Re: Blount

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Alexander Wang wrote:

> Yeah, I have to agree that Moiso sounds like he's lazy and he knows it. At
> least he seems to try to put himself in situations where he'll have to
> work. In the best case, Pitino could be a perfect drill sergeant for him.
> It could also be that he really just isn't willing to work and Pitino will
> get incredibly frustrated. When I read how Moiso's take on watching Jordan
> was that it was so cool that he could dominate while putting out only a 20%
> effort, I really wondered.

    As a fan, I think the important thing to do is disassociate our expectation
for Moiso or overreact to the praise he has received (like Leo Papile saying he
looked like a "young Bill Russell" as a 19-year-old). If Moiso were anything like
a young Bill Russell in terms of impact on teammates, the UCLA pickup teams he
played on this summer would have at least made it to the center court on occasion.
This wasn't even the Shaw league, where again Moiso's teams mostly lost and he
didn't make any all star teams. The Celts this year are ever more of a collection
of athletic headless rubber chickens, so coaching and the system is paramount.

    On an optimistic note, the Celtics have had two straight Rookie of the Months
(Pierce and Griffin) to start the last two seasons. Who knows what it takes to get
someone like Moiso off to a positive start, as opposed to an El Busto trajectory?
Sustainable self-confidence and work ethic obviously, plus being put in the right
situations alongside players with complementary skills. Moiso is so gifted
athletically that he never really needed a mean streak...it would have seemed out
of place. But now, he better find one. I don't know at all what Bill Russell is
like when he's in coach-talk mode, but I hope he drops the big smiles and
generalized pep talks and instead offers specific, concrete insights to our pivot
men on how to read the court and how to help make your teammates better. Parish
and Walton could talk to their teammates and direct defensive traffic. The center
is the "captain" of the defense because they can generally see everything develop
in front of them, even if their job is to switch off onto a point guard as part of
Poultrino's headless chicken outbreak. ;-)

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