Garnett

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Some of the basketball courts were
                  made for indoor soccer. Bathrooms lacked toilets that flushed.
                  Teammates couldn't speak English. 

                  For Marlon Garnett, playing in Turkey for three months was
                  an adventure. But it had its good points, too, and it helped him
                  win a job as a free agent with the Boston Celtics. 

                  "Adversity doesn't bother me. I try to look at positives out of
                  every negative, and the positive that I got out of that was
that I
                  was still playing basketball," he said Wednesday. "It's
better to
                  have Turkey on your resume than to have nothing." 

                  The 6-2, 186-pound Garnett, who played point and shooting
                  guard at Santa Clara, wasn't drafted in 1997. He didn't play
                  much after that until last February when an acquaintance of his
                  college coach helped Garnett land a job with Adalya Vakis. 

                  "The caliber (of play) was nothing like the United States,"
                  Garnett said. "I was the only American on my team. When the
                  playoffs started, we brought in another guy." 

                  His team was eliminated in the first round and he returned to
                  California, where he played with pro players in pickup games
                  at UCLA during the lockout. Boston's Paul Pierce, Kenny
                  Anderson and Greg Minor were in that group. 

                  Garnett hoped to get noticed, and one day Celtics coach Rick
                  Pitino showed up to watch Pierce. Garnett caught his eye. 

                  "I loved what I saw, and I brought him in. He's a great find
                  for us because he shoots so well," Pitino said. "He has a
                  Ph.D. Poor, hungry and driven." 

                  Garnett's ability to shoot and play both guard spots enhances
                  his value to the Celtics, especially with starting shooting guard
                  Ron Mercer expected to miss the first two games with a knee
                  sprain. Garnett will back up Kenny Anderson and Dana Barros
                  at point guard. 

                  "He surprised me. He can shoot the ball just as well as Dana,"
                  Celtics captain Antoine Walker said. "Maybe we can use him
                  for a five- or six-minute span. Maybe teams may not know
                  about him and Kenny gets in the lane and kicks it out and he
                  hits a 3." 

                  At Santa Clara, where he played with Dallas' Steve Nash,
                  Garnett's scoring average went from 6.8 points as a freshman
                  to 13.6 to 12.8 to 17.7. He was disappointed when he wasn't
                  drafted, but his confidence that he could play at the NBA level
                  was reinforced during his workouts in Los Angeles. 

                  "A lot of players gained a lot of respect (for me), and I
gained a
                  lot of respect for myself," Garnett said. "Not trying to be
                  cocky or anything, but I felt like I deserved to be in the
NBA. 

                  "Going to Turkey was frustrating, but I'm a hard worker. I
                  don't bow down to adversity or tribulation." 

                  Before the Celtics noticed him, Garnett thought about returning
                  to Europe or playing in the CBA. But "something inside me
                  told me this is my year," he said. 

                  So he waited for the lockout to end, then joined a team whose
                  up-tempo offense and aggressive defense suit his skills. 

                  "I had some other opportunities," he said, "but I felt that
                  Boston was the best place for me." 

                  Next, Garnett must try to stay on the roster February 19 when
                  NBA teams must trim their active rosters from 14 to 12
                  players. He endured tougher circumstances in Turkey where,
                  he said, the fans were supportive but "the showers were
                  horrible." 

                  "I feel like I can stick, but this is a tough business," Garnett
                  said. "There are a lot of great players, and a lot of
players get
                  left out. I just hope I'm not one of them." 

                  Copyright 1998 Associated Press.