Bulpett: Pitino May Sit This One Out; Miami Might Get Odom

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

How good will Miami be if they acquire Odom and Oakley?
      Boston Herald

      Celtics content to watch, wait 
      by Steve Bulpett 
      Wednesday, June 30, 1999
      Coach and president Rick Pitino will be like most fans as tonight's NBA 
      draft unfolds. He will be a spectator. 
      Oh, he and the Celtic brass will work the phones at their Healthpoint 
      headquarters in Waltham, but he cautions not to expect any puffs of white 
      smoke coming from the inner sanctum. While there are those who believe 
      Pitino cannot simply watch a parade go by without joining in, he insists 
      he's happy to be sitting this one out.
      The 1999 NBA draft has already yielded him a starting center, Vitaly 
      Potapenko, and that's more than all right with him. There is little he 
      thinks that can help the Celtics here. All the club has in hand as of now 
      is the 55th overall selection.
      ``This is the weakest draft I've ever seen in terms of star quality,'' 
      Pitino said late yesterday. ``I had Mark Jackson as the Rookie of the Year 
      with the 18th pick (in 1987) and you may see that again.''
      As a result of the shaky field, teams were burning up phone lines 
      yesterday trying to entice other clubs with picks. Said one general 
      manager: ``Teams are talking themselves into love with certain players. 
      The ones they realize they're only kidding themselves are now trying to 
      unload their picks. It's actually pretty funny to watch.''
      Pitino has seen the same situations unfolding.
      ``Everybody wants to trade their pick,'' he said. ``No one's happy with 
      this draft. You look even up top and everyone's trying to move the other 
      way. Teams that have the good picks want out.''
      Pitino wouldn't entirely rule out the Celtics getting involved, but it 
      would have to include more than a shiny new draftee.
      ``We're not going to be in this draft unless it means getting a player 
      that we want besides the draft pick,'' he said. ``We're talking to 10 or 
      15 teams, just throwing things back and forth. But all we're doing is 
      keeping a dialogue going, like, `Would you do this?' and, `Would you do 
      that?'
      ``Something may crop up at the final second, so we're just trying to keep 
      our finger in everything.''
      Pitino appeared to find it interesting that Pat Riley became involved in 
      the Miami draft and that there's talk of the Heat sending P.J. Brown, 
      Voshon Lenard and the 25th pick to Vancouver for the No. 2 choice. (If it 
      works, Miami would take Lamar Odom and then try to sign Charles Oakley as 
      a free agent.)
      Speaking of Miami, it appears that most every trade ``rumor'' involving 
      the Celtics has Pitino's former Kentucky pupil Jamal Mashburn coming to 
      Boston as part of the scheme.
      Trying to put things in perspective, Pitino said: ``Jamal off the court is 
      like a son to me, but that's neither here nor there. I wouldn't sign my 
      son Michael to a contract. Jamal has two years left on his contract and 
      you can see what happens from there.''
      Pitino said he still wouldn't mind dealing the 55th pick.
      ``If you have 10 bucks, you can have it,'' he said. ``That's a joke,'' he 
      added after a pause.
      Certainly general manager Chris Wallace and the scouting staff is taking 
      the entire exercise seriously, knowing that even if they don't make a 
      pick, they may be making decisions on some of these players as free agents 
      in the next year or two.
      ``We're putting together a list of about 75-80 players that we should be 
      keeping an eye on,'' Wallace said.