Re: Hawks Game

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

Pitino is too much of an egotist. He does have all this talent around him
and doesn't use it. Because he had a few successful years at Kentucky and a
few with the Knicks which had a barrel more of talent than we do, he
thought he could rebuild a broken team. Well obviously it's much different
rebuilding in the NBA. 

Dan

At 03:17 PM 10/25/00 -0400, you wrote:
>In what was an embarrassing game for the Celtics, a comment by Tommy H. got
>my attention.  He was talking to Gorman and Wallace and they were joking
>about going to France to work with Moiso over the off season.
>
>Tommy made a statement about him working with Moiso.  The way he said it
>was, to me, like he would really like a chance to work with the kid, as if
>he could really help him bloom.  Then Gorman made a joke about Tommy wanting
>to go to France to paint.  But that's not how I read it.  It was like Tommy
>sees something here and that he feels he could make this kid a special
>player.
>
>That's one thing I've never understood about Pitino.  He has the greatest
>players in the history of the game walking around him and hires college
>asst. coaches to teach a "system" that doesn't take into consideration
>individual matchups.  I remember coachs and players talking about exploiting
>matchups.
>
>Imagine what a Cousey could do with a Herren and Brown.  Russell, Heinson,
>Parish, Walton  etc... could do with Battie, Moiso, Blount, even Walta.
>Jojo White, DJ, Hondo, etc... with Pierce, Stith, Griffin etc...  I don't
>mean hire Cousey etc... as full time coaches, but in the preseason and at
>selected times during the year how could they not help these kids?
>
>There is questions in my mind if any current Celtic player will even be
>remembered in the years to come, (OK, Pierce seems like one) let alone be in
>the rafters or in the HOF. Maybe these guys could help some of the current
>players learn the skills/attitude/insight/understanding of the game that
>they lack.
>
>When Pitino came to town I was excited that he was going to teach these very
>young players the fundamentals of the game.  The ones they lacked by not
>playing 4 years in college.  Many of the current NBA coaches were having
>trouble relating to the rich youth movement going on at that time so Pitino
>seemed like the perfect fit.
>
>But these guys don't seem to be learning fundamentals.  I haven't seen one
>player who has a real low post game.  Tommy H. continues to point out that
>no one even practices a post move during warmups.  Who didn't envision T.
>Knight as the next McHale in the low post? (In the beginning of course).  Is
>the team really better with Anderson over Billups?
>
>Last year at the end of the season Pitino went to a man-to-man defense to
>make players accountable for their defense (or lack thereof).  As someone
>else pointed out, this was when Walker played his best team basketball.
>
>Coincidence?
>
>Pitino's "system" fails, IMO, to take into account the individual strengths
>and weakness' of each player.  In fact I believe it is designed so that the
>players are interchangable.  It also make it harder to make each player
>accountable for their play.  In the NBA I don't think that is realistic.
>
>This system must be why players like Battie think that they are superstars.
>Make the players accountable for their play, expose their weakness and build
>around their strengths so they have a chance to succeed and you'll have
>fewer lack of effort games like last night.  IMHO.  I can live with a loss.
>I can't support a lack of effort.
>
>I can't believe I had to even say that in the preseason.  The NBA needs NFL
>style contracts.
>
>Sorry for the long rant, Joe inspired me to give up my lunch........
>
><Jim
>
>