Re: Loss to SA

[Kim <kimmalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stunted his growth? No not really. Tim was already pretty well developed when he hit the NBA. That was part of the point with him, that he was a fundamentally solid all around player - don't forget he stayed in school, which makes a huge difference. And Pitino for his faults isn't a total idiot. What would have been a bigger issue along those lines was not having someone like Robinson around to introduce him to life as a pro bigman on and off the court and ease a bit of the immediate pressure on and off the court off him. Mind you, Pitino would still have probably driven him to madness so that he'd have been out of Boston ASAP if Pitino wasn't already gone first himself. So yes, I do think the ping pong ball results worked very well for him, even if not necessarily for quite the same reasons.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Hill <jahill199@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mar 20, 2004 11:01 PM
To: Celtics <celtics@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Loss to SA

<snip>
Anyone but me think that Pitino would have stunted the growth of Tim D. if
we had gotten him in the draft?  The results of the ping-pongs were the best
thing that ever happened to him.

<Jim