Pitino Enthusiastic About Battie And The Playoffs Next Season

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

Boy, he's talking up Battie....
                                       

                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]

                                Celtics' future has already started

                                By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 04/29/99

                                MIAMI - Rick Pitino knows something
                                you don't. He sees something you
                                don't. You have to wonder if he carries a
                                stack of tarot cards in his back pocket.

                                You hear him constantly say his team will
                                begin the 21st century with a playoff
                                appearance. He doesn't say ''maybe.'' He
                                doesn't say ''if.'' He doesn't say ''one
                                more year.''

                                Nope. It will be next year. Playoffs. Call
                                the Celtics' ticket offices right now. Get
                                an early start. There will be playoff
                                basketball on Causeway Street in 2000.

                                You see a quasi-lottery team just like
                                everyone else (save for the fact this
                                lottery team probably won't have its own
                                first-round draft pick in June). What does
                                Pitino see? The coach was asked that
                                yesterday when his team, appropriately,
                                practiced at the University of Miami. Many
                                students on campus were surprised when
                                told the Celtics were working out at a
                                nearby gym. The undergrads were expecting
                                the pros to have hairlines that recede
                                like South Beach shorelines. But the
                                Celtics look like them: young and
                                college-aged. They'll look that way next
                                year too because that's exactly who they
                                are.

                                So, what will change?

                                ''I think when you're young and talented,
                                what you need is practice,'' Pitino
                                explained. ''And I'm positive that we'll
                                get the necessary practice time and become
                                a very good basketball team. I think we
                                have the necessary ingredients. Now,
                                without [Tony] Battie and [Vitaly]
                                Potapenko, I wouldn't be quite as sure.''

                                Since arriving in Boston, Pitino has
                                talked about the team's lack of size. He
                                has size now in the 6-foot-11-inch Battie
                                and 6-10 Potapenko. He likes Battie so
                                much that he has considered having him
                                guard smaller, quicker players. He likes
                                Potapenko, too. He will get a chance to
                                tinker with the center's game this summer,
                                since he has already committed to playing
                                in the team's summer league.

                                ''I think they've given us a new level
                                rebounding-wise and a new level from a
                                physical standpoint,'' Pitino said. ''One
                                is a big, physical guy who will knock you
                                on your ass. And the other is a shot
                                blocker. Those are the two necessary
                                ingredients that we needed.''

                                Although Pitino did not wish for an
                                injured team, he said his players'
                                ailments have helped him evaluate. Now he
                                knows he likes Potapenko and Battie
                                together on the court. He also has found
                                some things that may surprise you.

                                ''You want to know something? I almost
                                made the move [Tuesday night]; I almost
                                put Tony Battie on Grant Hill,'' Pitino
                                said. ''I think eventually, if he was a
                                year or two older, we could do that. He's
                                quick enough to guard a smaller man and he
                                would be the best guy to play Grant Hill
                                in that scenario - with another year of
                                seasoning.''

                                The scenario Tuesday was the 6-8 Hill
                                rarely had to look up when posting up a
                                Celtic. He had nearly two inches on Paul
                                Pierce, an inch on Ron Mercer, and could
                                go around Walter McCarty, who is 6-10.
                                Pitino insists that Battie, who went
                                through a growth spurt his first year of
                                college (he had entered as a 6-7
                                freshman), has the footwork to stay with
                                Hill as well as the shot-blocking ability
                                to discourage soft turnarounds.

                                So, just to be sure, this will help make
                                the Celtics a playoff team? Some of the
                                players certainly believe it.

                                ''I think that not only will we be a
                                playoff team,'' Pierce added after
                                practice, ''I think we'll be fighting for
                                that top spot in the East.''

                                Pierce was reminded that NBA neighborhoods
                                are similar to neighborhoods across the
                                country: If you do something, your nosy
                                neighbor may try to do it better. The
                                Cavaliers will most likely have two
                                lottery picks. Same story with the
                                Raptors. Both of those teams are ahead of
                                the Celtics now. They may choose to keep
                                the picks they have or trade them for
                                established players.

                                If the Celtics are going to make the
                                playoffs in 2000 they had better be ready
                                to leap a few people.

                                This story ran on page C10 of the Boston
                                Globe on 04/29/99.
                                © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.