RE: Kenny is Pitino's man

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

What really bums me out about this is that Pitino said that nobody was
guaranteed a starting job.  
Now he says that Kenny has to start or the boss will be displeased.  I think
the boss will be displeased
by losing more, no?  That's a stupid joke and a stupider decision.  It's
times like this I wish I could personally 
address Pitino.  But then he must see it to, no?  I guess he doesn't want to
burn his bridges with Kenny 
this early.  there was definitely a dark cast to his remarks; he must figure
that there's still a chance to bring
Kenny around.  At least Kenny can be pulled now; but I just hate what he
does to this team.  He is such
a cancer.  How I hate him.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Hironaka [SMTP:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
> Sent:	Wednesday, October 18, 2000 6:12 AM
> To:	celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Kenny is Pitino's man
> 
> Pitino says Kenny is the starter, but fudges a bit.
> 
> Kenny admits his mind hasn't been on basketball for the past few weeks,
> due to the birth of Kenny Jr and a fiancée who is ''going through weird
> things''.
> 
> 
> ---
> 
> ON BASKETBALL
> A happy face on guard status
> By Peter May, Globe Staff, 10/18/2000
> 
> WALTHAM - All together team, repeat after me: Kenny is my guy. Kenny is
> my guy. Kenny is my guy.
> 
> There, wasn't that easy?
> 
> Rick Pitino didn't have to make such a declaration to the Celtics
> yesterday, but he felt compelled to do so to reporters after practice.
> The coach, who says he does not read the papers, had come to learn that
> some of his statements about his point guard situation might have been
> interpreted as rips against old favorite Kenny Anderson.
> 
> ''I'm not unhappy with Kenny at all,'' Pitino said of Anderson, who
> returned to practice yesterday after missing the last several days to be
> in attendance for the birth of his son. ''The more I praise Randy
> [Brown], the more apparently you people think I'm unhappy with Kenny.''
> 
> We people might somehow have come to that conclusion based on what
> Pitino said last Saturday: ''We haven't been happy right now with our
> point guard situation in terms of defense and getting after it, so we're
> looking at a lot of people. Now, Randy's back [from an ankle sprain] and
> we've looked great the last two days with him at the point.'' Or we
> people could have been similarly misguided after hearing Pitino
> following Monday's victory over Atlanta: ''Randy is exactly what this
> team needs. He's sort of rejuvenated everything I believe in in
> basketball personally.''
> 
> No, there's no way those remarks could be construed as anything other
> than effusive praise for Brown, who basically is the anti-Kenny. Asked
> yesterday if Anderson was still his starter, Pitino said, ''Yeah.'' He
> then paused and added, ''Or I have to explain to Paul [Gaston] why we're
> paying him $7 million.'' He'll be in the same situation next year ($8.35
> million) and the year after that ($9.185 million).
> 
> Underscoring all this has been Anderson's play in the first two
> exhibition games, which, to be charitable, has been uninspiring. Even
> habitual optimist Tom Heinsohn noted that Anderson was a couple steps
> slower than last year. Anderson, who hit the big 3-0 nine days ago, did
> not look to be in what Celtic players ominously call ''Coach P. Shape,''
> and he said yesterday that the birth of his child had been dominating
> his thoughts over the last few weeks.
> 
> The delivery of baby Kenneth was a complicated one, he said. His fiancee
> had been ''going through weird things'' prior to delivery and he was in
> Boston while she was in Atlanta.
> 
> ''It's a headache at times,'' he said. ''I can't be hands-on. I have to
> talk on the phone. It's bothersome at times.''
> 
> As for training camp, Anderson said, ''I haven't been thinking about
> basketball the last few weeks. I've been thinking about a healthy baby.
> I have to get my mind back on basketball and start playing, and I will
> do that. The main concern was the health of my child.''
> 
> He was asked if he could tell how far he had come or needed to go.
> 
> ''I don't know where I'm at,'' he said. ''But no one knows. You have
> guys who tear it up in training camp and then you never hear about them.
> It's a give-and-take situation. It's all about what type of team you're
> on, what type of role you play on that team, and what that team needs
> from you.
> 
> ''But don't get me wrong, you don't want to just do nothing. You want to
> get in shape and work hard in training camp. That's what I'm doing. But
> I don't know where I'm at as far as any barometer.''
> 
> Meanwhile, the veteran Brown, who has the reputation of being a
> defensive specialist and locker room leader, took over Anderson's duties
> for the Atlanta game. In 31 minutes, he had 8 points and 6 steals. But
> even prior to that, Pitino had raved about Brown in practices, mainly
> after he returned from an ankle sprain that sidelined him for the first
> two exhibition games.
> 
> ''I'm very happy with Randy,'' Pitino said. ''Kenny is like Adrian
> [Griffin], like some of the other guys that have been away, haven't been
> practicing that much, and they're behind a little bit. But I'm not
> unhappy with him at all.''
> 
> Seasoned Celtic observers know that the Pitino/Anderson relationship has
> had its moments. The coach took the radical step of suspending Anderson
> for one game during the lockout season. Anderson and Antoine Walker
> sniped at each other during a game in Washington. Anderson at times
> doesn't get the ball up the court quickly enough. But his rising salary
> and sinking reputation - one GM put him in the bottom third of point
> guards in the league - basically have made him unmovable.
> 
> Anderson also never has been known for his defense, although he said he
> has worked hard on that aspect of his game since coming to Boston.
> 
> ''I think I really played extremely well on defense last year,''
> Anderson said. ''I was really happy with myself. But I want to take it
> up to another level defensively.''
> 
> If he does that, Pitino will have two point guards to praise. Oh, that's
> right. He already does.
> 
> This story ran on page F02 of the Boston Globe on 10/18/2000.
> © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
> 
>