Globe article

["Greg Odegaard" <gmodegaa@longvred.rmc.com>]

Here is a very interesting Globe article today covering many subjects, most
notably the prospects of trades and the personnel involved (or not). 
Comments.  

I noted a recent article on the fact that the Celtics have one thing on
every other team so far this year.  They have not lost expected to win
games, meaning no losses to sub 0.500 teams at home, and even very poor
teams on the road.  Of course they have a long way to go to reach the next
level, but it appears they are least playing all teams tought, staying in
the games they should be expected to stay in, and obviously improving on
last year.  A lot to digest.  Let's hope the C's can hold this
performance/expectation ratio for some time, starting with tonight.
 
BTW the last comment in this article talks about Dee Brown's feelings about
Parish.  This scares me a bit about Brown considering the Chief's want with
trouble in the early 90's and all.  Makes me wonder about Mr. Browns head.

Later,
Greg


CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Pitino indicates he's not done dealing 

By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 01/15/98 


The Celtics will visit Vancouver next month. That much is known. But don't
get too attached to your programs and media guides. The team you know in
green that will take on the Grizzlies at the FleetCenter tonight may not be
the same crew you see in Vancouver's GM Place Feb. 18. 

Rick Pitino was asked yesterday about his team's chances of participating
in trades before next month's deadline. 

''I think the chances are very good,'' the coach replied. ''We're going to
try to move some people for their benefit as well as ours.''

Of course, Pitino offered no names. He did say that most teams have come to
him with mostly unpleasant proposals. One of the short-term goals for
Pitino was ''building value'' with his current players. 

''Oh, we've got great value,'' Pitino said. ''Except now that you build
that value, you don't want to give it away.'' He said he was happy with the
way the Chris Mills-for-Walter McCarty (and many others) deal worked out
with New York. But ''other people who have been talking to us are just
looking for lopsided trades. They're trying to give us their problems and
want a good player from us. We're not about to bite on that. Or they want
to give us salary-cap relief for one of our good players. We're not about
to do that as well.''

With that said, whom would the Celtics be willing to deal? Well, you can
most likely scratch three names off the list: Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer,
and Chauncey Billups. Add two more near scratch-offs in Bruce Bowen and
McCarty. From there, any deal is possible. We've definitely heard the
rumors. 

For now, things are quiet. For now. 


The forgotten man

One man who arrived in town via trade, Roy Rogers, was a popular subject
yesterday. Two reporters from Vancouver sat down with the former Grizzly to
ask about his adjustment to Boston. That's a good question when you
consider that Rogers played in all 82 games last season and only seven of
35 with the Celtics. Tony Massenburg, whom the Celtics traded for Rogers,
is averaging 3.3 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes per night. 


No room for Brown

These are tough times for Dee Brown. The tricaptain received a DNP-CD
Tuesday night, and by the sounds of things, better results may not lie
ahead. ''Well, I don't think he has a role right now,'' Pitino said when
asked about Brown's status. ''Certainly, Dee has worked hard to play, but
there are people right now playing ahead of him. So it's a difficult
assignment for Dee to be in being a veteran ballplayer. But it's something
we'll have to go through. We're a young basketball team, and there's not
much we can do about it.''

Brown said he will maintain his leadership role, no matter what role Pitino
has for him. ''It's not about me,'' he said, ''it's about getting the team
out of a rut.'' Brown has not talked with his coach about what he wants,
but Pitino said he understands how difficult things might be. 

''You're a captain, you're a veteran, you're not playing. I know what he's
going through.''


Rahim a keeper

Don't be deceived by the Grizzlies' 11-game losing streak. No, they're not
a strong team. But they have a legitimate All-Star in Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
''I love Shareef,'' Brown said. ''A lot of people don't know about him
because he's so far away in a small market. He's definitely their Antoine
Walker. He's the guy they have to keep on their team to go in the right
direction.'' ... The Celtics worked out Antonio Daniels and scouted Billups
before the draft. Billups was selected third; Daniels was taken fourth by
the Grizzlies. Pitino said it wasn't a case of picking between the point
men. ''We just decided to go with Chauncey.'' ... One of the best matchups
to watch last year was Walker going at Rahim. The Celtics forward played
down that featurette yesterday. ''It won't be me against him,'' he said.
''He plays the 3 [small forward].'' Walker will most likely be matched up
with Otis Thorpe, with McCarty on Rahim ... Keep an eye on the team's
shooting tonight. The Celtics began practice at 11:30 a.m. yesterdy and
didn't finish until 2 p.m. Pitino emerged 45 minutes after that, but it had
nothing to do with working on his jump shot. He was filming ''The Rick
Pitino Show'' ... Pitino recruited Rahim when the latter was in high
school. Kentucky lost that fight. Winner (for one season): The University
of California ... Brown said there will be no animosity when Larry Bird
comes to town Sunday. The Legend predicted in the preseason that Brown
would be hurt and not live up to his contract. Brown has not been hurt.
Like his teammates, he has been ducking the flu. ''You're going to get that
no matter what job you're in,'' he said of the bug. As for the hype Sunday
when Bird comes to Boston for the first time as the Pacers' coach, Brown
said, ''I'm the only guy on this team who played with Larry. To me, the
biggest moment of that day will be seeing [Robert Parish's] number retired.
When he was here, he was like a father figure to me.''