Celtics AOL update

[Bruce Allen <ballen007@yahoo.com>]

Found this interesting article on AOL's web site

http://realfans.aol.com/?MIval=nba_team.htm&team_id=307




BOSTON CELTICS
                                                                 THE
PSX FILES
                                                              
September 9, 1998 

                                GETTING INSIDE

Question: How can tell if a New Yorker is intelligent?

Answer: He or she lives in Boston.

"Exactly," said Kenny Anderson, a product of Archbishop
Malloy High School in Queens. "Once you get some money
and are able to get out, you do it if you're smart."

Anderson left the city for Georgia Tech and an NBA career that has
wound him back east. Upon being traded to the Celtics in February, he
noted how this would be a perfect location for him -- close to New
York but not in New York.
Anderson's coach, Rick Pitino, is another who understands the
geographical imperative. One cannot live in New York.

"Not and play sports," said Pitino, smiling at the concept. "You can
live there if you work on Wall Street. You can live there if you're in
sales and advertising. You can live there if you're an actor or you
like Broadway. But if you're an athlete and you're from New York, go
north, west, south -- anywhere."

Pitino went from Manhattan to Queens to Long Island before heading to
Amherst and the University of Massachusetts. He has been a New Yorker
in accent only ever since.

"New York is a city of temptations," he said, "and if you're going to
keep your body in shape and your mind in shape, it's intelligent to
think of going elsewhere. Unless you're incredibly disciplined and do
not take to heart the things that are said about you, you'll have
problems in New York."

The list of athletes who have fallen victim to the temptations is
endless, and the problem is only compounded for native New Yorkers
trying to balance the needs of neighborhood friends with their
professional lives.

It's so hard to be a saint in the city, and it's even harder if your
past is always bumping into your present during rush hour.

"It's all how you deal with pressure," said Anderson. "Me personally,
I maybe could have dealt with it right now, but not right out of
school. I'm fortunate in that I can go back there and visit my mother
for a week and then leave. I love it like that. That's perfect.

"It's tough in Boston, too. The media here can be tough, too. But it's
a smaller city and it's more livable. And I really think the fans and
the media appreciate the little things here, like hard work. You might
not win a certain game, but if the effort was
good, they'll know it and they'll appreciate that. In New York, they
don't care anything about effort or nothing. They wants wins -- and
that's it. That's IT."

Pitino, too, still cherishes his trips to New York to be with family,
but he left emotionally a long time ago.

"I thoroughly enjoyed where I was reared and grew up, but most of my
adult life and my formative years were spent in New England," Pitino
said. "If I was going to leave Kentucky, it wasn't going to be for
Arizona, it wasn't going to be for California and it wasn't going to
be for New York. It was only going to be Boston."

Cambridge native Patrick Ewing is one of the few to have flown in the
opposite direction. He has talked more often in recent years about his
Boston ties, but in that he must play in Manhattan, he wasn't into
rocking any boats when the issue was raised this past season.

"I love it in New York," he said, turning to Knicks assistant trainer
Said Hamdan and adding, "I'll never leave, right?"

"You go anywhere else and I'm going after you," said Hamdan, a
Brooklyn native. Even the trainers are tough in New York.

NOTES, QUOTES, ANECDOTES

It's been noted here before that, while it seems the logical step for
a Chicago lad, the Windy City is not where Antoine Walker's friends
and family would like him to land -- if he leaves the Celtics.

That hasn't stopped the Bulls from reportedly sending out warm and
fuzzy feelers toward the man who made the All-Star Game in just his
second NBA season. If the
Celtics don't re-sign Walker after the (allegedly) coming season or
get him inked to an extension beforehand, the multi-talented forward
will be free to test the market.
What that market will look like after the collective bargaining
negotiations are completed is anyone's guess. ...

Despite the feeling among both players and league personnel that the
NBA is bound to have its season delayed by the current unrest, at
least one ranking
member of the Celtics organization believes things will get started on
time. Either he knows something we don't know -- or he's not reading
the papers.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're not allowed to talk about that." -- General
manager Chris Wallace in response to a number of questions since the
lockout began.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Rick Pitino had planned for a rainy summer, believing the collective
bargaining talks could usurp his off-season player development time.

"It hurts in terms of working out the players and practicing, but
we've taken care of that," Pitino said. "We've addressed it with each
player. We have the next best scenario."

Pitino and staff have told players what will be expected of them upon
their return from the lockout and helped set up workout opportunities
with independent sources.
Still, the club is cursing the work stoppage, believing it has much
work to do with this roster.

"We have great potential to improve, but our competition will
improve," Pitino said. "It's not enough to go into the next season
with this basketball team and say we're going to improve because we're
young. The only team possibly to show a significant demise COULD be
Chicago -- or they could be just as strong, depending on which
direction they go. But everybody's going to be stronger. In order for
us to leave where we are and take the next step, we've got to add to
the roster. We definitely plan to add to this basketball team."

FREE AGENT UPDATE: Popeye Jones (they'd like to sign a free agent and
then secure Jones). ... Zan Tabak (they'd have liked him back but he
recently accepted a
European offer).

ROTATION REVIEW: Starters -- Point guard Kenny Anderson (11.2 ppg, 6.3
apg with Celts); Shooting guard Ron Mercer (15.3 ppg); Small forward
Walter McCarty
(9.6 ppg, 40 percent shooting); Power forward Antoine Walker (22.4
ppg, 10.2 rpg, 20-plus points 45 times, 46 double-doubles in points
and rebounds); Center         Andrew DeClercq (5.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg).
Bench -- First guard Dana Barros (9.8 ppg, 41 percent on treys); first
forward Greg Minor (5 ppg); first center Travis Knight (6.5 ppg, 4.9
rpg).

MEDICAL WATCH: Pervis Ellison (sprained right ankle) reportedly is
working out and improving. But will it be good enough to alter his
image in Pitino's mind?
Popeye Jones (left knee surgery) has lost weight and is in far better
shape than when he arrived. Bruce Bowen (left foot stress reaction)
got his rest and has been
working out in Boston occasionally. Kenny Anderson (left knee
tendinitis, bone bruise) is on his conditioning program after three
weeks of rest.

Copyright (c) 1998 Pro Sports Xchange




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