Re: Most Improved Celt:Pitino

[jmc@ptc.com]

Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com> said:
> Whodathunkit. Pitino changes strategy for a few games and we start winning.
> No college pressing. The team is definitely playing much better defense.
> Pitino said he left the greatest job in Basketball, that's because he never
> coached the Celts before.
 
 
My feeling is that if this is the reason for the improvement (some 
people also point to a spirited team meeting last week) then it's 
probably mostly or all due to the simplification of the defensive 
strategy that's helping, rather than it not being possible for the 
press to work.  I believe the press can work very well if executed 
correctly.  The problem is you've got a very young team implementing 
it against much more experienced teams, and the experienced teams 
pick it apart.  In college, all the teams have the same experience, 
which is not much, so the press befuddles.  In the NBA, there can be 
huge gaps in experience, so a poorly executed press will leave gaps 
that an experienced passing team will calmly find and exploit. 

The problem is, the press takes so much time to learn that the Celtics 
haven't put their full attention on learning man-to-man/halfcourt
defense.  They've decided to put full attention on halfcourt defense
until they've got it working well.  Simplifying is the key with a young
team.  Keep it simple.  Use the press only in situations where other
teams would use it, and bring it back as a weapon only after they've
mastered the half court, which means at least a year from now, maybe
more.

Jon Mc