Pete Carril Wanted to Help Ron-Ron

Pete Carril is a basketball legend, maybe more well-known in New Jersey and Sacramento for his work creating the Princeton offense, seriously influencing Rick Adelman's flex-motion offense and advocating for the liberal use of bow ties in the NBA. Carril's been out of the game since Adelman got axed in Sactown, but he still follows the game intently. He worked with Ron Artest for only a few months in 2006, and he regrets the partnership was so short. This is from an interview with the Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voisin:

I wish I could have gotten closer to the guy, but he didn't give me a chance. He sat with me and looked at tapes a couple times. He didn't think it was important enough. I know he listened to me, though. I'd point things out. But not enough to get him to change some things. I could have helped him. ...

I've seen where he loses concentration at times, doesn't run a play. He'll go run down in the post and stand next to a guy who is already there. Why are you doing that? And if he goes long periods without scoring, it bothers him. ... I'm not sure he (Artest) gets enough satisfaction out of [defense] anymore. Isn't knocking a guy out of the box enough? So I don't know if he's slipped (defensively) or what.

Has Ron lost the love to abuse folks on defense?

For what it's worth, Artest addressed this a bit in a terrific summer interview with The Starting Five's Michael Tillery just published this week.

You don't get max money for hustling. That's the reason why I started scoring. I don't like to shoot fade away jumpers. I can do it though. I don't want to play like that. I like to pass the ball and play defense. That's not going to get you maximum money. You have to score and do all this other stuff.

Carril is an offensive genius and a good motivator. With Ron's plethora of skills, Pete could no doubt have found clever ways to get Artest his easy points without damaging the hustle. But can anyone keep Ron from making silly plays? Doubtful. It would have been to see Carril try, though.

There's some added intrigue in Carril's separation from Ron-Ron, of course. Carril hasn't really been quiet about his continued love for the game and burning desire to get back on the sidelines. Washington brought him in for training camp (Carril served as an assistant during Eddie Jordan's short Sacramento stint in the 90s); Lawrence Frank is said to appeal to Carril's mind occasionally for help with the Nets. But Carril's heart is with Geoff Petrie, who you'd imagine would have zero problem making room on the payroll for his life-long mentor. (Petrie played under Carril at Princeton and was he whom brought Pete to the NBA.) But the Maloofs? They don't exactly embrace the old regime. Not only did they pretend Adelman doesn't exist when he returned to ARCO Arena earlier this month, but they wouldn't even let Petrie interview highly respected old Adelman assistants Elston Turner or Terry Porter for the last two head coach vacancies. Think they might have something to say about the most revered Adelman-era relic return to the bench with Reggie Theus? Think that something to say might be 'No.' You aren't alone.