Re: Interesting notes from Mitch Lawrence

I agree Jim that Pitino has to be held responsible. The buck stops with him. I guess my point was that another coach isn't going to wave a magic wand and make this a winning team. Pitino has to go, but the players need to change as well. Do you think Pierce, Antoine and Kenny compare favorably to Jones, Grant and Hardaway? I don't. The three guys from Miami are two-way players. They can beat you offensively and defensively. Not our guys. I think we both agree that championship level teams need a superstar--be it Mourning, Shaq, Duncan, Garnett or whoever. We don't have one, and we're not nearly as close to one as some think.

Let's put it this way, I think our guys are not that far off of those three. Yes, Eddie Jones is a very good defensive player, who Pierce would do well to emulate, but the real difference in that team is Mourning. Not the secondary players. And not the coach, either. We obviously agree here. So, what do you do? The Celtics need a superstar! What a revelation. They're not going to draft high enough to get one "off the rack", and I doubt they have the goods to trade for one, either. Since they have a lot of late lottery picks coming up, and a decent core of talent that is *slowly* maturing together, they will probably look to draft teenagers and projects like Moiso. If there's an opportunity to trade for someone like Garnett or Mourning, then, of course, you do it. But to suggest that opportunities like that are just there for the taking is silly. In the meantime, there will be times like this year that it makes sense to re-evaluate the management of the team. Pitino was not brought here to take six years to get to the playoffs. I've got a tremendous amount of sympathy for the man. I think he inherrited an incredible mess of a roster. The draft picks he had to rebuild with were in a two player deep draft (and I don't mean Van Horn. The only way it could have worked out worse is if the Celt's got the second pick, taken Van Horn and given him the max). He's worked harder than anyone I could imagine. He definitely understands what it's like to be in charge of an organization with a tradition of excellence.

Look, Pitino was given another chance this year, and I'm willing to wait and see what he does with it. I want him to do it with this team, basically, though. If that doesn't work, bring in someone, preferably a Celtic, and give them the draft picks. It's not like Pitino doesn't know that he needs a real superstar stud player. It's just not as easy as saying "I'd like Garnett, Duncan or Stephon Marbury" and he just appears under the Christmas tree, yet we keep asking for it.