Rick Pitino and Celtic owner Paul Gaston had a private/secret meeting in New York recently to discuss the future. Gaston told Pitino he wanted Rick to stay the course and continue to coach the club. Pitino reportedly offered to quit coaching if Gaston wanted him to. Gaston said, although he had hoped the team would be further along, he understood the problems and supported him. Pitino has four years to go on his contract. . . . Here are the three reasons the Celtics aren’t better. First, they don’t have anyone to defend against a top center. Second, their backcourt is terrible on defense. Third, as a team, they lack speed. So if the Celtics meet a team that doesn’t have a dominant center, can’t take advantage of their defensive weakness in the backcourt and isn’t very athletic, they can win. Otherwise, let’s hope they miss the playoffs, get into the draft lottery and get lucky.
