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Peter May Column
Chris Wallace says Wayne Turner has looked good; Clack has been fair,
but no mention of Adrian Griffin who really has a good chance of
making the team. May says Potapenko has been a foul machine and
struggled. Dino Radja coming back to the NBA?
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
PRO BASKETBALL NOTES
Recommendations might get offensive
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 07/18/99
<snips>
SAN JUAN - Down here, the rules are
different in international
basketball. The lane is a trapezoid, the
game is divided into 20-minute halves, and
the 30-second clock expires if there is
merely a shot attempt.
But out in California, and later this
month in Boston, the NBA's recent rule
''recommendations'' to clean up the game
and, supposedly, increase scoring will be
implemented in a summer pro league.
Initially, it could make for some painful
viewing as players adjust.
Celtics general manager Chris Wallace
reports from Long Beach that the first
quarter of the Celtics-Portland game a
week ago took 50 minutes to play. ''It was
a major shock,'' he said of all the
whistles. ''We've seen some 70- and
80-foul games and they're calling any kind
of contact. These guys are starting to
adjust, but you'll see the same thing in
the exhibition season with the regular
guys.''
Players don't foul out, which is a good
thing for Vitaly Potapenko. He picked up
22 fouls in 87 minutes, including seven in
18 minutes against Seattle. To cut down on
free throws, a team doesn't get into the
bonus until the 10th team foul.
Veteran NBA referee Dick Bavetta said the
recommendations and experiments are
designed mainly for one reason: ''The
overall theme,'' he said, ''is to draw a
more literal line between aggressive play
and rough play. We don't want to penalize
aggressive play. We will penalize rough
play.''
Here are a few areas where we'll hear
whistles where none have blown before.
There will be no contact allowed on the
player bringing up the ball until that
player has reached the foul line at the
offensive end. You used to be able to put
a forearm on him. Now, you have to wait
until he's at the foul line (or where the
foul line would extend if he's on either
side).
The so-called ''Mark Jackson Rule'' will
be implemented. Basically, a player can't
post-up with impunity and take his time
dribbling, waiting for a double-team, a
shot opportunity, or an ice tea. All you
get is five seconds and then there will be
a violation.
The shot clock won't be reset to 24
seconds automatically. If there is a
nonshooting foul and the clock is below 14
seconds, it will be reset to 14 seconds,
not 24. That could lead to some
interesting strategies from teams that
have a foul to waste late in a quarter.
There will be no contact on players
cutting to the basket, looking for passes.
We know what happened to those unfortunate
lads in the past. They'd run into elbows,
shoulders, forearms, or errant hands. The
referees used to call that ''rerouting.''
Now, it's a foul.
Once a player gets post position, the
defender will not be allowed to move him
out. (Shaq will approve of this one.)
Before, the defender used his forearm,
knee, or superior strength to move his man
off the block. However, the offensive
player will not be able to simply come in
and blow the defender off the block,
either.
On screens, the man who sets the screen
must give the defensive player a chance to
change direction and get around it.
There also is a revision of the illegal
defense guidelines, but since no one
understands the existing guidelines, why
bother? This area is a work in progress.
Bavetta will be in Boston along with 23
other referees working on indoctrinating
the players to the changes. (We'd like to
use the term ''strict constructionist''
here, but Richard Nixon followers might
disapprove.) The summer pro league games
will be shorter (10-minute quarters, no
mandatory timeouts, 60-second regular
timeouts). The recommendations also will
be implemented in summer leagues in Salt
Lake City and Atlanta.
Pierce(ing) statement
Fouls notwithstanding, the Celtics' entry
in the FILA California Summer Pro League
got off to a rousing start, winning its
first four games. The undisputed star of
the show: Paul Pierce. In a 110-96 win
over Seattle Wednesday, Pierce poured in
46 points. Now, he wasn't playing against
the real Sonics of course; they're
scattered hither and yon (two are down
here in Puerto Rico). But 46 is still 46.
''It was a sight to behold,'' said
Wallace. ''It wasn't a selfish 46. It was
inside, outside, within the flow. It was
awesome.'' Pierce was 14 of 20 from the
field and 12 of 15 from the free throw
line in 40 minutes. In those first four
games, Pierce averaged 27 points a game
while shooting 54 percent. Alas, his
finale was Friday night against the
Lakers; he agreed to go to Miami for a
charity game. The other two ''contract''
Celtics on the team for the first four
games were Potapenko and Tony Battie.
(Three free agents on last year's team
also played: Bruce Bowen, Marlon Garnett ,
and Eric Riley). Potapenko was struggling;
he shot 29 percent. Battie, on the other
hand, put up some nice numbers. He had 23
points in the opener against Portland and
averaged 16 a game in the first four.
Second-round pick Kris Clack averaged 11
minutes a game in the first three games
and then played 26 against Seattle. In
that game, he had 12 points (including two
treys) and four assists. ''He's been
fair,'' said Wallace. Finally, Wayne
Turner averaged 7.8 points and 5.3 assists
in 24.3 minutes a game over the first
four, shooting 48 percent. ''Wayne has
looked good,'' Wallace said ... While on
the subject of second-rounders, Pat
Williams, now with the Magic, recalled how
the 76ers snared Maurice Cheeks with the
36th pick in 1978. '' Jack McMahon [the
team's assistant and top scout] saw him
play at West Texas State and came back
raving about him, even though he played in
a slow-down offense. We needed a point
guard at the time [Williams was then the
Sixers' general manager] because the [
World B.] Free thing was not working out.
Then, he played really well in the Pizza
Hut Classic, so people started to know who
he was. We worked him out again in
Cincinnati before the draft and liked him
a lot. But we really sweated it out in the
second round to get him at 36.'' Philly
did not have a first-round pick that year
. . . Hoop fans in Croatia were aflutter
this week when news broke that Dino Radja
had signed with Zadar and was coming home.
(Zadar is a couple hours from his native
Split.) Not so fast, says Radja's agent,
Marc Fleisher. All Dino did was agree to
play for Zadar and no one else in Croatia.
He remains free to choose another team in
Europe or, perhaps, return to the NBA. ''I
think his preference is still Europe,''
Fleisher said, ''but there aren't that
many teams that can make a good offer.
He's feeling better. He had an injury-free
season [in Greece] and he's more inclined
now to consider the NBA because he feels
he can handle the grind.'' Fleisher said
there was a ''fair likelihood'' that Radja
would come back, but with whom? ''It's too
early to tell,'' he said. ''`Several of
the better teams in the league already
have contacted me, though. And there still
are a couple of teams in Europe we're
waiting on.'' In other words, Zadar is the
equivalent of the safety school in the
college application process. If nothing
else works, that's where he'll be. But it
looks like something else will work. Radja
is 32... Detlef Schrempf, a free agent,
was thought to be considering joining an
over-the-cap contender for the veteran's
exception, hoping to wrangle a ring before
he gets too old. (He turns 37 Jan. 21.)
His two favorites at the moment appear to
be the Lakers and the Trail Blazers.
Whether the interest is reciprocated
remains to be seen. Schrempf has played
the last six years for Seattle ... Jayson
Williams of the Nets is trying to use his
considerable powers of persuasion to
convince Charles Oakley to come to the
swamps of Jersey. Williams will have his
thumb operated on - it's an old war wound
- but both he and Kerry Kittles (knee) are
expected to be fine for Don Casey's first
training camp. As a precaution, however,
Casey is thinking of using Kendall Gill at
shooting guard and re-signed Scott Burrell
(as well as Keith Van Horn) at small
forward.
This story ran on page D04 of the Boston
Globe on 07/18/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.