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

[Daniel Forant Sr <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

The Herald is wrong. Dead wrong. Pierce and Walker can carry the team on
their backs. Does Mercer fit? Not if we can get what we need for him. A
point and a power forward. Walker will fit better at small forward and will
excel. Pierce will only get better. You don't need a superstar(s) to win a
championship. Just a balanced team with good players. To listen to the
Herald the Fat Lady has sung. Wrong. She's just humming.

>      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. 
>
>
>