May: Pitino Interested In Curry/Delk/Funderburke

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

Funderburke would be a good acquisition; Delk quasi-fills the same niche
as Barros, only cheaper...
                                                        
                                [The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
                                [Boston Globe Online / Sports]


                                NBA NOTES
                                McHale has been in Ewing's shoes and can
                                feel his pain

                                By Peter May, Globe Staff, 06/06/99
                                <snips>

                                Curry in favor

                                Here's what Rick Pitino said when asked
                                what he was looking for at the recently
                                concluded free agent camp: ''We're looking
                                for Michael Curry -type players - tough,
                                hard-nosed guys that can score as well.''
                                Well, guess who's a free agent? None other
                                than Michael Curry. So expect the Celtics
                                to inquire about him, although Grant Hill
                                already is pushing the Pistons to
                                reacquire Curry, who played 1 1/2 seasons
                                in Detroit before signing with Milwaukee
                                in July 1997. The Celtics are also
                                interested in - surprise, surprise - Tony
                                Delk. Another player they might take a
                                look at is Lawrence Funderburke, who got
                                lost in the shuffle during the Kings'
                                playoff series with Utah but was a big
                                part of their regular-season success ...
                                McHale on Ron Mercer: ''The only way the
                                Celtics should be worried about re-signing
                                him is if there are teams out there who
                                will pay him what they won't pay him. I
                                don't see any teams out there who will
                                give him $71 million.'' The unknown here
                                is whether Mercer wants to stay in Boston
                                and keep playing for Pitino. If he wants
                                to test the waters, the Celtics may feel
                                they have to move him; they are offering
                                Mercer and Kenny Anderson in a package
                                around the league. But money should not be
                                an object simply because there won't be
                                many teams, if any, able to offer Mercer
                                big dough. And who's to say it would be a
                                place he'd want to go? If it's about the
                                money, Mercer's best bet is to stay in
                                Boston. If it's something else, the
                                Celtics will have to move him ... NBA
                                teams have been given an extra five days
                                to extend qualifying offers to their
                                restricted free agents (the Celtics have
                                one, Damon Jones). Under normal
                                circumstances, those offers have to be
                                made between the end of the season and
                                July 1. But with the season ending so
                                late, the deadline has been pushed back to
                                July 5 ...

                                This story ran on page D04 of the Boston
                                Globe on 06/06/99.
                                © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.