Celtics take chance on three 7-footers

[Phe Meas <pmeas@user1.channel1.com>]

Celtics take chance on three 7-footers

                  Associated Press, 07/07/97 21:17

                  WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) - There isn't much basketball to
speak of on
                  Dominica, a tiny island in the West Indies, but Garth
Joseph's friends
                  understood enough about it to know it was the sport
for him.

                  The Boston Celtics saw three 7-footers who weren't
selected in last month's
                  NBA draft and reached the same conclusion.

                  ``When you take those gambles in the second round,''
Boston chief scout Leo
                  Papile said Monday, ``I'm going to gamble on the
giant.''

                  Or, in the Celtics' case, giants.

                  Not only did they use their second-round pick on
7-foot Australian Ben
                  Pepper, but they also filled their free-agent camp
roster with the 7-2 Joseph,
                  7-0 Donald Hodge of Temple, 7-1 Lorenzo Coleman of
Tennessee Tech and
                  7-3 Keith Closs from Central Connecticut State.

                  ``With big kids, it's an inexact science. But it's not
a question of `if,' it's a
                  question of `when,''' Papile said. ``Sometimes for NBA
teams, the `when' is too
                  late. They don't have time to wait.''

                  Enter the Celtics.

                  In the midst of rebuilding after the worst season in
franchise history - one in
                  which Boston was forced at times to use 6-9 small
forward Antoine Walker at
                  center - the Celtics are trying to get big.

                  They signed 7-0 free-agent Travis Knight on Monday
after freeing up salary
                  cap space. But Papile saw that few teams around the
league have much depth
                  at center and suggested the Celtics stockpile big men.

                  Pepper isn't expected to help out this year, nor are
Hodge and Closs. But
                  Papile expects Coleman and Joseph to be on the roster
when the season starts
                  - even predicting that Joseph has a 15-year NBA career
ahead of him.

                  ``Leo, I think, knows what he's talking about,''
Joseph said with a huge smile.
                  ``I don't want to prove him wrong.''

                  Either way, Joseph's is an intriguing story.

                  He first picked up a basketball in 1991, succumbing to
``peer pressure'' from
                  friends who sized him up and figured the NBA would
always have room for a
                  giant. There was only one basketball court in Dominica
then, he said, but
                  nobody his own size to measure his talents against.

                  ``I'm the biggest guy in my country,'' he said.

                  Joseph was discovered there by College of Saint Rose
coach Brian Beaury,
                  who had no picture of Joseph to support his reports,
so he faxed back a
                  handprint that spilled over an 11-by-17 inch sheet of
paper.

                  Joseph went on to lead the Division II school in
Albany, N.Y., to three straight
                  New York Collegiate Athletic Conference titles. In
three seasons, he became
                  the school's leading career rebounder with 1,072 and
blocked shots with 300
                  while helping Saint Rose to an 82-11 record.

                  A stress fracture in his right ankle will keep him on
the sidelines for another
                  month, an injury that could have scuttled the chances
of a shorter undrafted
                  free agent. But Papile expects him to be healthy - and
contributing - by
                  November.

                  ``They've seen me,'' Joseph said. ``They know what to
expect.''