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Vin Baker: Always Been A Dream To Play For The Celtics
Unlike that evil Antoine Walker, Vin Baker is in shape. Of
course, you can never believe what you read....
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
ON BASKETBALL
Baker looking for a sign that he'll end up
in Boston
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 07/08/99
ORLANDO - He's easily lost among
the supernovas in attendance. Vin
Baker doesn't automatically command the
presence of a Tim Duncan, Gary Payton,
Kevin Garnett, or even a Tim Hardaway and,
based on what he did last season, probably
deserves to be somewhere other than where
he is - playing for USA Basketball's
Olympic qualifying team.
He's here because of what he did in his
first five years in the league: four
All-Star appearances (1995-98), one
all-NBA second team (1998), and an all-NBA
third team (1997). In that span, he was
one of the top power forwards in the
league, an enviable combination of power
and quickness.
But like a lot of veterans, Baker was a
casualty of the lockout. He is coming off
what he called a ''nightmare'' of a
season, one that saw precipitous drops in
his customarily impressive stats and his
team, the Seattle SuperSonics, a defending
division champ, fail to make the playoffs.
Now, in addition to being ultra-
determined to return to his previous,
stellar form, he is a free agent. If
timing is everything, one might think that
Baker picked the absolute worst time to
offer his wares on the open market. He, of
course, thinks otherwise.
''All the dreams that I've had can
possibly become a reality this summer,''
said the Connecticut native.
Not only that, he still hasn't given up on
his one, unrelenting hoop quest: to play
for the Celtics.
''It's always been a dream of mine to come
back [to New England] and don the Celtic
green,'' Baker said yesterday after
working out with his USA Basketball
teammates at the Orlando Magic's practice
facility. ''So we'll see what can we do.''
Baker has long professed a desire to play
in Boston, but this is his first crack at
free agency. The Celtics don't have any
cap room - nor does anyone else who would
be appealing to him - so any deal would be
an enormously complicated scenario, given
that salary cap complexities are sure to
surface. That's not to say something
couldn't be worked out; Baker at least
knows the mechanics by which any deal
would have to be consummated.
''I know if it's going to be done, it's
going to be a sign-and-trade,'' he said,
referring to a situation where the Sonics
would re-sign him and trade him, much the
way the Bulls re-signed Scottie Pippen,
then traded him to Houston. ''It's
definitely something I'd want to do.
Seattle is right up there, too, and I've
had some good times there and it's been a
great city. But, obviously, coming home
and closing out my career right up the
street would be great.''
He wasn't talking about the Connecticut
Pride of the CBA.
First and foremost, however, is getting
his game back to a point where anyone
would want him. Was there any more
pathetic sight last season than an
overweight Baker clanging one shot after
another from the free throw line? (He
missed his first 14 and 19 of his first
20.) He, along with Shawn Kemp and Antoine
Walker, basically submarined their
respective teams' playoff chances by
showing up out of shape and never
recovering.
Baker also was hurt by injuries to his
right knee and thumb. He missed 16 games,
and his 13.8 scoring average was his
lowest since his rookie year. He had
career lows in rebounding (6.2 per game),
shooting percentage (45.3), free throw
percentage (45.0) and assists (1.62 per
game). The Sonics couldn't even crack the
top eight in the Western Conference after
winning the Pacific Division the year
before in Baker's first season in Seattle.
''Last year was the most disappointing
time in my career,'' Baker said. ''I let
myself get out of shape, thinking there
wasn't going to be a season. It was a bad,
bad situation. This summer, more than
getting a new contract or signing with any
team, my biggest goal is to get myself
ready to play, returning to All-Star form,
and being one of the top players in this
league again.''
He says he's already lost 15 pounds. Larry
Brown, the coach of the qualifying team,
isn't giving the boys a free ride either;
they're working for two hours-plus with a
lot of running. Baker thinks playing for
this team is ideal for his summer plan.
The tournament, in San Juan, Puerto Rico,
is from July 14-25, and the United States
needs to finish first or second to qualify
for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Baker will be on that team as well. What
he doesn't now, at least for now, is what
NBA team he will be on for the 1999-2000
season. He will talk it over with his
parents in Connecticut, and his agents,
the Goodwin brothers, who also handle Paul
Pierce among others, are due here tomorrow
to talk about options and scenarios.
The way he spoke yesterday, whatever team
gets him is going to be glad it did. The
evil twin from last season is gone, Baker
said, never to return.
''People say 50 percent, maybe even 75
percent of the battle is recognizing that
you have a problem and doing something
about it, which I've already done and am
still in the process of doing,'' he said.
''I won't allow myself [to fall off the
map]. Everyone who knows me and has been
around me knows that the most important
thing for me is getting back to where I
was. Like [Muhammad] Ali said, `All it's
going to take is dying.' I'm doing that
right now. No one is going to stop me next
year from getting back on top.''
This story ran on page D06 of the Boston
Globe on 07/08/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.