Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V9 #113

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Kestas, I'm not disputing O'Brien's masterful job with this group of
players. He has done a tremendous job. Absolutely. I didn't hear Fratello's
comment about Antoine, but I also see it as confirmation of what I suspected
all along. Obie realizes that Antoine is going to be what Antoine is. Pitino
wanted him to be the best he could be.

I just think with a veteran team, there wouldn't have been the need for
curfews and things like that. Remember the team's record in back-to-backs?
Pitino, as I recall, implemented the curfew to try to improve that. Again, I
have a hard time faulting that line of thinking.

I'm not saying "I'm disgusted by young punks getting millions to play
basketball and not even working very hard for all that money..." Most of
these players do work hard, and I don't begrudge anyone whatever they can
make. But when a team makes the kind of commitment (financial and
contractually) to a professional athlete that Pitino made to Antoine (when
the jury still very much was out on Toine as a player), then, yes, I expect
a certain level of commitment from the player. The team has shown him the
respect he wants, why shouldn't he be expected to show the same kind or
respect in return? This isn't an outdated concept. Where I'll concede your
point, however, is that it was a reality, whether Pitino liked it or not,
with this team at that time. And Pitino didn't adjust to that reality
(either by adjusting his style or changing the players through trades-of
course, with his track record, that probably would have been a disaster).

Mark


--- --- ---

Kestas wrote:

Mark, it's not about how they deserve be treated, or what they should be
expected to do, given that they make so much money. It's about the reality
of
coaching in the NBA. It doesn't matter if some of these players are spoiled
rich brats - if they perceive themselves as very rich, very talented MEN,
they
better be treated as such, whether they deserve it or not. As you know,
today's
pro game is all about RESPECT. The money is secondary. As a fan, you can say
that you're disgusted by young punks getting millions to play basketball and
not even working very hard for all that money, and refuse to be an NBA fan.
As
an NBA coach, you take that view at your own peril. It's just human nature
that
you get more out of them with a carrot than with a stick. That includes
treating them as something they should be - responsible adults worthy of
respect - rather than what they sometimes are, and having them grow to meet
your expectations.  

Pitino never figured this out. I'm not talking about being demanding  -
players
say Obie is demanding, but I'm sure he goes about it in a different way.
Stories abound about Pitino's treating Celtics players like teenagers. He
ranted after games, he chastised his players publicly, on the court, he
imposed
curfews. You can get away with it in college, where the players don't have
any
power. Pro players just don't take too well to it, and they'll get you fired
or
make you resign. That's the reality in today's NBA, and Obie realizes it.
His
player relation skills are nothing short of masterful. I don't think he's
made
a single wrong move in that area. 

Fratello actually made a comment last night about how Obie saw that you
can't
fight Antoine and chose to take the bad with the good, rather than piss him
off
and get what Pitino got. It made me even more convinced that the whole "I
tell
him to take all these threes, talk to ME about it if you don't like it"
spiel
is just the cost of doing business as far as Jim O'Brien, MBA, is concerned.