Re: Celtics in '98?

[Geoffrey L Duwors <gduwors@student.umass.edu>]

I just hope all you fellow Celtic fans aren't getting too excited for 
next year. I've heard people saying that they expect the Celts to be a 
.500 team and make the playoffs. In my eyes that's very unrealistic. Take 
Mercer and Billups; I was thrilled when they were drafted; I can't wait 
to see them in the same backcourt for years to come; and I think that 
they will be all-stars... BUT, don't think that these two youngsters will 
lead us to the playoffs as early as next year. I can only imagine what 
the 76ers mailing list must've been like before last season with the idea 
of Iverson and Stackhouse (two better players than Mercer and Billups) as 
a starting backcourt, and look what happened to them. Now, granted the 
76ers didn't have Rick "The Messiah" Pitino running the show, but I 
wouldn't be too surprised if we fared about as well as Philly did last 
year. If that's the case, then you won't see me crying because I like 
next year's draft lottery (and I get the feeling that I'm the only one). 
Let me explain. I look at next year's crop of potential draftees and I 
see a few players that I would love to see sporting Celtic green. 
Somebody mentioned that Miles Simon of Arizona is the only quality player 
for next year's draft. Well, you can have Miles Simon. In the NBA, guys 
like Miles Simon are a dime-a-dozen. Sure he had a good Final Four 
performance, but we all know that that doesn't translate into a good pro, 
or even a pro career (Scotty Thurmond, Arkansas). I like the obvious guys 
like Raef LaFrentz, Antawn Jamison, and Paul Pierce. LaFrentz and Pierce 
are definite Celtic material. Also, who would make a better Celtic than a 
good ol' Irish boy. I'm talking about Notre Dame's Pat Garrity. Sure he's 
in the same mold of Travis Knight and Andrew Declerqc, but this kid is 
all heart and often gets overshadowed by other Big East stars at more 
prominent Big East basketball schools. Other players who I wouldn't mind 
having (although not born to be Celtics like LaFrentz, Pierce, and 
Garrity) include swat machine Jelani McCoy of UCLA; Tim Duncan's 
understudy at Wake Forest, Loren Woods (this kid is the 2nd coming of 
Duncan and will show everybody how good he is now that he's the man at 
Wake); my fellow UMass student, Lari Ketner, who is definitely lottery 
bound with his size (6'11", 260) and athleticism. So Celts fans, the 
lottery might actually be a blessing, if only ML were still around for 
tanking purposes.


Celts are Pissah!
Wicked Pissah!


Geoff