Re: Pitino or Walker

[damekmo@teleport.com]

>At 12:16 PM 7/8/98 -0800, damekmo@teleport.com wrote:
><snip>
>>Just curious, Pitino has proven what over his NBA coaching carreer? His
>>playoff history as a coach? The Knicks had their doubts about his coaching
>>ability / philosophy...yes?
>
>Not really. He got caught in the middle of a power struggle, where he was
>the fair haired guy of the wrong person.

>-Kim
>Kim Malo
>kmalo19@idt.net

Kim...when you say "not really" do you mean that his dismissal had
"nothing" to do with a disagreement in management about the direction of
the team, style of play, specific player acquisitions and moves determined
by that style, and a question about the franchise player's development and
the best use or possible mis-use of his talents within that style? One of
the reasons Pitino was the "fair-haired guy" was because of a philosophical
agreement between him and "the wrong person"? Yes? Does "not really" mean
that none of the above were at issue during "the power struggle"...some
were some weren't...these were but there were also others, or that the New
York press at the time was fed these items by management in order to hide
something else? (Although the screaming spitting rabid dogs of the New York
press couldn't wait to throw out the "young college coach with the college
style game but this is New York and can he handle the pressure?" crap
whenever they could from the moment Pitino got into town 'til he left.)

>It's amusing that media reports of Walker's demands constantly get countered
>(see a couple examples in today's postings) with 'have you ever heard him
>say it himself' while media reports of things like RP's 'apparent obsession
>with getting Mashburn' are to be accepted at face value as signs of his
>cluelessness or incompetence.

Well, if I believe one......
I believe the $105 mil. over six years report was correct. I think it's
almost halfway between Rasheed Wallace's numbers and Kevin Garnett's. Seems
a reasonable place for his agent to start. I also believe the reports over
the last year and a half about Pitino chasing Mashburn are correct. He has
a thing for Kentucky players...no? Would it be too strong to call it an
obsession? Any other college coaches come into the NBA and start chasing
their former players around with such.....vigor? Who's next, Tony Delk? But
for Pitino, it's "the system" above all else. Mashburn may be a proven
mediocre-to-allright-at-best NBA player, but by God he was a very good
player in college under "the system" and "the system" works....right? It
worked in college. Has to work in the NBA. Mashburn is a mediocre shooter,
defender, ball-handler, who takes a ton of ill-advised shots....but
otherwise he's just what the Celtics need at small forward.

Paul M