BosHerald on Turner/Overton

[opi@unesco.org]

Overton is a striver. He is a CBA type who's built a nice seven-year NBA
career without every improving his game that much. I don't know the
caponomics of it, but I assume he is eligible for a relatively high veteran
base salary. His assist to turnover ratio (2.23:1) is somewhat below average
for a point guard, certainly a veteran point guard.

Although Clack and Turner didn't work out, at least we still have a "lottery
pick" rookie star in Adrian Griffin.

Griffin and Potapenko (3 more stitches against the Pacemakers) for Andre
Miller and Ringo now sound like a good deal to me.

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Here is what the Herald reports:

 ``The one thing that Wayne needs is experience,'' Pitino said by way of
explanation for the move, which comes just six days after the Celtics opened
the season. ``He needs playing time - either with another (NBA) team that has
two point guards or one point guard, or the CBA where he can play 35-38
minutes per game.

 ``We're very interested in Wayne and his future, and playing one or two
minutes here is not going to get him the experience he needs to grow as a
basketball player. Conversely, what we need is experience.  If Kenny
(Anderson) should roll his ankle and go down for five games, we need an
experienced point guard.''

The addition of Overton is insurance in a number of ways. Though Anderson
appears to be healthy and well-conditioned this season, he  has a history of
injury problems. He also has been prone to foul  trouble this season, and
Turner had to be called upon more often than expected.

Pitino, who watched Turner struggle to get untracked, now can plug Overton
into Anderson's slot in the event of an injury or foul trouble, while keeping
point guard Dana Barros working almost exclusively with the second unit.
That's the way the coach would prefer to employ his  bench.

``(Overton) has played a lot of minutes in this league,'' said Pitino.``We've
got great reports about his attitude and his desire to work. Everything
checked out well (with his character and skills), which is why we've brought
him here.''

****