"Hopefully, I'm one of the pieces to the puzzle in making the Celtics a playoff

[CeltsSteve@aol.com]

Celtics buy a used Carr 
by Mark Cofman 
Tuesday, August 22, 2000


For a team handcuffed by the salary cap, the Celtics have been awfully busy 
this summer.

Celtics president/coach Rick Pitino and general manager Chris Wallace 
continued to make roster revisions yesterday, using the team's $1.2 million 
salary cap exception to sign free agent Chris Carr. The 6-foot-6 shooting 
guard is the C's fifth new player in less than a month and provides insurance 
against an injury to Paul Pierce.

``I sat down and weighed the pros and cons of every situation and I just felt 
that coach Pitino, (director of scouting) Leo Papile and Chris Wallace 
presented me with the best opportunity,'' Carr said in a telephone interview 
from his home in Minneapolis.

``After talking to them and discussing what role they saw me playing and how 
they saw me fitting in there, it was clear that Boston would be the best 
place for me,'' said Carr, who split time between Golden State and Chicago 
last season. ``I know I can help them in a number of areas, especially with 
scoring.''

The Celtics struggled at times to generate offense last season, particularly 
when Pierce was on the injured list with a sprained ankle. At one point in 
his absence, they lost 8-of-9 games. That did not go unnoticed by the Celtics.

``What we've had to look at was what happened to us last year when Paul was 
lost to our team,'' said Pitino. ``When Paul got hurt, I think we lost about 
90 percent of our games.

``That (lack of scoring production in Pierce's absence) had to enter into the 
equation of what kind of moves we wanted to make this summer. We knew we had 
to add more scoring. Chris adds to our athleticism and he gives us that 
additional scoring we needed at the wing spot.''

Carr's arrival in a suddenly crowded Celtics backcourt likely means Pierce 
can spend more time at his natural position. A small forward in college and 
during his rookie season with the C's, Pierce shifted to shooting guard last 
season to help fill the void left by Ron Mercer's departure. Though he 
handled the new position well, Pierce's scoring and rebounding were missed up 
front.

``They definitely have an outstanding nucleus in Boston - Paul, Antoine 
(Walker), Kenny Anderson, Tony Battie - but I think they felt they needed to 
add to the roster to make it all work,'' said Carr. ``Hopefully, I'm one of 
the pieces to the puzzle in making the Celtics a playoff team again. That's 
why I'm going there.''

Carr's arrival comes just four days after the Celtics shipped Danny Fortson 
to Golden State and Dana Barros to Dallas as part of a four-team deal 
involving nine players. The Celtics acquired Robert Pack and center John 
``Hot Rod'' Williams, one of Utah's two first-round draft picks next year and 
$3 million from Dallas in the exchange.

Earlier this month, the C's signed summer league standout Mark Blount to a 
guaranteed contract and used their $2.25 million salary cap exception on 
point guard Randy Brown. A team over the salary cap such as the C's can 
exercise the $2.25 million exception once per year.

The $1.2 million exception given to Carr, however, is only available to teams 
over the cap once every two years. This marks the first time the Celtics have 
used it. In doing so, they beat out five other teams for Carr's services, 
including Charlotte. According to a number of reports, the Hornets had the 
inside track on Carr over the weekend.

``Those reports weren't accurate,'' said Mark Termini, Carr's agent. ``There 
were six teams interested in Chris and Charlotte was one of them. But the 
Celtics were very aggressive in recruiting him. In the end, Chris just looked 
at Boston as the best situation for him.''