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[Tony Pinto <bagaco@worldnet.att.net>]

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> [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com] [Celtics]
> [Today's Date]
> 
> The goal: all-pro
> 
>   -------------------
>   -------------------
> 
>   'Eric Williams just
>   wasn't going to work
>   out here. He wasn't
>    committing himself
>   to this organization
>       from a time
>      standpoint.'
> 
>     'That's a great
>     trade, because I
>    would have traded
>    Eric Williams for
>    Chris Mills, even
>          up.'
> 
>       RICK PITINO
> 
>   -------------------
> By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 08/27/97
> 
>         hen the team is 15-67, just exactly who is
>         valuable?
> 
> Rick Pitino has already provided part of the answer. He
> has dispensed with the second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-,
> and sixth-leading scorers on the 1996-97 Celtics.
> 
> There are now just five players left from the crew that
> gave you that wonderful 15-67 season, and before too long
> that list might be reduced even more. (In other words, if
> I were you, Pervis, I would keep that suitcase where I
> could lay my hands on it quickly.) So what exactly is
> going on? Is there a master plan? Or has Move A simply
> led to Move B, and so on?
> 
> ''There is a master plan,'' reveals Pitino. ''With our
> moves, we were trying to accomplish three things.
> 
> ''1. We wanted people with a great threshold for work.
> 
> ''2. We wanted people with tremendous upside.
> 
> ''3. We wanted to create flexibility. If something major
> were ever to come along, we wanted people here who could
> be part of a trade.''
> 
>  [Rick Pitino] RICK
>  PITINO
>  (Globe Staff Photo /
>  Jim Davis)
> 
> Pitino surprised some people by trading Eric Williams,
> all the more so because he really did give him away,
> accepting a pair of second-round picks from Denver in
> return. In the NBA, second-round picks are about as
> useful as goalie sticks.
> 
> Personally, I felt that dumping Williams was a sign of
> Pitino's true sagacity. In fact, I had made that a litmus
> test. I figured that Pitino would really impress me if he
> saw through the 14 points a game and recognized Williams
> for the self-delusionary player, and person, he really
> was. So consider me impressed.
> 
> ''Eric Williams just wasn't going to work out here,''
> says Pitino. ''He wasn't committing himself to this
> organization from a time standpoint.''
> 
> We found out all we needed to know about Williams and his
> approach to his job last year when he celebrated a
> reasonably successful rookie year by attempting to bulk
> up for the lead in ''The Refrigerator Perry Story''
> during the offseason. What he did by gaining 30 pounds in
> between basketball gigs was reveal a lack of respect for
> his coach, his teammates, his profession, and even
> himself.
> 
> Now, if that were the one and only blemish on his Boston
> record, and if he had demonstrated complete remorse for
> his actions, and if he had then done everything in his
> power to prove that he was truly serious about his job,
> he could easily be forgiven.
> 
> But that was not the case. Without getting into
> specifics, Pitino says that Williams had multiple
> opportunities this summer to demonstrate a legitimate
> commitment to personal improvement, and shunned them all.
> Williams is clearly comfortable doing it his way. He is
> satisfied with his level in the NBA. He wasn't willing to
> be a Pitino ballplayer. And so he is better off
> elsewhere. Pitinoland is no place for the slothful.
> 
> Anyway, says Pitino, he didn't trade Williams for two
> second-rounders. Not really. In his mind, he has traded
> Eric Williams for Chris Mills and Tyus Edney.
> 
> ''That's a great trade,'' he maintains, ''because I would
> have traded Eric Williams for Chris Mills, even-up.''
> 
> Pitino looks at the 27-year-old Mills and sees the kind
> of dedicated player he needs to improve the team.
> 
> ''We sort of lucked into him because the salary cap has
> gone up,'' Pitino says. ''His numbers are deceiving
> because he played for Cleveland in a possession game. He
> had 12 [points] and 6 [rebounds] in a low-possession
> game. He'll do better with us.''
> 
> The mentor also regards the durable Cleveland expatriate
> as the precise kind of workaholic athlete he is lusting
> for.
> 
> Edney, Pitino explains, is potentially valuable to the
> Celtics in both specific and general terms.
> 
> ''With Dana Barros coming off [foot] surgery, Edney
> represents insurance at the point guard position,'' says
> Pitino. ''Dana might come back 100 percent, but right now
> we can't be sure. But I'm happy to have Edney. He's as
> good as there is on the break, where he can push it up
> with anyone and makes great decisions. He can really get
> deep into the lane. Defensively, he is a legitimate pest
> who gets up on people, and he should fit into our style
> of play.''
> 
> The names Pitino has brought in do not excite the average
> fan. Travis Knight? Andrew DeClercq? Bruce Bowen? Chris
> Mills? Tyus Edney? Hardly a Scottie Pippen among 'em.
> Many's the time I've heard someone say during the past
> two months, ''Can you imagine if M.L. had done this?
> They'd be assembling the scaffold.''
> 
> I don't doubt that for a second, and therein lies a major
> difference between M.L. Carr and Rick Pitino. We observed
> M.L. long enough to see that he had no legitimate
> long-range plan whatsoever. Even his one undeniably good
> move (the Montross deal with Dallas) we chalked up,
> rightly or wrongly, to beginner's luck. The eternal
> perception was that M.L. was a thorough amateur
> masquerading as both a GM and a coach. Contrast that with
> Pitino's image. He may be many things, but a basketball
> amateur he is not. Anyone who knows anything about the
> game is aware that he is a basketball scholar who
> commands respect at the highest levels of both the
> college and professional game.
> 
> The Celtics were nothing but a six-month amateur hour
> last year, and it would actually have been nice for them
> to refund half the money to their season ticket-holders.
> Rick Pitino really promises only one thing, but it is
> very important. Effective immediately, the operation will
> now be professional.
> 
> ''I plan on reading the definition from the dictionary to
> them the first day of practice,'' Pitino promises. ''I
> will stress to them that professional in this context
> means coming to play all the time.''
> 
> In this regard he is already mightily impressed with what
> he has seen and heard from Dee Brown, who has set the
> tone for the entire team with his ceaseless offseason
> work.
> 
> ''Dee has the most professional attitude I've seen in a
> long, long time,'' salutes Pitino.
> 
> ''When you win just 15,'' Pitino points out, ''it's not
> just a matter of talent. It's also a matter of
> attitude.''
> 
> Playing under M.L. Carr, Eric Williams never learned what
> professionalism means. Antoine Walker still doesn't know.
> He and the others are about to find out.
> 
> Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist.
> 
> This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on
> 08/27/97.
> © Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.
>  [Image]


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GO CELTICS!!!!! GO BRUINS!!!! GO RED SOX!!!! GO PATRIOTS!!!!