RE: Dr. Jack Ramsey

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
What's interesting about this is that Dr. Jack happens to be O'Brien's
father in law, so you can be sure they have talked about this.  Interesting
to see how "obie" does.
--- end of quote ---

I guess he could go one of two ways - continue with the Pitino philosophy, or try to carve out his own approach. The benefit of doing the former is that he might again have a job as Pitino's right-hand man wherever his old boss lands next year. The problem with it is, of course, that the system's been proven beyond reasonable doubt not to work in the present situation. Not that I needed someone else to tell me what I can see for myself, but when Hall of Famers like Jack Ramsay, Heinsohn, and Cousy all agree that the Pitino's system doesn't work in the NBA, even the most hardcore Pitino apologists ought to take notice.

The Ramsay article seems to indicate that O'Brien instead might try his (or his father-in-law's ) approach, which should yield better results if the players apply themselves at all (which, as is the norm, they might just to prove they weren't the problem). If the Celtics do better and Gaston keeps the franchise, who knows, O'Brien might even be retained as the head man. He'd come pretty cheap, too. Someone on this list wrote a while ago that O'Brien ran the Dayton program into the ground. But maybe he's just the opposite of Pitino in that he lacks the skills to succeed in college coaching (e.g., recruiting), but has a no-nonsense approach that would work in the pros. The Globe reports that Fortson and Barros spoke highly of him after being traded, while at the same time being critical of Pitino's approach. I guess we'll see soon enough, but I'm just trying to stir up some hope - I don't want to be watching 48 meaningless games this season...

Kestas