RE: Don't stop with Pitino

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

I really am in a bad mood after tonight's win, but I think all this stuff
about Pitino and the team misses the point.  They're really stupid.  We're
used to smart teams in Boston, and these guys are stupid.  I don't get
them at all, and I'm not going to pay attention to them any more until they
start showing they have brains.  They are just dumb.  I just don't get it.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Berry, Mark  S [SMTP:berrym@BATTELLE.ORG]
> Sent:	Tuesday, November 21, 2000 11:15 AM
> To:	'damekmo@teleport.com'; 'celtics@igtc.com'
> Subject:	Re: Don't stop with Pitino
> 
> Walker and Pierce are working hard to score their points, but they've been
> a
> disaster defensively and in the team concept. Pierce especially. And let's
> see, we've played 10 games, and Pierce has stunk in Cleveland, in Toronto,
> in Washington and now against Philly (and for all but two minutes in
> Philly). He's shown up a little more than half the time. And even when
> he's
> scoring big, it's sometimes at the expense of the team. He's "unleashing
> the
> dragon" by thinking shoot-first every time he touches the ball. I've
> encouraged him to be more aggressive, but there are limits.
> 
> Am I being too hard on Walker? Maybe. He's improved his outside shot. He
> still makes terrible decisions and his refusal to commit to either
> slimming
> down to play SF or muscling up to play PF has handcuffed Pitino since he
> got
> here.
> 
> Look, I'm willing to admit it's time for Pitino to go... and that's a big
> change for me. I don't think a guy who has won as much as he has gets
> stupid
> overnight. But he's made some terrible personnel decisions and he's
> responsible for the team on the floor.
> 
> But let's say you're right and the team has decided Pitino's system
> doesn't
> work... is that OK with you? When did they decide? When they were in the
> playoff race during Pitino's first year? During the playoff race last
> year?
> Did they decide before or after that 10-game losing streak? This year? 10
> games in? And that's OK in your book? These guys are paid incredibly well
> to
> come to work, work hard, and listen to the coach. That's it. It's not
> hard.
> If they can't do that, find someplace else for them.
> 
> Mark