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DWYR26.htm
The Philadelphia Inquirer Sports
Thursday, June 26, 1997
Sixers fuel war with Celts and get their man
[INLINE]
The best thing to come out of this draft week is the explosive revival
of the Sixers-Celtics rivalry.
Larry Brown, the new Sixers coach, seems to delight in beating Rick
Pitino. Not just beating him, but beating him bloody.
Brown and new vice president Billy King proved to be masterful draft
poker-players. All along, Tim Thomas was a name high on their wish
list. But it wasn't enough to just draft the freshman out of
Villanova.
There was the Pitino factor.
Pitino wanted Keith Van Horn, and, hey, if the Sixers could get Thomas
and keep Pitino from getting the guy he wanted, it would be pretty
much a perfect night of drafting.
Which it was.
Bad blood is now speeding through the northeast corridor between
Philly and Beantown.
The deception by Pitino in the Dino Radja affair just gave Brown and
King more motivation. All you need to know about how Brown feels about
Pitino is this:
When he referred to him last night, he didn't mention him by name but
as ``this guy with the choir [ boy ] eyes.''
So once again there is war between the Celtics and the Sixers. Lovely.
The timing couldn't be better. Both teams have been down and out for a
million years, and now they are at the beginning of rebuilding
programs led by ruthless coaches and deal makers.
Thomas, the guy with all-star talent, promises to be a centerpiece in
the battles on the court that are sure to follow.
But not right away.
There is no doubt among any of the NBA experts that Thomas has the
potential to be one of the best players in the league. You would not
know this from watching him play his one year in college at Villanova.
At times he took over games, at other times he was a virtual ghost on
the court. And in the biggest game of the season, against California
in the NCAA tournament, his disappearance in the second half -- when
his team needed him the most -- was conspicuous. He didn't have a
field goal in the second half.
Thomas has always been the best player on every team since high
school. What is bothersome about him is that he showed virtually no
improvement as his only college season progressed.
In fact, his most productive games came at the beginning of the
season. Maybe he decided early that he was going pro and simply lost
interest.
That is putting the best possible face on it.
A darker interpretation is that he simply doesn't work hard.
Brown will fix that. For the first time in Thomas' career, he will
have a coach who can and will teach him how to play basketball. Brown
will not tolerate Thomas' standing around the three-point line,
waiting for the ball to come to him.
Brown will have the luxury of bringing Thomas along slowly. Jim
Jackson will play shooting guard, Allen Iverson the point and Jerry
Stackhouse will move to small forward. That means Thomas will be the
backup to Stackhouse.
Thomas will not be put in a position where he is rushed too soon. He
will be given time to allow his skills to catch up with his potential.
He will be given time to prove that he is willing and able to play
defense, something he seldom did for the Wildcats.
When he was asked about his defense, Thomas always said that he was
forced to guard smaller, quicker guards. He won't have that excuse in
the NBA.
He is a half-inch short of 6-foot-10 -- a legitimate NBA body-type --
and can run, shoot and handle the ball. If he develops as Brown thinks
he will, then Thomas will give the Sixers a great insurance policy at
the end of next season if Stackhouse decides to test the free-agent
market when his contract runs out.
It was a good pick, one the Sixers wanted all along.
What makes it even sweeter is how they got the guy they wanted and
stuck it to Pitino, too.
Everyone knew there would be resentment when the shark with the
choirboy eyes turned up his nose at the Sixers to become the
highest-paid coach in the league.
If Pitino sits on your bench, he's slick. If he's on the enemy bench,
he's sleazy.
Look what he did with Radja. He shipped him to Philly knowing that
Radja couldn't climb into a little red wagon, never mind play an NBA
season.
As recently as yesterday Pitino was still playing his game of
deception. ``When Dino left us two weeks ago he looked great,'' Pitino
said. ``He was playing tennis, playing one-on-one basketball. He was
excited, everything was great. Then we find out when he's in
Philadelphia he sees two other doctors, and they found something
totally different. Where the truth is, I'm not sure on this one.''
The truth is not coming out of his mouth.
Yesterday morning Pitino assured the Sixers' brain trust that he would
not ask for arbitration on the Radja deal.
Then he asked the league for arbitration.
So last night Brown and King and Pat Croce -- who couldn't talk about
this deal with Jersey -- were silently celebrating getting the guy
they wanted all along in Thomas and beating Pitino out of Van Horn in
the process.
Take this week as an official declaration that the Celtics-Sixers war
is in full swing again.
_________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Online -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sports -- Copyright
Thursday, June 26, 1997