Re: Cofman: Moiso Having Difficulty

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

Jim Meninno wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: Berry, Mark S
> > Look, Moiso was a notorious pessimist during his college career--go back
> >and  read some of the features. He was famous for his self-critical nature.
> >Give the guy a chance.
>
> I really like what I'm hearing from Moiso, too.  He sounds very intelligent,
> articulate and, the surprising part, ambitious.  All we heard pre-draft was
> that he was a lazy player who tended to drift and not assert himself.  Since
> the draft, every quote I've read from him indicates that he is a young man
> who understands the amount of hard work it will take in order to make an
> impact in the NBA, and that that is exactly what he intends to do.  I know a
> lot of guys say things like that, but for some reason I believe him more
> than your average American early entry college drop-out.
>
> Jim

Hi Jim:

I do like the latest Moiso article more than the previous one, but all the same
I don't think basketball is a sport that rewards inner reflection and the sort
of intelligence that is articulated in that way. Of course it is nice that he is
thoughtful and intelligent in interviews, but Moiso needs to get a big chip on
his shoulder and start playing with a will to accumulate the stats that his
talent permits him to aim for, first by taking on Battie, Potapenko and Blount
in practice and slowly separating himself from them talent-wise if that is
possible.

You have players with half the hops or height advantage of a Moiso who bring a
"I'm not leaving this damn basketball court without 10 rebounds" attitude. They
bring a level of focus to the game that you can clearly see as a fan. None of
that inconsistent Tony Battie crap.

I've been as big a Moiso skeptic as Way or anyone (which is a good sign since
I'm often wrong). I have a special resentment toward any guy who doesn't play up
to their easy-millionaire natural talent level, and Moiso is a guy who (so far)
has NEVER been nearly as productive on the court as his talent seems to allow
(except in one Arizona game which I didn't see).

As part of the post-draft spin-cycle, Leo Papile compared watching him to
"seeing a young Bill Russell". Meanwhile Moiso produced just 1.67 blocks last
year, which means that he was either very inconsistent or not very good at it by
college standards. He barely hit half his shots at 50.1% (which is kind of low
for a big college player who doesn't score or shoot much) and he barely hit 60%
of his freethrows (where are you, Andy Enfield?). He played on a UCLA team
stocked with talent that Dean Smith, Rick Pitino and others could have coached
them to a national championship, yet he arguably did less than anyone to make
his teammates better.

What the FoxSports site said about him was, and remains, a big turnoff for me:
"No defense...Moiso has earned the knock. While scouts grouse over his seeming
reluctance to take over on offense, they can be downright frightened by the
defense they’ve seen on film. He does hop impressively, but needs to do far more
on defense than block a few shots."

Pitino seems to believe he needs these kind of pure athletes to finally make his
failing system work in the NBA,  and he also believes in his heart that he is a
natural motivational speaker and teacher who can get his message through about
defense to Moiso (and Chris Carr) where other coaches have not. Training camp is
a wakeup opportunity for Moiso, but the fact remains that some people like him
get a million dollars handed to them based solely on their athleticism in an
individual workout.

Moiso needs to start showing fans some dedication & arrogance (Celtics Pride) on
the court or his career could head in the wrong direction. He was already the
least productive stat-producer among the lottery picks by far, so he doesn't
have that much wiggle room from being a total bust. The more he gets embarrassed
and shoved around in camp by hungrier, less gifted pros, the better it could be
in the long run for him. He needs to face one of those moments where the Rocky
soundtrack goes off in your head. And while he's at it, Moiso should take away a
good lesson from the Paul Pierce incident and avoid choosing Tony Battie as your
best friend and your introduction to the millionaire lifestyle.

After Moiso himself, Battie is probably the one guy who most fits the "ideal
Pitino-style athlete" profile and who has been rewarded already twice so far in
his life with guaranteed multi-million dollar raises despite never doing a thing
to suggest he deserves to wear the Celtics uniform. Battie's life lessons don't
provide him with much incentive to ever get better, although I hope he will
improve obviously and know for a fact I get unduly harsh whenever I'm on the
subject of "Batgirl".

But I really wish Pitino had waited before rewarding Battie with that multi-year
extension last summer, knowing as we knew that the team could outbid any
reasonable offer this summer under the new CBA rules (and that his being a free
agent might even have given the Celtics some cap room to use before re-signing
him). I'd also prefer a scenario where Pitino ended up stuck with a far lesser
athlete like Fortson, because at least that's the type of player I can easily
and instinctively root for as a Boston Celtics fan.

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