsixroads.com>]

Someone requested this:

Well, Mr. Ricky Pitino finally came clean.

He told the Boston media on Thursday what was
painfully obvious to everyone watching his Celtics
stumble the last couple of years: this rebuilding stuff isn't
so easy when the fix isn't in.

Had he known that he wasn't going to have Tim Duncan
or Keith Van Horn to build around, he told the Boston
press, he probably wouldn't have left the University of
Kentucky coming off of a national championship. Had he
known the ping pong balls that delivered TD from Wake
Forest were going to wind up in Gregg Popovich's
pocket, he probably wouldn't have put his substantial rep
on the line for the substantial payday from Celtics boss
Paul Gaston.

This is a little different from what he said a couple of
months ago, when Adrian Griffin was the talk of the league and his Cs
were in the
playoff hunt.

"The first year," Mr. Ricky recalled, "all we tried to do was try to
work hard, let the
chips fall where they may ... I knew about 60 percent of the unit would
not be
intact. And then once we got below the salary cap, we made some moves,
and we
try to treat it, oh, almost like the way you treat your computer. You
are always
trying to upgrade it, and add to it, and that's the way we were looking
at our team.
Can we add to it? Can we add another piece to the puzzle, and Vitaly
(Potapenko),
getting a legitimate center helped."

But since then, Vitaly (Potapenko) has not exactly, uh, been lighting it
up. Not like
Duncan would have, anyway. Antoine Walker continues his up-and-down
play, and
even though Kenny Anderson's had a terrific season, Boston's progress
has been
fleeting. Which was the prologue for Mr. Ricky's blowup to the media
Wednesday
night after Vince Carter's improbable fadeaway three at the buzzer beat
the Celtics
at the Fleet Center.

"Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans," he said. "Kevin
McHale is not
walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that
door. What
we are is young, exciting, hardworking and going to improve. People
don't realize
that. And as soon as they realize that those three guys are not coming
through that
door, the better this town will be for all of us. There are young guys
in that room
playing their ass off. I wish we had 90 million under the salary cap. I
wish we could
buy the world. We can't. The only thing we can do is work hard, and all
this
negativity that's in this town sucks."

It would be a little easier to believe that Mr. Ricky's solidly behind
his squad, has
inestimable patience and will defend the young'ns at every end, if he
hadn't taken
Chauncey Billups with the third pick overall in June 1997, and traded
him to Toronto
in Feb. 1998; if he hadn't drafted Ron Mercer with the sixth pick
overall in June
1997, and traded him to Denver in Aug. 1999; if he hadn't given Travis
Knight $22
million in July 1997 and traded to him to the Lakers in Jan. 1999; if he
hadn't traded
Eric Williams to Denver in Aug. 1997 and acquired Eric Williams in Aug.
1999; if
he hadn't acquired Danny Fortson in Aug. 1999 and traded him in Feb.
2000. Only
to get him back in Feb. 2000.

No, the truth is that with Duncan, Mr. Ricky's in the Eastern Finals
last year.
Without him...

"Five minutes after that (Duncan) lottery," Popovich recalled last year,
"Rick Pitino
called and said 'what do you want?'"

As he should have. The point isn't to pile on now that the Celtics have
swooned, but
to point out that while some of pro coaching is about systems and rules
and
motivation, most of pro coaching is about players. Period.

Phil Jackson, coming off six titles with MJ and
Pip, didn't take the Nets' head job. They offered
more money than the Lakers. They offered total
control. But Mr. and Mrs. Jackson didn't raise a
stupid Pentacostal in North Dakota. Jackson
waited until the plum position opened up. Has his
presence helped the performance of Shaq and
Kobe? Sure. Has Shaq and Kobe's presence
helped the performance of Phil? Same answer.

Most coaches don't have a choice. They take the job that's available.
But some, like
Jackson, like Mr. Ricky, like Riles, have the pick of the litter. (You
surely noticed
that once Riles took the Heat job, it took him about five seconds to
bring Mr.
Alejandro Mourning to South Beach.) They can puff up their résumés going
from
elite team to elite team, never having to sink into the morass of a
Clippers.

And that makes guys like, say, Rudy Tomjanovich all the more admirable.
After two
titles in the mid-'90s, he could have wormed his way out of Houston for
greener
pastures once it became obvious the Rockets were on the downhill slope.
But
Tomjanovich never complains about the hand he's dealt. He didn't when
the union
pulled the top-shelf NBA players off the Olympic team just before the
world
championships in 1998, leaving him with the David Woods of the
basketball world.
He just coached the hell out of them.

And he's doing it again this season. Yes, he has the quite talented
Steve Francis, but
Francis is still a rookie, given to rookie slumps and rookie petulance.
Tomjanovich is
retooling the Rockets on the run, with Charles Barkley on the sidelines,
Scottie
Pippen frontrunning in Portland and Hakeem Olajuwon a copy of a copy of
a copy
of his former self. The Rockets won't make the playoffs this season, but
they're
going to soon.

No question, Mr. Ricky is on the short, short list of the best coaches
in the business.
The Celtics are better off now than they were three years ago. He's not
going
anywhere, not with $29 million still on the till. And if the Celtics
ever add a killer
center, they'll be in tall cotton again. (It has to be through the
draft, because
Boston's next real chance to be under the cap is in the 2002-03 season.)
But
coaching miracles are in short supply in the pro game, no matter how
polished the
sales pitch or how handsome a résumé the pitcher possesses.

Around The League
  No Shock This Dep't: The league called the
Pistons last week and informed them that,
whadya know, the Jazz did commit a 24-second
violation in the waning seconds of Detroit's
one-point loss in Salt Lake City Feb. 19. The
Pistons should have gotten the ball back with a
second-plus on the clock and should have had a
chance for a game-winning shot.

Of course, none of that matters now. My
ESPN colleague Fred Carter asks a simple
question: If players are publicly fined and
suspended when they question the integrity of
officials, why aren't officials publicly fined and
suspended when they blow calls that cost
teams games? Good question...

  Popovich remains reluctant to activate Sean
Elliott. Popovich hasn't liked the way Elliott has
responded to back-to-back practices. Apparently, Elliott has stopped
asking
Popovich for a date certain for his return. For the record, Popovich
says "I'm
committed to not making him a show."

  The Cavaliers' drop has been so precipitous that Brevin Knight
wouldn't have
been minded being traded to the Clippers for Maurice Taylor. Cavs have
settled on
rookie Andre Miller to run the show, as everyone suspected they would
when they
took him with the eighth pick last summer.

  The Sonics should get props for sticking with teenager Rashard Lewis,
who's
making everyone forget Detlef Schrempf in a hurry. And Lewis should get
credit
for sticking with himself.

  The Kings' slide has left them eighth in the Western Conference, a
place
Sacramento shouldn't want to be. But while holding off Denver and Dallas
shouldn't
be a problem, the Kings will have a big problem getting past Minnesota
or Seattle
into the (relatively) safe sixth spot.

Reason? Sacramento's schedule down the stretch is brutal. The Kings
still have two
games left at San Antonio; two games left at Portland; three games left
with the
Lakers (two away); home-and-homes with Phoenix and Seattle and single
games
against Charlotte, Toronto, Minnesota, Detroit, the Knicks, Sixers and
Utah. Saving
grace: the Clip Joint three times, even though two are in LaLa.

  The Vancouver housecleaning looks like it'll start as soon as new
owner Michael
Heisley is approved. The local papers have been filled with details of
how
GM-in-waiting Dick Versace has already begun sending scouts to college
games --
sometimes to the same games that current front office folks are
scouting. Are
firings imminent? Said one Grizzled Grizzle: "That's the way we see it.
We certainly
feel like it's pretty much been set that way." Heisley could calm
everyone's fears,
but he has yet to say anything, either privately or publicly, about his
plans.