Bulpett

[opi@unesco.org]

Good morning. Nothing but good news in the papers. Every Celtic was
judged to be in "great shape" by Pitino (I'm going back to drinking
Burgundy).  To boot, Pitino says Eric Williams has the quickest first
step he has seen.

Joe

p.s. Shares in ticker symbol "BOS" traded at 554% of average volume
yesterday, with the price unchanged. Actually only a measly 4,600 shares
exchanged hands, compared to 20,000,000+ shares traded yesterday in
Cisco Systems.

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Pitino sees shape of things to come
Celtics Notebook/by Steve Bulpett

Wednesday, October 6, 1999

The Celtics players have accomplished their first goal: keeping coach
Rick Pitino off their backs about body preparation. Unlike last season,
when the coach was moved to complain long and loud about people not
showing up ready to play, the troops impressed Pitino right away.

``The one and only thing that's noticeable is the conditioning,'' Pitino
said after the first of two workouts yesterday.

``We do a drill at the end which is very tough. We try to make 170
layups in four minutes,'' Pitino continued, explaining the full-court
test in which four balls are in play simultaneously and players may
dribble with their left hand only. ``I've never had a team I coached
make it the first time. It's usually they don't make it and they get
pissed off and they do it again. But we made 174, and I've never had a
team - college or pro - do it the first time.''

Pitino had seen many of his players, including Paul Pierce, Vitaly
Potapenko, Tony Battie and Walter McCarty, over the summer in workouts
at the newly named Sports Authority Training Center at HealthPoint
(henceforth to be known here as The SATCH) or in the two summer leagues
the Celts entered.

``But you never know with Kenny (Anderson), 'Toine (Antoine Walker) or
Eric (Williams),'' he said. ``They weren't part of summer league. But
they came in in great shape, so they took care of business on their
own.''

All made it through the first session relatively fine. Walter McCarty
took six stitches above his right eye after dipping in on Wayne Turner,
who took the charge. The stitch count grew to 11 when Battie took an
accidental shot to the mouth during evening practice.

 In the throws of it

In that the Celtics made the fewest trips to the free throw line in the
NBA last season, Pitino is enjoying the sight of newcomers Williams and
Calbert Cheaney slashing to the basket frequently. He described
Williams' first step as the quickest he has seen.

The presence of the two is tied to the trading of Ron Mercer, a move
that is sure to be judged at various checkpoints this season and maybe
even beyond.

 ``You lose something and you gain something,'' Pitino said yesterday.
``We gained what we needed most - depth and getting to the foul  line.
We did lose a wonderful player in Ron, but the other factor is Calbert.
He's part of that trade as well, because (with Mercer still in Boston)
he doesn't pick us. He goes to Miami in a sign-and-trade. And then we
also have maybe a lottery pick out of it the following year.''

 Ice man cometh

Walker is still icing the ankle he sprained badly last season, but
yesterday he had ice on both knees after the morning practice.

 ``It's just something I picked up from some veterans,'' Walker
said.``Scottie Pippen and those guys always ice their knees after they
play. It makes you feel a lot better. Obviously I need to ice my ankle,
but the knees is just for a precautionary measure.''

 Money, it's a gas

After noting the C's made $12 million in his first season as coach and
president (there was a loss last season), Pitino acknowledged that the
business side of the club affects the on-court product.

``Yeah, I do (pay attention to such matters), because obviously you
hope that the more money you make the more you can spend (on players),''
he said.