RE: It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

That may not be a good sign for Pitino's Celtic future. He was always a man
of exuberance on the sidelines. Maybe lucky for us he is losing his spirit
and will move on eventually to tackle a new quest. The man is all smoke. 

Dan

At 01:39 PM 10/24/00 -0400, you wrote:
>incidentally, speaking of Pitino, has anybody noticed that he's
>not as hyper on the sidelines as usual?  Maybe it's because of
>preseason, but I bet one of the benefits of us winning games
>(and deserving to win games -- not trading baskets for 48 minutes)
>is that he may feel less inclined to yell and stomp, etc.
>
>Alex, did you see the Magic game?
>
>Josh Ozersky	
>Marketing Communications Specialist 
>Corning Museum of Glass
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:	Alexander Wang [SMTP:awang@MIT.EDU]
>> Sent:	Tuesday, October 24, 2000 11:33 AM
>> To:	celtics@igtc.com
>> Subject:	Re: It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
>> 
>> At 02:41 AM 10/24/00 -0400, Kestutis Kveraga wrote: 
>> >
>> > ...which is exactly why some of his college successes are probably more
>> > attributable to his abilities as a recruiter than as a coach. IMO, his
>> > winning at Kentucky had less (if anything) to do with his "system" and
>> more
>> > with a team stocked with future NBA players pouncing on teams mostly
>> stocked
>> > with future office workers. I don't follow college ball enough to know
>> > whether the achievements of his PC and BU teams were out of proportion
>> to
>> > their (lesser) talent. 
>> 
>> 
>> Other people who have followed Kentucky basketball have commented on this
>> before. Pitino was successful with Kentucky even before he had recruited
>> all
>> that NBA talent. He succeeded with a bunch of leftovers when the school
>> was
>> under probation and lacked scholarships. I believe that it's generally
>> agreed
>> that he succeeded far beyond his team's talent with PC and BU also, but I
>> didn't follow those either.
>> 
>> >
>> > While I don't for a moment imagine that I could coach a team better, or
>> know
>> > more about basketball, than Pitino, I also don't buy the argument that
>> we
>> > fans don't know or see anything that he doesn't. Sometimes it's the case
>> of
>> > 'not seeing the forest for the trees' or being too clever for your own
>> good,
>> > as some of us believe is the case with the vaunted "headless chicken
>> > outbreak" defense. Besides, technical knowledge =/= coaching ability.
>> For
>> > example, he may know the optimal way to execute a particular offense or
>> > defense, and it may even work at the NBA level, but micromanaging the
>> play in
>> > real time from the sideline, as he so often does, doesn't lend itself to
>> the
>> > team's executing the said schemes on the floor, IMO. I just couldn't
>> imagine
>> > playing well while being yanked about like a puppet by his sideline
>> > instructions. The better NBA coaches seem to know this, but he still
>> gets
>> > into his college-coach-working-himself-into-a-lather mode. 
>> 
>> 
>> Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Pitino is coaching perfectly. What
>> I'm
>> saying is that Pitino is aware of the faults that are pointed out on this
>> list.
>> When we complain about Walker jacking up a three-pointer two seconds into
>> the
>> shot clock, Pitino is aware that it's a problem. When we talk about the
>> headless chicken outbreak and how Dana Barros is guarding a center and
>> we're
>> giving up millions of open jumpers and dunks -- he knows that. I mean, the
>> guys
>> is a tape fanatic. We sometimes behave on this list like he doesn't know
>> these
>> things. He just has access to so much more information than we do. 
>> 
>> About the execution, you could be completely right. There's obviously a
>> problem
>> because the goal of the defense is not to  give up 47% shooting. My main
>> point
>> is that Pitino wouldn't learn a thing about coaching basketball by
>> subscribing
>> to this list. We could teach him something about GMing though: "Hey Rick,
>> why
>> don't you trade Cheaney for Vince Carter?"
>> 
>> >
>> > Besides, it's well known that professionals in all fields can get into
>> > groupthink and "idee fixe" ruts, and make all kinds of disastrous
>> decisions
>> > that no amateur would succumb to. If I always genuflected to this
>> "authority
>> > argument" and trusted so-called professionals to make the correct
>> decision
>> > for me, I'd be in pretty bad fiscal and physical shape now. The NBA and
>> the
>> > Boston Celtics exist because of, and for, us fans, and we certainly
>> shouldn't
>> > hesitate to let the coach/GM know when we think he's screwing up -
>> because,
>> > chances are, he probably is. 
>> 
>> 
>> Tom Murphy's post was essentially about the same type of groupthink. But,
>> if
>> anything, we are criticizing Pitino for NOT coaching like the other pros
>> --
>> for
>> using his wacky substitutions and headless chicken outbreak. And the other
>> basketball people still respect him as an Xs and Os guy. Anyway, you're
>> right
>> about whether he's screwing up though. He's given us less than he's
>> promised
>> and probably less than a guy like Riley would have (can't imagine Riley
>> coaching the Celtics though) and that's the guy who he's comparable to in
>> reputation (pre-Celtics), power, and salary.
>> 
>> Alex 
>
>