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celtics.htm
This article has been around for a whil, but I just saw it this morning. In
light of the experts praise of the Suns, this looks like good news.
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[ISMAP]-CBS SportsLine/Pro Sports Xchange
Boston Celtics
HOT TOPICS:
GETTING INSIDE
There is far from unanimous acclaim for the first summer of personnel
moves by the Rick Pitino regime, but the new Celtics' boss won't hear
any discouraging words from Danny Ainge.
The former Celt and current coach of the Suns likes the new players as
well as the man who will coach them.
"I like the people Pitino brought in," says Ainge. "We had interest in
every one of those guys. We tried to get (Tony) Massenburg, (Andrew)
DeClercq and Travis Knight, and we had great interest in Chris Mills.
"Every guy Boston ended up signing was high on our priority list. We
tried to get them, but we just didn't have the same kind of salary cap
room the Celtics did."
Many league types are scoffing at the seven-year, $22-million deal for
Knight and wonder if Mills is going to be better than Eric Williams
(or Rick Fox, for that matter). But Ainge believes people should give
Pitino the benefit of any doubts.
"He's bringing in the players he wants," Ainge say. "Sometimes you
don't have that luxury when you come into a situation, but he's had
that and he's getting the kind of guys who work for what he wants to
do. We liked the same people because I want us to play that
(fast-paced) style. That may not work for other teams, so these guys
may not be as good in those other styles. But they can do what
(Pitino) wants."
When and if they do, Ainge will be paying attention. His bent as a
player was toward a faster game, and as a Celtic he got to see a young
coach in the area preaching that style of play.
"I have to say that Rick Pitino has always been one of my favorite
coaches to watch," Ainge says. "I've always liked seeing how his teams
played.
"I didn't know much about him at Boston University, but I watched him
a lot when he was coaching Providence. Ever since then, I've kept an
eye on him. I thought he did a great job with the Knicks. I just love
the way his teams play.
"There's a lot of things I like about Rick Pitino's style. I love
fast-break basketball, 3-point shots and ball movement. He seems to be
really set in his system. I think I may work more around the players I
have, but that's probably because I haven't been in coaching long
enough to find a total system that I'm sure works.
"I'm not kidding; I really like Pitino's style. Heck, I even read his
book (Success is a Choice) before he became coach of the Celtics."
Not that Ainge is above kidding. He and Kevin McHale were merciless in
their ribbing of Pitino and his contract when the trio met up at the
June pre-draft camp in Chicago -- and Danny evidently isn't through.
"I'm glad the Celtics hired him," he says. "But as soon as he got that
contract, I sold my shares of Celtic stock. They can't possibly make
money anymore now that they have to pay him all that."
NOTES, QUOTES, ANECDOTES
It seems the Celts are wavering on the decision to break with
tradition and go with white sneakers. The club has been in black (with
a few years of green) since the early days of Red Auerbach's run.
According to Pitino, some players asked to wear white and he went
along with it. Then the tradition issue was brought to his attention
and now, well, "We have both at this point," he said.
Pitino added, "I really didn't know anything about the black shoes
before somebody brought it up."
Auerbach went with black back in the days when the teams provided
sneakers to their players. With money always an issue in a struggling
league, the old redhead found that white shoes got dirty faster and he
could get more time out of the darker canvas models.
The C's went with green for a while when they were still responsible
for their players' footwear and Adidas gave them a dark green version.
When players began to get shoe contracts and provide their own, the
Celts wound up with several different shades of green and, at that
point, decided to go back to black.
Darker sneaks are no big deal these days, but the C's stood out
through most of the '70s and '80s.
Beyond the historical issues (and shouldn't they have kept Jan Volk on
at least as Tradition Officer?), a basketball matter may creep in, in
that there is some belief the darker shoes make a player appear slower
and, perhaps, less likely to get certain calls from officials. At
least that's what some Celtic types are saying.
During last season, an opposing coach was chatting before a game with
the Celts. When Todd Day's name came up, the coach frowned and shook
his head.
"I absolutely guarantee you," he said, "that Todd Day will be making
the NBA minimum next year. That's if he's even in the league."
The coach could therefore not have been surprised when the wayward
talent signed for the new minimum, $272,500, with Miami. It is a
one-year deal. Day said it would be quite a come-down for him (he
pocketed $2.9 million for taking bad shots in Boston last year), but
it may have been his best option, according to Celtic general manager
Chris Wallace, who worked for the Heat last year.
"That's the perfect place for him," said Wallace. "If anybody out
there can jump-start a player's career, it's Pat Riley."
While the contract is guaranteed, Day is, however, no lock to make the
Miami roster. There are currently 16 players under contract there, and
Riley wouldn't hesitate a moment to cut a player who exhibits the same
lack of respect for his talent that Day did in Boston.
Celtic second-round draft pick Ben Pepper is still a long way from
being an NBA talent, but the 7-foot Australian has been showing real
improvement according to sources there.
The Celtics currently have no plans to bring Pepper in for training
camp or any private workouts, but they will get to see him soon.
"He's going to be on an Australian team that's making a tour of the
United States to play exhibition games against colleges," Wallace
said. "We don't have their exact schedule yet. but we'll definitely
get out to see him."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "When they asked me to speak and said it wasn't going
to be a roast, that they wanted nice positive stuff about Arnold, I
thought this would be the shortest program on record" -- Bob Cousy at
the 80th birthday party for Arnold (Red) Auerbach.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
The Celtics now have 13 players under contract, but the question of
who goes may be solved by Dana Barros, who is coming around slowly
from ankle surgery. His off-season program has been curtailed, and
there is real question of whether he'll be able to withstand the
rigors of Pitino's up-tempo system.
FREE AGENT UPDATE: Travis Knight, Andrew DeClercq, Tony Massenburg,
Chris Mills, Tyus Edney and Bruce Bowen are in. All the club's free
agents from last season are gone.