Re: Pitino (well, what else would it be?)

----- Original Message ----- From: Georgek27@AOL.com

Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 6:21 PM

Subject: Re: Pitino (well, what else would it be?)

A couple more thoughts on Pitino:

He never got the point guard he needed. Wesley was not it. Neither was
Billups. Then he made the same mistake several others made by thinking Kenny
was the man. Maybe his successor will get one.

Wesley might not have been THE point guard that Pitino wanted, but I think this was where the troubles all began. To try to get a center, Rick released Wesley (and 8 others), who was his only decent point guard. It was totally unrealistic to think that a 20 year old with two years of being a scorer in college would be able to be an effective NBA point without a lot of adjusting and someone to learn under. Now he needs a center AND a point guard. When he realizes his mistake, he trades Billups for Anderson. I think this is what killed team chemistry in two ways. Not only did Kenny turn out to be a bad role model for the younger players, but I think it ruined the whole mood of camaraderie that existed on the team in those early days. If the number three pick in the draft, and half of the "backcourt of the future", can get traded after a couple of months, who else can get traded? It's really been downhill since then. Seeing Mercer go must have only compounded that feeling among the players.

I guess the problems really started when Rick demanded, and got, full control over the team. He was simply not equipped to handle personnel matters on top of a very tough coaching job, not to mention all the marketing and other crap he decided to take on. It's called delegating, Rick. I hope he, and more importantly the Celtics, have learned a lesson from this. Nobody should have that kind of total control, except perhaps in very, very rare instances when you're talking about someone with substantial experience and success at the NBA level.

By the way, an observation from the last few games. Mark Blount can RUN. Not sure if he's got the skills to make use of it, though. He's a pretty good shot blocker, too.