Bulpett on Battie

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

I thought this was a really good article. When I got to see Battie up
close last week, he played with that deer-in-the-headlights look. I
think he lacks the confidence to take what he does in practice and
meaningless summer leagues into game time. The only question is, is that
because of some flaw in him, or because he's constantly afraid he has to
look over his shoulder at Pitino?


Battie mystery remains: Celtics big man coming up
                        short
                        by Steve Bulpett

                        Thursday, February 24, 2000

                        VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Tony Battie is a
6-foot-11
                        marvel, and more's the pity for the Celtics. It
is painfully
                        amazing that a player of his size and physical
dexterity could
                        avoid numbers so well.

                        Battie has scored just two points in each of his
last five outings and he's taken in a
                        total of just 13 rebounds. He can get up high in
the air, but Danny Fortson has
                        managed to leapfrog him in the rotation.

                        ``We're just hopeful for the future,'' said Rick
Pitino, putting it delicately. ``We're
                        not spending too much emphasis on it right now.
But we expect him to make some
                        strides.''

                        Strides have been difficult to find with Battie
this season. He had one stretch of
                        three games when he grabbed 12, 15 and 12
rebounds, but he has slowly faded
                        away since.

                        ``He did make strides over the summer, and then
he's taken two steps
                        backwards,'' Pitino said. ``I don't know. He
works on things, and when it comes
                        game-time, he doesn't do them. He'll work on his
triple-threat position in the post,
                        then he won't do it. What he works on in
practice, he doesn't do in the game. In
                        practice, he makes the moves. In the summertime,
he makes the moves. Then
                        when he gets in a game, he wants to take a
fadeaway jump shot. He becomes very
                        insecure about it in games.

                        ``He has a very high opinion of his skills, and
I'm hoping he will rise to that level.''

                        Pitino himself had a fairly high opinion of
Battie when he signed him to a six-year
                        extension starting at $3.2 million and topping
out at $5.2 million. But the return on
                        the investment has not yet been realized.

                        Battie sees the problem as simply
circumstantial. He talks about minutes and
                        breaks and things of that nature, yet he
acknowledges that a player of his physical
                        abilities should be able to make his own breaks.

                        ``It's just how the ball bounces sometimes,''
Battie said. ``Sometimes you get
                        easy breaks. Sometimes you've got to go out
there and force the issue and make
                        the breaks for yourself. You want to try to
implement that into coach's game plan
                        and the style of the team without breaking the
rhythm or doing something your
                        teammates don't expect you to do.

                        ``Some games it's not going to be there. It's
not by me dragging or anything like
                        that. Sometimes I just won't play as much. The
Seattle game, minutes fluctuated a
                        little bit (he played seven). Then I might have
an off game or an off night where I
                        get into foul trouble. All those things kind of
play a part into maybe me playing a
                        little more tentatively.''

                        Outside of the Seattle tilt, Battie has played
17, 17, 18 and 14 minutes in this
                        latest run. In each case, he was given a shot to
get some things done.

                        ``Of course I'm going to play limited minutes,''
he said. ``I understand that. I'm
                        playing backup four for 'Toine (Antoine Walker)
and backup five for `V' (Vitaly
                        Potapenko), so I just want to go out there and
do what I can to help the team win.

                        ``I put the team first and then my individual
goals secondly. I think everything will
                        fall into place from there. As we grow as a
team, I'll get better as a player and we'll
                        win more games. Everything will start clicking.

                        ``I work hard. Scoring, for me, that's not new
for me. I was big scorer in college.
                        But just in this system I'm not called on to do
all those things. This is Paul's and
                        Antoine's team. I have to get mine the hard way
sometimes. Some games it's
                        easier to go get it. Some games it's a little
bit harder.''