bskball.com column

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

here's my pitino requiem:

Requiem for the Pitino Era

I have a tape in my drawer.  At one time, it might have had Pee-Wee's Big
Adventure on it, or part of  I Like To Play Games, with Lisa Boyle.
Whatever it was, I recorded over it.  "Present at the Creation" is written
in black ink on the side.  It's my historical record of the rebirth of the
Celtics.  It began with the end of the ML Carr era, with the hapless
loyalist, as ever, good humored in the face of dozens of reporters peppering
him with impertinent questions about his departure and Larry Bird's
entrance.  It includes all the breaking news about Rick Pitino's arrival.
It features that fateful lottery, in all its inexorable cruelty.  There
follows the draft, with a long line of rumor and sportscaster patter,
discussing the rumors of a trade of both picks for Scottie Pippin - and
then, later, their use on our "backcourt of the future."  The end of the
tape shows a Sportscenter lead story on Pitino's Celtics beating Michael
Jordan and the Bulls.

Looking back at this pathetic spectacle, with its empty hopes, makes me sad.
Here we are in the shadow of the biggest failure in the history of the
Celtics.  What can we make of this, as we huddle together in the wreckage,
survivors of a bombed citadel?  Here's what I make of it.  Pitino was done
in, as we all were, by the Exceptionalist Fallacy.

Here's how it works.  You grow up thinking that because the Celtics are such
a different kind of organization, with such a pervasive mystique, such myths
and memories and cherished values, that invariably we will be spared what
everyone else goes through.  If an underachieving but talented player signs
with us, he will blossom.  If we draft a guy at the end of the first round,
he'll develop into an all-star, or a solid contributor at worst.  Other
teams are made up of jaded mercenaries, playing for statistics and contracts
before fans who didn't know any better.  Our Team embraced the verities,
justified the faith of the best fans in basketball, and played over their
heads ever year.

Pitino had a similar misplaced faith in himself.  Everywhere he had ever
been, the transcendant values of passing, speed, the open court game (in all
its liberating power) and all the old-time virtues of team play and hustle
had turned losses into wins, and carried "the system" to greater heights.
The system was all things - entertaining, overwhelming, satisfying to the
players, a delight to the fans, a terror to opponents.  It didn't even
matter who was running it, because the system was the one constant, and the
system emanated from the coach like radiance from the sun.  

So what were we supposed to think?  Can anyone be blamed for believing?  I'm
not ashamed to say that if Pitino hadn't quit last week, I would still be
believing in him.  Nor will you catch me talking about what an oily shitbird
he is, or sneering at his duplicity.  Rick Pitino walked away from 24
million dollars.  He didn't even negotiate a settlement.  He just walked
away.  Could you do the same?  Yeah, right!  Likewise, I really believe that
no one was more mystified and tormented by the team's failure to respond to
his directives.  I mistrusted his coaching sometimes - his ludicrous
substitution patterns, his "headless chicken" system of half court traps.
But I believed in nearly every GM move he made, even the most disastrous
ones - like trading a pick that would have been Shawn Marion for Vitaly
Potapenko, or placing our jugular vein under the pressed thumbs of Kenny
Anderson.  But you know what?  Even there I remember how Kenny played in
those first thrilling games, when we thought we would "unleash the speed" at
last, and make the Celtics a passing team yet again.  And I still think
about how much better Vitaly could be, and what kind of a center he would
make on a real team, with a true shot blocker playing beside him.

See?  There goes my Celtic exceptionalism again.  And sure enough, even as
I'm writing this, some windbag on TBS is going on about the victory cigar,
and the cramped locker room, and blah blah blah.  This is making me cringe.
That Frank DeFord smarminess...thank God for Barkley and Kenny Smith.  They
still hate the place, still smarting from all the times they got burned
there and still bitching about the floor, as if the Celtics hadn't been
playing on the same parquet.  Ahh. That's the old stuff.  Carry me back!

But see how easily I fell into the exceptionalist fallacy?  Portland had
already completely been through the mill with Anderson; Potapenko is the
most visibly limited of players.  And yet, our hopes were rewarded so many
times during the Bird years, the Cowens years, the Russell years.  Now we
all feel that a "back to basics" approach will supply with the key back to
Eden.  Who knows?  Maybe it will.  The Exceptionalist Fallacy has an upside
as well, and that is inextinguishable hope.

Three Other Thoughts

At first I was horrified by talk of an Adrian Griffin + a first-rounder for
Shammond Williams trade.  A solid performer like Adrian Griffin, one of our
few fundamentals guys, for Williams, even with his outside shot and afro,
seemed equal enough.  Throwing in a first round pick, the lifeblood of any
rebuiding organization (especially a capped-out one like ours) seems
insupportable.  But the more I learn about this guy, the more I see why we
should pull the trigger -- IF the pick is lottery protected.  (You would
think that with Vitaly Potapenko sitting on the bench instead of Shawn
Marion, this would obvious to the Celtic brain trust.)  From what I'm
hearing, Williams is one of those Jermaine O'Neal type talents who destroys
everybody in his path in practice, but can't get into games because he plays
behind Gary Payton, etc.  He was far and away the most dominant guard in the
Shaw league and routinely puts up starter numberse in backup minutes in
Seattle.  He's apparently got a LOT of Upside, and would make a great third
guard for us -- maybe even an eventual replacement for Kenny, if we can move
him at Lottery time.  Just a thought.

The second thought is that I believe that Jim O'Brien will really turn the
team around compared to recent months, but that realistically, the best we
can hope for is .500 ball the rest of the year - which should land us back
in the lottery with a win total in the low thirties.  It's too hard to put
together many two- and three- game win streaks; hell, even .500 is pretty
hard, given our lack of a real point guard, a third scorer, or defensive
athleticism in our starting unit (where only three of five starters can
cover anybody.)

Last thought, apropos of the Pitino era, and suitable for framing as his
requiem:  I saw Tim Duncan the other night on TBS.  What a monster he is.  A
totally perfect player, fundamentally perfect, with the greatest game face
since Michael Jordan.  He's like another Kareem, but without the skyhook and
with better rebounding ability.  That whole team is transformed by his
presence.  I wonder if there has ever been anything more unjust than one of
the three teams in the league with a genuine franchise center tanking the
season, winning the lottery, and getting another one.  My stomach still
sickens at that one.   If we had gotten Duncan, Pitino's hubris, and ours,
would still be riding high.


Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass