Re: Assessing Blame

[Theresa Lee <tjoyce@mit.edu>]

Gee Whiz Tom I had no idea I would light a fire under you like I did. I
barely want to answer your points because I'm not as hyped up about this as
you are and I don't want to get into a back and forth. For the record:

1. I did not LAMBASTE ownership. I simply pointed to that as ONE factor.
Owner's decisions about who they pay and how much are very public. The
reasoning may be private, but the results are public. This is what I wrote:

> 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.

I actually used the word reasonable. And I believe he is reasonable. In
sports today, you have to spend a lot of unreasonable money to win
championships. That's all. I'm not against Paul Gaston...I simply pointed
out what I see. 

2. The young players. I'm not assessing BLAME, just pointing out facts.
They are young. That's no one's fault, just a fact.

3. The fans expectations. Yes they are high. Again, no BLAME...just a fact.
Do you live in Boston? New England? I do and I hear what the fans want and
they want a lot. Nuff said.

Like I said....wasn't trying to pick a fight or get your ire up. Back to
lurking 'cause I have no interest in getting in flame wars w/ anyone on
this list. Been there, done that. Waste 'o time. This is supposed to be fun.

Theresa

2. At 12:07 PM 3/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>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
>