Projo: Jim Donaldson on The Evil That Is Pitino

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

 3.31.2000 06:08:16 
JIM DONALDSON
Double drivel is Pitino's violation  

Say what you mean, or you will never mean what you say. 

Are you listening, Rick Pitino? 

Much of what Pitino says these days is meaningless. 

Although, as he will tell anyone who's still listening: 
``I meant it when I said it.'' 

But if he said it yesterday, he doesn't necessarily mean it today. 

He changes his mind the way Madonna changes her persona. 

He's the verbal equivalent of New England weather. If you don't like what he says, 
wait 10 minutes -- it'll change. 

Tuesday night, after his Celtics embarrassed themselves by bickering on the bench in the 
midst of an on-court humiliation in Orlando, 
Pitino ripped his team for ``unprofessional'' behavior. 

He threatened suspensions, at the very least. And, he hinted darkly, there 
might even be a thorough overhaul of the roster before next season. 

``I'm very upset,'' Pitino said after the Celts, leading by two at halftime, were outscored 
in the third quarter, 40-11, on their way to a fifth straight loss in what was supposed 
to be their big playoff push, 122-87. 

``They're going to pay dearly for this,'' Pitino said. ``In all my years of coaching, 
I've never seen as unprofessional an attitude.'' 

And just what was this 'tude his immature, young Celts took? 

``Yelling, finger-pointing, childish behavior,'' Pitino said. ``It's really, really upsetting.'' 

And what did the really, really upset Pitino end up doing about it? 

Nothing. Not a thing. After all he said, nothing was done. He turned out to be all talk, no action. 

And you thought Pete Carroll was a pushover. 

Pitino showed up at practice Wednesday, met with the amassed media, gathered in expectation of 
dramatic developments, and said he'd changed his mind. He would do nothing drastic. He would, in fact, 
do nothing at all. 

Suspensions would have been news. Fines would have been news. Pitino doing a flip-flop isn't news. 

It's become as commonplace as his team flopping on the road. 

``Do I believe suspensions were in order?'' he said. ``Yes, I do. But I think professional 
basketball is a partnership. I listened to (the players). They understand that this is never 
to happen again, that this is never going to be tolerated again. 

``After listening to them, I did not feel suspensions were in order. If that makes me soft, or losing credibility, 
then so be it. That's the way I feel.'' 

It's nice to know that Pitino is listening to the players. 

Because it's obvious the players aren't listening to him, despite his supposed expertise as a master of motivation. 

What they told him, in so many words, is that they're running the show, not him. That they're the ones in charge, 
not him. That it's their team, not his. 

In college, it was Pitino's way, or the highway. 

But this is the NBA, and the players have no-cut contracts. 

He can talk all he wants, but they don't have to listen. 

Back in those halcyon days at Kentucky, if Pitino said ``Jump!'' then players like Antoine Walker would try to reach 
above the rim, above the backboard, all the way to the roof of Rupp Arena. 

Stay after practice and shoot 100 jumpers? Whatever you say, coach. Run extra wind sprints? Just tell me when to stop. 

Now, in the NBA, with their money guaranteed, it's also all but guaranteed that very few players are going to do anything 
they don't want to do, which has made for some hellish days for Pitino. 

``I don't want to make anyone a scapegoat,'' he said, backpedalling away from his threat of suspensions much more 
quickly than his players get back on defense. ``Believe me, they understand where I am coming from.'' 

Believe Pitino? Why? From one day to the next, it's next to impossible to know where he's coming from. 

One day, Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer are going to be Boston's backcourt of the future. Before you know it, 
they're part of the past. 

One day, Danny Fortson is the rebounder the Celts so desperately need. The next, Pitino is trying to unload him 
to Toronto. And, after that deal falls apart, Fortson winds up playing 12 minutes in Orlando without pulling down 
a single rebound. 

One day, Pitino says Walker has the character to be captain of the Celtics, following in the footsteps of Cousy 
and Russell, of Havlicek, and Cowens, and Bird. 

The next, Walker's yapping at teammates, pointing fingers at them, while spending the final 14 minutes of 
the Orlando game on the bench following a 5-point performance resulting from 2-for-11 shooting. 

``If I thought suspensions would help them as people,'' Pitino said, ``and help them as a team, I'd suspend 
all of them right now. But I don't think that's the case.'' 

The Celtics are obviously a team in need of help. 

Pathetic on the road all season, they were trounced in their last two games at Milwaukee and Orlando -- 
the two clubs they had to beat to slip into the playoffs. 

``What I have to do, down the road, if these guys don't get it done,'' Pitino said, ``I have to say 
to myself: `Self, these are the guys you wanted. These are the guys you brought in. This is your team. You're not winning.' 

``Come next year, if this team doesn't reach its potential, doesn't make the playoffs, I'd be honest with you at that 
point, I would definitely make a move myself.'' 

But that's a year away. 

And what Pitino says today could be very different from what he says tomorrow. 

As for honesty, well, if you don't say what you mean, Rick, you'll never mean what you say. 

If, that is, anybody's still listening.