Michael Gee: Celtics More Than Six Seasons Away From Winning A Championship

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

Of course, if Pitino made the right moves in this off-season, that
time could be cut in half....

      Boston Herald   

      Hazy forecast for C's day in sun 
      by Michael Gee 
      Thursday, May 6, 1999
      Rick Pitino will win a championship in five years - if he takes the 
      University of North Carolina job when Bill Guthridge retires. 
      If Pitino stays with the Celtics, he can expect a certain measure of 
      success in that time. There will be playoff appearances, perhaps even some 
      playoff series victories. But an NBA championship? Forget it.
      As currently constituted, Boston is definitely more than six seasons away 
      from a title. And the more changes the Celts make, the further away 
      they'll get from their stated goal.

      A harsh judgment? Perhaps. A premature one? No. What other conclusions are 
      there to draw from the season that blessedly concluded last night?
      The Celts are better than the .400 team they were this season. Rebuilding 
      a squad in any sport often involves a relapse year where it slips 
      backward. It's a natural part of the growth process.
      But the Celtics aren't much better than a .400 club. And there are serious 
      questions as to how good they can ever become.
      The Celtics are built around a core of young players in a league where 
      success depends on a core of old ones. They have an undeniably talented 
      coach who adores change in a league where stability pays off as never 
      before. And they have a fan base that woefully underestimates how much 
      time is required for an NBA team to become competent, let alone a champ.
      The ``more than six seasons'' estimate earlier in this column wasn't 
      plucked out of the air. It's a figure that gives the Celts the benefit of 
      every doubt, because it took Michael Jordan seven seasons to win his first 
      NBA title.

      People forget how long it took the Bulls to become a dynasty. First they 
      had to get Scottie Pippen, then they had to find a coach who could 
      manipulate Jordan's planet-sized ego, and then they had to learn toughness 
      through several humiliating playoff losses to the Pistons. Possession of 
      the league's single-most talented player was only the beginning of the 
      process.

      That's the way it's always been in pro basketball. In all of NBA history, 
      only two rookies of major historic consequence won titles their initial 
      seasons. The two? Bill Russell and Magic Johnson, who joined teams that 
      already had Hall of Fame players on their rosters.
      Again, let's give the Celts the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that 
      their current core of Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce and Ron Mercer stays 
      together for the foreseeable future. Let's even assume that they'll show 
      continued improvement as professionals, and attribute their extreme 
      inconsistency to their extreme youth.

      Given all that, name me the Hall of Famer in the Celtics bunch. Who's 
      going to be the acknowledged historic figure who lifts Boston to that 17th 
      NBA title?

      Walker? There's a fine player in there somewhere, and we shouldn't stop 
      looking for him. But so far, the Celtics captain looks a lot more like the 
      next Chris Webber than the next Karl Malone.
      Pierce and Mercer are more of a piece. They have a better handle on the 
      nature of their games than Walker does. But each was just as erratic as 
      Walker. That's what made the fans' scapegoating of him so unfair.
      Superstar NBA players may not win titles their first few years in the 
      league, but they leave nobody in doubt as to their fundamental greatness. 
      They have one or two seven-point games a season, not one a week.
      Walker, Pierce and Mercer have yet to reach consistent goodness. Greatness 
      is way over the horizon somewhere, and they may never reach it.
      Then again, they may. If so, the Celtics are closer to a title than I 
      think. We can wait to find out.

      How long will Pitino wait? The coach said this was the most painful season 
      of his career. There's a lot more suffering in Boston's immediate future. 
      For a success freak like Pitino, a future of goodness without greatness 
      might be the most unendurable pain of all.