McDonough Saturday...

[Boston Sports Fan <bostonsptsfan@yahoo.com>]

Interesting story from the '81 finals...I think this
was missed in this list this weekend...Also a story
about KC Jones and his first coaching stint, with the
Bullets. 



Coaching legend Bill Fitch feels the NBA's attempt to
place a microphone on coaches during games and to open
the dressing room to television cameras is a fool's
errand. ''Coaches wearing mikes has been optional for
20 years, so to demand it now and fine coaches for not
doing it is an insult. Coaches and players don't like
change. The locker room is the sanctuary for the
players. This is the one place they can go and have
their own time. Coaches don't want what they said
taped. I can remember our [Celtics] playoff series
[NBA Final] with Houston in 1981. They asked me to be
miked. I said no. [Houston coach] Del Harris said OK.
Even back in those days, I was into taping games [off
television], so I had someone tape the game for me.
The next day I was watching the tape, and I heard Del
telling Robert Reid to go into the corner as a
''decoy'' on this particular play. In that game, Mike
Dunleavy killed us scoring a bunch of points off the
play they were talking about. From hearing what Del
said [in the privacy of a team huddle], I told our
guys the rest of the series not to worry about Reid on
that play. Don't even cover him. They never hurt us
again with that play, and we shut Dunleavy down after
that. I'd like to see them put a mike on [NBA
commisioner] David Stern when he shows up two hours
late from dinner some night and see what his wife has
to say about it.'' Chris Ford, former Celtics coach,
agrees with Fitch. ''Wearing a mike inhibits you as a
coach, or having someone stick a mike into the huddle
does the same thing. There are things coaches do in
the heat of battle, they want to stay private between
them and the players. And I don't see what mikes on
the bench or cameras in the locker room add to a
game.'' Fitch has retired and Ford was fired by the
Los Angeles Clippers this year. Snooping television
cameras and mikes led to K.C. Jones's being fired as
the coach of the Washington Bullets in 1976.
Washington was involved in the final game of a playoff
series on national television. Close game, handful of
seconds left, Washington with the ball for one last
shot. As the camera is stuck into the Washington
bench, assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff asks Jones
if he wants him to ''draw up the play.'' Jones says
OK. The camera focuses on Bickerstaff telling the
players what to do. Jones just says a couple of words
before the team heads back on the floor. The play
fails. The next day, some in the Washington media
called for Jones's head, saying he didn't know how to
coach, and Jones got fired. Red Auerbach always
maintained that the fallout from that bench episode
was the culprit. In reality, Jones told Bickerstaff
what play to draw up, which is done all the time in
the NBA, and it was a play the team had been using all
year. But television gave the impression that he
didn't want to make the call under the pressure of a
big game and wasn't really coaching in that situation.

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