Onhoops article number 1

[RAMANI_R@bentley.edu]

I must say my NBA heart (if there is such a thing) beat a little faster last
May with the hiring of
Kentucky coach Rick Pitino to the Boston Celtics. Tired of the horrendous
unimaginative offenses
run by every team in the NBA I couldn't wait to see what Rick could do with the
Celts. He had
been a winner everywhere else at Providence, the Knicks, Kentucky. Especially
Kentucky. He had
almost reinvented the game with his ninety-four feet trapping, let the threes
fly, give the big men hell,
type of game. I thought he could turn around a once proud franchise and make
the most exciting,
best conditioned team in basketball. And someday, if Jordan ever retires, the
best team in basktball.

That day still may come but I doubt it now after three months that add up to
the inconsistency and
head scratching of the immortal M.L. Carr era. First Pitino and the Celts, the
clear cut favorites in
the Tim Duncan sweepstakes, lost the draft lottery. Luck you say? Yeah,
probably. But why the hell
did M.L. Carr represent them in the lottery? Get Pitino or Antonie Walker to do
the ceromonies.
Carr is trouble waiting to happen. You also had to announce to America after
buying out Carr's
contract what his "job" title was. What was it anyways? Assistant Vice
President to the Assistant
Manager to the Assistant Vice President of the Boston Celtics recreational
slide and swings and
playground assistant development?

As you can see from my Draft recap Ricky and the miracles had a pretty good
draft. However he
made a mistake taking Ron Mercer over Tracy McGrady. This will be the first
what will likely be
many Bluegrass biased mistakes. Pitino may know Mercer but if he really knew
him he could see at
Kentucky that he benefited more from Pitino's great system than anything else.
Also in a story
unrealated to basketball or any basketball players Pitino drafted Ben Pepper in
the second round
(CN: Dr Pepper's raw and a bit unco, but he can only get better - he'll be in
the big league in a
couple years...) 

Things really got suspect though when the offseason began. Rick Pitino tried to
trade Dino Radja
and he couldn't. He tried again and he coudln't. He tried to fake a kidnap of
him and he coudln't. He
tried to tell him that there was an American custom of kicking somebody out of
the country after
four years of serivce (see: Jimmy Carter). He couldn't but finally did convince
Dino to sign with a
European team thus freeing up massive salray cap space.

After simply dumping a player who he had gotten mad with, Pitino now had a ton
of fun money to
play with. He had about eight million under the salary cap and even more next
year if they did not
sign anyone. So with that in mind he went out and pulled a Jim McIllvaine,
signing Travis Knight to a
seven year twenty million dollar contract all guaranteed. Among Knight's
credentials are the fact he
is seven feet and white. He is mobile, a rare trait in the whiteus stifferous
spieces. So Pitino knowing
that Seattle may have killed a dynasty last summer by signing Jim McIllvaine to
a equally
preposterous deal thinks Kinght will be the starting center next year. Along
with remembering when
Bill Russell, Dave Cowens, and Robert Parish started at center for them the
Celtics might also be
pining for the Acie Earl- Pervis Ellison days by midseason.

Not only did Pitino sign Knight but he did so by still staying more or less
under the salary cap. How
did the man pull this off? By renouncing the whole damn team. Nine players were
renounced
(renounced has replaced "one game at a time" as the most overused expression in
the NBA). Sure
many of these were guys that make Kinght look like Wilt Chamberlin (some guy
named Brent
Szabo was on the list. He sounds like a left wingman on the Hartford Whalers.)
However Rick Fox
was cut (so was Todd Day; as I said most of the guys on the list were stiffs.)
Fox is a hardworking
a veteran and a Dean Smith guy who gets fifteen points a night at the small
forward spot. He can run
the floor and would have been a great addition for Pitino. However Pitino not
only didn't sign him
but double crossed him. At the start of the summer Pitino promised to re-sign
him. This was one of
many instances where Rick was lying through his teeth.

The next order of business was getting some frontcourt bodies. Bodies is a
loose term for minumum
wage player who puts a "body" and a few fouls on Shaq and Hakeem. Joe Kliene,
Bill Wenningotn,
and the current edition of Terry Cummings are good examples. Bodies are not
totally devoid of
talent but they should not eat up salary cap space and prevent the "skilled
bodies" from signing. But
that is exactly what Pitino did with Andrew DeClerq and Tony Massenburg. Rick
signed Andrew
(an ex-Florida guy who for the life of me I never knew he ever made the NBA)
from Golden State
for a five year eight million dollar contract. Not a huge deal but enough to
eat valuble cap room and
a deal as big as Rick Fox's. Then Pitino signed Massenburg to a comparable
deal. Massenburg has
the distinction of having the worse winning percentage of any player in NBA
history. That should tell
you something about which teams he can latch on to. Finally in a move that does
not eat much cap
space but makes one wonder if the C's are from outer space is the signing of
Bruce Bowen. Who?
They got this guy for a guaranteed contract. Of course in signing all these big
men the big question is
how they all get playing time backing up Ben Pepper (see capping the second
round of the draft.)

Well the Celtics looked done wheeling and dealing for a while. Or so the
innocent thought. A rogue
bad trade was thrown by Pitino three weeks ago when he shipped Eric Williams to
Denver for
nothing {cleverly diguised as two future second round picks.) Yes, that Eric
Williams. The same
Eric Williams who on draft day was declared by Pitino to be untouchable. If
this deal had been
made by a less powerful coach/general manager/owner/pope say P.J. Carleismo it
would have been
considered backstabbing. What makes even less sense is the way Pitino and
partner in crime Chris
Wallace {who in title holds the job as GM) defended it. They said they dealt
the young dynamic
swingman for salary cap reasons. Anybody who signs Andrew DeClerq to a five
year deal cannot
be too concerned with the cap. What is ironic though is that Williams made less
than either DeClerq
or Knight. By being part of the draft class of '95 Williams had the rookie cap
levied on him. That
means he will make one million next year and become a free agent. One year left
on a contract that
does not even average seven figures in todays NBA is hardly cause for financial
concern. While it is
true the Celtics would go out and sign a reasonable facsmile of Eric they could
have had their
Williams and ate a Mills too.

One day after word of this ugly transaction broke out, Pitino and Wallace
announced the signing of
Chris Mills and Tyus Edney (I mention Chris Wallace again here. You notice
Wallace has been
commenting on all the deals and is given the offical General Manager title.
Pitino may already be
distancing himself from his own decisions.) Now the thought that instantly came
to my mind is that
Mills is an ex-Wildcat. Arizona Wildcat you say. Yes, but Kentukcy Wildcat. He
was the infamous
reciever of Pandora's Package (a box containing one thousand dollars sent to
his apartment in Los
Angeles by Kentucky assistant and now Sonic assistant Dwyane Casey.) He spent
one year at
Kentucky before leaving to Arizona after putting UK on probation. He left the
year Pitino came.
This means they will be three ex-Wildcats in the starting line-up. Maybe Boston
can beat
Vanderbilt.

Mills, Edney, Billups and Mercer are all good athletic players. Antoine Walker
may be great one
day. But Pitino seemed rather directionless when it comes to running this team.
Nobody has better
persuasive power than Pitino. The Pippen deal almost went through because
Pitino not only
convinced Pippen to play for the lowly Celtics but to resign with them. Why
then does he need to
throw money at Travis Knight and Ben Bowen? What Pitino should have done this
offseason is the
following. It is all pretty self explanatory-

- - released Dino Radja

- -renounce the rights to every free agent except Rick Fox

- -sign Fox to a five year deal

- -sign Billups and Mercer 

- -hold rest of money in vault for next years free agent class

With a stronger and more balanced East this year and with the Nets and Sixers
making
improvements do not be suprised to see Boston with the worst record in the
conference. The
problem is it may be that way for the next seven years.

          -Matt "McGowan" Blake 

Ritesh Ramani
ramani_rite@bentley.edu