Rambling Holley Lama Slams Pitino

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/009/sports/His_farewell_wasn_t_fond+.shtml

His farewell wasn't fond


By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, Globe Columnist, 1/9/2001


ll he left was three paragraphs. That was it. He treated the Celtics
like an anonymous lover, leaving them with a terse note on the
nightstand. He didn't even promise to call.


Rick Pitino flew to South Florida and played a round of golf with Bob
Lobel. Apparently the former Celtics coach/president decided it was
better to listen to music rather than face it on his resignation day, so
he spent Sunday afternoon relaxing, an oldies station providing the lazy
soundtrack.


No one is surprised that Pitino left, but did anyone expect him to
depart in such a cowardly fashion? Leaving on Jan. 8, with a
three-paragraph sendoff?


Just.


Like.


That.


Weak. He'll have a hard time looking at his former players now because
he has taken disrespect a rung lower. It was clear that the coach and
players didn't respect each other by the way they didn't respond to him
and the way he threatened them. But history will show that he was the
first to take his loot and go home.


Pitino said last week that he can ''take all the abuse in the world,''
but it's not true. Criticism bothers him deeply and often has led him to
wade into wacky waters.


He once traded insults with a drunk heckler in Cleveland; he told
critics behind the Boston bench to watch the games at home; he called
for FleetCenter security to remove an anti-Pitino sign that a young fan
was holding during a game; and, in his most famous rant, he reminded
everyone that Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish would not be
walking through the door.


Now there is his bizarre short story. It won't tell you why he had to
run away, but read between the significant white space and you'll
understand.


For someone who claimed not to read the sports pages, watch the
late-night sports TV shows, or tune into talk radio, Pitino always
seemed to know what was being said about him. Image and perception held
more weight than the facts.


This obsession was fascinating to watch because the obvious question
was, ''Rick, baby, why do you give a damn?'' And that is one of the
coach's professional weaknesses. He gives a damn about things that
rarely cross the minds of NBA head men. The best ones realize that
baseball got its titles right and that NBA coaches are actually NBA
managers, and semi-aloof managers at that.


But Pitino never could divorce himself from the college game, in which
coaches feel they have the right to hover over players' personal lives.
Pitino tried to do that in the pros and, no matter what he says now,
many of the Celtics mocked him for it.


They mocked his heavy-handed rule book, which outlines 36 violations for
which a player can be fined. You've heard of hands-on coaches? Pitino
was so hands-on that he wanted to know whom his players had their hands
on behind closed doors. If any Celtic wanted to have a guest in a hotel
room, no matter who that guest was, he had to have advance permission
from the coach. Players who failed to do that were fined, in this case
$3,000. That might be a sensible rule for eighth graders on a field
trip, but not in the NBA.


There was also a $500 fine for players who didn't have an extra pair of
contact lenses with them on the road. The coach stopped short of
inserting a clause stating that every player always should have boxers,
crew socks, and a copy of ''Success Is A Choice'' in a Celtics duffel
bag.


His quirks don't make him a bad man or a bad coach. What they illustrate
is that he is like all of us: complex, flawed, hypocritical, mortal. If
Genius Grants were given to basketball coaches, Pitino would qualify for
one. But he didn't seem to realize that luck was attached to his
unusually high basketball intellect.


There are other coaches, equally as smart and as prepared, who haven't
been as fortunate as Pitino. Let's hope the coach realizes that people
cannot always choose their success. But then, if fate can be steered,
Pitino is in Miami now because he chose a path of bad karma, with the
blessing of Celtics owner Paul Gaston.


Please don't let Gaston off the hook in this tale. In the last four
years, the owner and the coach have collaborated on this green-and-white
destruction. They have been erratic with money, draft picks, and hearts.



They threw a hex on the Celtic family when they insisted on taking Red
Auerbach's title of president and giving it to Pitino. That should have
been the first clue that Pitino didn't have the proper amount of respect
for the organization or the 83-year-old man responsible for building it.
Pitino and Gaston also proved that their egos can push fairness and
honesty aside.


When Pitino came to Boston, he fired his salary-cap expert even though
Pitino hadn't dealt with a salary cap in 10 years.


That's arrogant.


He met with M.L. Carr, claimed to listen when Carr told him to hold on
to David Wesley and Rick Fox, and then watched both players walk away
even when he should have known he couldn't replace them with anyone
better.


That's stupid.


Gaston made overtures to Larry Brown and promises to Carr. He backed
away from both men, showed that his word is not his bond, and linked up
with Pitino. He then proceeded to ink Pitino to a 10-year contract, a
deal so powerful that the owner couldn't fire the coach, even though he
deserved to be fired.


Pitino, meanwhile, spent an entire summer trying to trade Antoine
Walker. When he realized he wouldn't be able to do it, he called Walker
on Sept. 15 - two weeks before training camp - and tried to smooth
things over. He then became a coaching Hamlet, becoming indecisive on
his next moves, always threatening to leave.


That's bad business.


Don't let anyone tell you that this is a good week for the Celtics, just
because Pitino is gone. He already has begun spinning his departure to
his friends in the media, but don't believe it. There are no villains
and heroes in this, just parts of problems.


Yesterday, a large section of the problem was playing golf in Florida.
He demanded patience and toughness, but was unable to display either. He
quit on the team that he claimed to love, and then sent a sorry goodbye
to Boston via fax. He said he loved Boston, but he never mentioned the
city or its fans in his resignation letter.


He said he loved the Celtics, but he didn't mention one current player
in his three-paragraph salute.


He should have invited Gaston and the players to come to his Miami home
with him, because all of them have to leave anyway. Gaston should sell
the team as soon as possible. Walker should pack his bags, because the
next management team is going to trade him away. What we have now is
Boston's lesser-known Big Dig project, also known as the Boston Celtics.
A new owner is needed. A patient, measured personnel man is needed. The
three first-round picks the team has are needed to entice teams to take
away bad contracts.


Pitino could have corrected some of his errors by listening to his staff
and admitting that he needed help. Instead, he left a paper trail: a
three-paragraph piece of paper with the Celtics; green paper - with
pictures of dead presidents on them - in his bank accounts.


Michael Holley is a Globe columnist.


This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 1/9/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.