Pitino on nba.com : Preseason Coaches Conference Call

[kevin from singapore <bostonceltics17@yahoo.com>]

Preseason Coaches Conference Call
Rick Pitino, Boston Celtics
Opening statement: Well, it's been a hectic preseason, one that's, like most
teams, had its sense of problems. But we are over the worst of it, in
particular, Paul Pierce has rejoined the team after having a very serious mishap
and now he's almost 100 percent. We had a trade today consummated. We acquired
Bryant Stith and Chris Herren from Denver and sent Robert Pack and Calbert
Cheaney. We are regrouping. Kenny Anderson's fiancTe had a baby and he is right
now out in Atlanta and will not join us with the team this evening. We hope to
get him back shortly. Adrian Griffin has missed most of camp because of the
passing of his dad and he just has rejoined the team recently, so we're looking
forward to the next two weeks of regrouping and having a team at its whole.

Q: You talked about the hardships that your team has had to overcome. Could you
imagine what Pat Riley is going to have to go through with the loss of Alonzo
Mourning?
Pitino: Yes, the most important thing, and I know it is going to be a relief
from watching the press conference today, is that Alonzo is getting expert
medical help and we're all praying and hoping that he makes a speedy recovery
within a year and that he does not have to go through a transplant or dialysis.
We're all rooting for that. But Alonzo is one of the premier defensive centers
in the league, and now Pat is going to probably have to go smaller and rely on
team help defensively, and certainly losing the best defensive presence in the
league brings Miami to the middle of the pack. When I say 'middle of the pack,'
it brings them down to the rest of the teams in the Eastern Division, and now
he's one of the favorites, still an outstanding team, but now one of the
favorites, instead of the favorite.

Q: What will it take for the team to improve its road record this season?
Pitino: Well, a lot of times people talk about our road woes and they certainly
were there. People point out that in back-to-back games, we were not as good.
That's true, but the problem is, all our back-to-back games are on the road.
They are never at home, because we do not own the FleetCenter, and [with] the
Boston Bruins' situation, we play all our back-to-back games basically on the
road, and it's never coming back home. So that's no excuse. We have to get
better this year because we have been very good at home. We won 26 [games] at
home last year. We hope to improve on that and for us to be a competitive
basketball team, we have to improve on the road. The added maturity of Randy
Brown and Bryant Stith is certainly going to help this young basketball team.

Q: Will Antoine Walker be used at point guard?
Pitino: Antoine Walker will play some point forward, not point guard, but
certainly he's a big part of our offensive attack and he certainly has the ball
in his hands quite a bit because of his dribbling and passing ability. It's a
great weapon to have.

Q: Jason Miskiri was just added to the team. Could you comment on the point
guard situation and if you know anything about Miskiri in particular?
Pitino: I do not. Chris Wallace, our general manager, made this decision to
bring him in to get a look at some point guards because obviously that's an area
where if we have an injury, we are going to need to bring some people up from
either the CBA or the IBL. So we're looking at a lot of prospects right now and
that's a position that we're very concerned about.

Q: Do you foresee who might emerge from that point guard race to make the team?
Pitino: Well, we know that certainly Kenny Anderson, Randy Brown and Chris
Herren are part of the team right now. Right now I couldn't comment, because I
haven't seen Jason [Miskiri] play a second.

Q: Do you miss the college atmosphere and do you have a feeling of whether you
will be back with the Celtics next season?
Pitino: The way I have answered that question, honestly, I said last year, when
all the college rumors came about, that I would not be going back to college
last year. I was very honest about that, regardless of the situation, I would
not go back to college and I did not. And this year, the way I'm handling it is
I'm the Boston Celtic coach. I am devoting every minute of every hour of every
day to the Boston Celtics, trying to turn this team around. Whatever the future
brings, the future brings. I can't really control it, so I'm just going to work
extremely hard right now. As far as missing college basketball, I've been so
busy I haven't missed it, but I do miss one thing, obviously, and I think all
coaches do who have participated in college basketball; I love March Madness.
There's a euphoric feeling of March Madness, and certainly if we make the
playoffs we'll have the same feeling here as well. But I do miss March Madness.
That's probably the most special time in all of sports and it's a very
competitive time with one game and you're out.

Q: Can you talk about how Mark Jackson has grown as a player?
Pitino: Well, Mark has always relied on understanding the game. His intelligence
is off the scales. He understands the game through coaches' eyes. He's very
competitive. He's a born leader. And [for] Mark, age has not played a factor,
except he's just getting wiser as he has gotten older, but he's always been
wise, even at a young age when I coached him as a rookie. So, Mark probably
could play until 40, because he has never really relied on his athleticism to
get him over; he's always relied on his understanding of the game. He has added
one thing to his game. He's one of the best post-up players in the league, and
he forces double-teams, and with his passing skills, he makes it difficult for
everybody to guard him.

Q: How will the addition of Jackson help Toronto this year?
Pitino: Well, Toronto was lacking, obviously, the point guard skills and the
leader from the backcourt and if you looked up leadership in the dictionary,
you'd probably have a picture of Mark Jackson if you had a basketball
dictionary. I think that suits them so well. He's such a great leader. He's so
wise. He understands what the playoffs are all about. He's a born winner. He's
one of my favorites of all time. I don't think there's anybody I've enjoyed
coaching more than Mark Jackson.

Q: What about reports from last season that said you were going to give yourself
one more season, and that if things don't improve significantly this season you
were going to step aside or kick yourself upstairs?
Pitino: Well, basically what I'm trying to do is just coach and not really
concern myself with the future. When I answered that question, someone had posed
the question to me, "Do you plan on, if you don't make the playoffs, breaking up
the team and starting in a different direction?" I answered by saying that I'm
responsible for bringing these players here and that if we don't turn it around
I'm not going to trade the players or get rid of the players, that I'm
responsible for bringing these players here and I would look at myself in the
future and determine that. We're a very young basketball team trying to put the
parts together. We started at its nadir and we hope to get better this year and
we are certainly capable of doing that. As far as my future's concerned, my
future is right now in the present tense and I'll let down the road speak for
itself when it happens.

Q: Has any lesser-known player stood out in the preseason?
Pitino: No, not really. We've had a tumultuous preseason. The guys have had a
great attitude, but normally you have a rash of injuries in the preseason
because guys aren't in the greatest shape and the camps are double sessions and
they are grueling and you have a couple of nagging injuries that players sit out
from. But we've had the exception obviously with the Pierce problem and Adrian
Griffin's dad passing and then a trade that was about to happen. Now we are
looking forward to having a full team and having some type of normalcy the next
two weeks. But the guys have worked extremely hard. Nobody has really stuck out
in terms of their play, but the guys are working very hard. I think the surprise
to all of us has been the acquiring of Mark Blount. We don't think he's just
another young man that we signed. I think that if Mark was in the draft right
now, last year's draft, he probably would be picked around 15 or 16 with his
skill level, so we're very excited about him as a potential center.

Q: How do you feel about Tony Battie's progression during the preseason?
Pitino: It's been slow, and we're hoping for better days with Tony. It has been
a slow development. He's had a few nagging injuries and we hope he overcomes
those and really steps up his defensive play.

Q: What do you think was the toughest one or two things you've had to go through
changing from college to pro basketball, and was there ever a time where you
second-guessed your decision to leave Kentucky and come here?
Pitino: Well, I banked on, very honestly, I thought that we could not do what
the Heat and some of the other teams have done, like the Orlando Magic, in terms
of blowing up your basketball team. The only saving grace was the draft and we
had two players that would be picked in the top six. We were hoping for Tim
Duncan and Keith Van Horn, one-two, and we did not get that. That's the luck of
the ping-pong balls, we got three-six. So that certainly was something that you
second-guess, because that's what I put most stock in. The other part is that
we're supposed to struggle. When you win 15 games, you have contract problems,
and you don't get lucky in the draft, you are supposed to struggle, but now it's
a matter of turning those struggles into prosperity, and that's what we're
trying to do right now. We feel right now we have players that are willing to
work hard, willing to pay the price. We realize that we do not have the
shot-blocking some other teams have, but basically, in the Eastern Conference,
with Patrick Ewing going West and now Alonzo Mourning having this ailment,
outside of Dikembe Mutombo, there are very few dominating centers, so we are in
the same boat with everyone else. So, we'll just stick together and try to turn
this thing around.

Q: Was there ever a moment at any time where you said, "Geez, I should have
stayed at Kentucky?"
Pitino: I'm such a positive thinker that I didn't think of that except every
second of the day. No, I'm only kidding. No, I really didn't think that way. I
think looking back is the worst thing you can do. What I certainly experienced,
I cherished all eight years that I was at Kentucky, because six of the eight
years, being off probation, we had really some fond memories. I look at that and
am very, very proud of those years and certainly I don't look back, though,
because this job is too big to ever look back.