May On Missing Leadership

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

It is kind of odd for Pitino to be missing. Then again, maybe he
had a motivation speech about success scheduled....

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/217/sports/Brown_s_here_but_a_bigger_point_is_missed+.shtml



ON BASKETBALL
Brown's here, but a bigger point is missed


By Peter May, Globe Staff, 8/4/2000


WALTHAM - There was a lot of talk about leadership yesterday during the
Celtics' unveiling of new free agent Randy Brown. There also were three
seats set aside at the table for the announcement. One of them went
unoccupied. The one for the real leader.


Rick Pitino was said to have had other plans yesterday. General manager
Chris Wallace said Pitino had a prior engagement. Whatever it was, it
was pressing enough to prevent him from being there when his new signee
was introduced to the media. Maybe this was his way of allowing the
veteran Brown to showcase his acknowledged leadership skills.


Brown represents the last link to the NBA champion Bulls. He won three
rings there and then stayed around for the last two seasons after the
diaspora. His team won 17 games last season, and, according to his
agent, ''It would have been worse had Randy not been there. He held it
all together.''


Leadership can be a tricky thing. You can be presented as a leader, but
people have to listen to what you have to say. Brown isn't the first
person to be brought into Boston to talk to some of the young Celtic
knuckleheads. He's merely the latest.


Yesterday, driving around in Philadelphia, Doug Overton said he had
heard about the Brown signing that very morning.


''I guess that's it for me,'' he said. It is. He wasn't coming back
anyway.


Overton, too, had been signed because he was a veteran who could back up
Kenny Anderson and give the team some experience. He rarely got the
opportunity. He did stand up to Antoine Walker during that memorable,
Jerry Springer-like bench performance last spring in Orlando. Pitino
promised mass fines and suspensions and then gave everyone a pass.


''This is the NBA these days,'' Overton said. ''You get young players
who are still young and don't know what it's all about. They think they
do, but they don't. I hope they get it turned around up there. I really
do. But it's a process. I spent two years in Philly with Allen [Iverson]
and he's still learning.


''But they have to understand this. No one guy can do it alone.
Everyone, as individuals, has to step up.''


The Celtics need someone to give them some perspective about what life
in the NBA is all about. Brown has seen both sides in just the last
three years. But all his words will go for naught if no one heeds his
advice.


''I won't bark at anyone. I'm not a barker,'' he said. ''I'm not going
to come in here and act as if I invented the game. I'm still a student.
I'm still learning.''


The Celtics filled more than a few needs with Brown, or as many needs as
you can fill with a player who will average 15 minutes a game, max. He
is a veteran; at 32, only Dana Barros (who now is the No. 3 point guard)
is older. Brown has played in 47 playoff games. The rest of his Celtic
teammates this season have played in 46. (We're excluding Greg Minor.)


And, Brown does defend. As they liked to say in the old, ''What's My
Line?'' show, he does provide a service. He gets in his opponent's face.
He's tough. He likes to play baseline to baseline. In short, he does
what Pitino would like Anderson to do.


The way the Celtics presented Brown, of course, made you wonder what
stopped Orlando from pursuing him instead of Tracy McGrady. But that's
the nature of these things. The other option was Bimbo Coles, who also
is a veteran, is 32, and can defend. Neither player will likely produce
a rush in ticket orders.


Basically, the Celtics were fishing in the same pond as most everyone
else and the pickings were slim. Have you noticed who has been signed
out of the $2.25 million slot: Brown, Tony Delk, Chauncey Billups, Derek
Anderson (for only one year), John Starks, Sam Perkins, Bobby Jackson.
Any of those names excite you?


The Celtics were left to pick from the scraps because they decided to
give out long-term deals to Walter McCarty, Tony Battie, Walker, and
Vitaly Potapenko as well as take on long-termers in Eric Williams and
Anderson. Those decisions hemmed them in and will continue to hem them
in for the next couple of years.


The same person made all those decisions, as well as yesterday's to
bring in Brown. He was the one who wasn't there.


This story ran on page E2 of the Boston Globe on 8/4/2000.