Loveable Peter May Says Nice Things About Pitino & Celtics

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

Just kidding....

      The Sporting News

      Boston Celtics
      Team Report posted OCTOBER 2, 1999      

      By TSN correspondent
      Peter May
      Boston Globe
      CAMP DISH 
      The Celtics open camp this Tuesday, and Rick Pitino might as well 
      distribute T-shirts with the words, "No Excuses," on the front and 
      "Playoffs or Bust" on the back. He has put himself and his team on the 
      line--this is Year 3 and we must make the playoffs. 
      Pitino has revamped the team again, hoping that Paul Pierce will make the 
      move from small forward to off-guard. The Celtics are convinced he can, 
      pointing to the five games against CBA competition in the California Pro 
      Summer League. But Kobe Bryant will tell you it's not as easy as it looks. 

      By reconfiguring the lineup, that means a new group of players will have 
      to get accustomed to a style of play that is unpopular and conditioning 
      regimen even the Marines might reject as too severe. Can the Celtics win 
      this way? Pitino is convinced they can, pointing to his successes at 
      previous stops and that it generally took a few years before everything 
      came together. And he says, in reality, he expects to press no more than 
      30 percent of the time. But of the top seven players, only one, Antoine 
      Walker, has been with the team for as long as two years. Two starters, 
      Danny Fortson and Vitaly Potapenko, were on different clubs at the start 
      of last season and a third, Pierce, is coming off his rookie year. 
      The youth movement is going to be an ongoing problem. Pitino has a 
      double-edged sword here; he knows he needs veterans but most veterans 
      don't want to play his style of basketball. Pitino elevated the immature 
      Walker to captain's status two years ago and Walker, who many think has a 
      terrific game, has not really improved a whole lot since he came to the 
      team. But Pitino didn't hesitate to make him the $71 million man and 
      insisted that the team be built around Walker, Pierce and Ron Mercer. 
      Whoops. Mercer has been traded already. 
      There's also the whole attitude situation, too, magnified last season when 
      Pitino made the unprecedented move of leaving Kenny Anderson home for a 
      game because of disciplinary reasons. Anderson has never been his kind of 
      player and is too entrenched in his game to change now. 
      POSITIONAL ANALYSIS 
      Center: Not exactly the Celtics' strong point; it hasn't been since Robert 
      Parish left. Pitino is banking on a complete season from Vitaly Potapenko, 
      who is a diligent worker and strong post defender. He's not known for 
      rebounding or shot-blocking, which is what you like to see in a center. 
      The biggest problem this year for Potapenko will be trying to stay out of 
      foul trouble with the new rules. He's a bump-and-grind old-schooler and 
      was in constant foul trouble in the summer league. Tony Battie will be the 
      primary backup. He is a shot blocker and, like Fortson, is in the last 
      year of his contract. If healthy, which is rare, Pervis Ellison also could 
      be available. 
      Power Forward: Walker has been playing the position the last two years, 
      but will likely hand the spot over to Fortson, who came over from Denver 
      in the Mercer trade. Fortson will have to rebound and he can do that. 
      He'll have to, because there aren't a lot of great rebounders on this 
      team. He also is going into the last year of his contract and if he wants 
      a huge payday, he will have to be a rebounding machine. Battie will back 
      him up and even play alongside him in some rotations. 
      Small Forward: Walker is here, now. It doesn't seem like a tough 
      transition but Walker will have to do it at both ends against players he 
      hasn't normally guarded in the last three years. This has to be a 
      breakthrough season for Walker, already a human bull's-eye in the minds of 
      many Celtics fans. He needs to be more unselfish, make better decisions on 
      the court and cut down on his stupid in-game celebrations when the game is 
      on the line. 
      If Pitino decides to move Walker back to the 4-spot, look for Eric 
      Williams to step in here. He's back after a two year exodus from Boston. 
      Walter McCarty, rookie Adrian Griffin and even newcomer Calbert Cheaney 
      will see time here as well. 
      Off-guard: This is where Pierce will land. He had a terrific rookie season 
      and has been working out like a madman over the summer. He was a man among 
      boys in the Summer League. The biggest adjustment for Pierce will be to 
      guard the opposing 2-guards and familiarize himself with the many schemes 
      and rotations of the Pitino trap. He had problems in that area last 
      season, but then again, everyone had problems. The Celtics are counting on 
      Pierce to take the next step and if he does, they'll have a keeper. Then 
      again, they had a keeper in Mercer, too. When Pierce isn't in the game, 
      Cheaney, Griffin or Eric Washington could play. 
      Point guard: Kenny Anderson is back for another year. His contract pretty 
      much makes him a Celtic for life because no one else wants anything to do 
      with it. He still hasn't done anything close to what Pitino had hoped and 
      most people are not surprised by that. 
      Anderson is a mediocre defender at best, doesn't run as much as Pitino 
      wants, and doesn't like being told what to do when he has the ball. He 
      also is a career 40 percent shooter. Dana Barros played well last year 
      when the ever-fragile Anderson went down--always a concern--and is a lock 
      to be in great shape. Rookie Wayne Turner will fight for backup minutes 
      here. 
      NEWCOMER REPORT 
      This always is a fresh category on any Pitino team. The man is not afraid 
      to make changes and does so constantly. They have six new players and all 
      of them may be on the opening night roster. That means there will be a lot 
      of 'Getting To Know You' stuff as these players try to learn a new style 
      and play with each other. Fortson stands to be the newcomer who will make 
      the biggest impact. He likes to start and play and he should do both. 
      WHAT'S NEXT 
      Pitino is the consummate tinkerer, but has been silent for two months 
      since making his summer changes. He's not likely to tinker anymore--at 
      least for a few practice sessions--but he has traded players during 
      training camp in his first two years here so anything's possible. If 
      there's a decent backup center out there, he might bite, although the team 
      thinks Potapenko and Battie can do the job. Other than that, this is a 
      team that needs to stay together and learn each other's moves. 
      Unfortunately, that's the same thing the last two Celtics teams have 
      needed, too. 


       

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