today's boston herald

[Kevin <kevin.lok@lycosmail.com>]

Celtics set to consider new age
by Steve Bulpett
Wednesday, March 1, 2000
As Celtics coach Rick Pitino has continually
responded to difficult questions about the team by
stating how young his club is, he has come to the
realization that he must treat the symptom before
the patient gets well.
As noted here during the recent Western trip, the
Celts will be looking for veteran help this
offseason.
``As I research every team - go over with a
microscope every little thing they do - it all
boils down to them getting veterans,'' Pitino said
yesterday, looking at the younger teams that have
made dramatic improvement. ``If we surrounded Paul
Pierce with some powerful interior people,
(Monday) night (Sean) Rooks doesn't get easy
buckets in crunch time in the low post (in Dallas'
comeback win).
``So, yes, we've got to do that because that's how
Toronto and Philadelphia suddenly went from here
to here,'' he said, placing his hands from a lower
to higher position. ``Our dilemma is a little more
difficult than theirs, but we still have to do
that, because that's the way to make that jump.''
Pitino has shuffled the roster a great deal but
avoided the veteran move to this point.
``Three years ago, Philadelphia, Toronto and
Boston were starting at the bottom sort of
together,'' he said. ``And Toronto and
Philadelphia have elevated and we have not.
(Allen) Iverson and (Vince) Carter have had
phenomenal years, but I think the reason they have
is they're playing with veterans who really
understand the game and physically take a big
burden off of them.
``(The Raptors) made the decision to go out and
get (Kevin) Willis and (Charles) Oakley and
(Antonio) Davis, and Philadelphia added (Toni)
Kukoc, and they had gotten (Tyrone) Hill and
(Theo) Ratliff and (Matt) Geiger. Those veterans
have helped both of those guys because, on an off
night, those other guys defensively keep their
teams in the game with their physical play.''
The dilemma Pitino mentioned earlier involves the
fact he may have to spend heavily to get a quality
veteran.
``Or,'' he said, ``you've got to give up an asset.
Obviously, I don't ever see the day giving up an
asset like Paul Pierce, because we've got to keep
on developing him. But we've got to give up some
assets to get an asset, whether that be a draft
pick or I don't know what. But I think that we
have to do that.
``We've got to get somebody like an Antonio Davis,
somebody like a Ratliff - I don't mean those
players, I mean somebody like that - to physically
come in and help us out at the defensive end.''
Antoine Walker noted Philadelphia's key move for
Kukoc, but said: ``I don't think we're one player
away from where we have to get. I think we have a
good nucleus, but we don't have the dominating
shot blocker. If you look at our other positions,
we can hold court with anybody in the league. But
it's difficult to get a dominating center. You
have to give up a lot to get one and I don't know
if we have the personnel to get a good center, so
it's hard to say. You have to try to get it done
with what you've got now.
``Having youth with veterans is a great thing,
because sometimes you can balance it off. Look at
Toronto. They've got the youth guys doing the bulk
of the scoring, but they've got the veteran guys
that are doing the dirty work. And sometimes the
veteran guys know how to be mentally prepared
night in and night out.
``We come to play when we play the big teams. But
when we play the Chicagos of the world, our mental
focus ain't there, compared to maybe a veteran
team that goes out and they won't let a victory
like that slip away.''


Cheaney will chip in
Celtics Notebook/by Steve Bulpett
Wednesday, March 1, 2000
Calbert Cheaney and wife Yvette welcomed their
first child into the world at 1:05 yesterday
morning. That means the Celtics will welcome the
6-foot-7 swingman back into their lineup this
evening.
And much like the attending doctor may have given
9-pound, 4-ounce Julian Alexander a rude
awakening, so will C's coach Rick Pitino welcome
his daddy back from a seven-game absence with a
starting role and the task of guarding Toronto
superstar Vince Carter.
Cheaney has been working out diligently, but he
also has been through an emotional time as he and
Yvette dealt with the delayed process. The Celtics
let him stay home from the Western trip when it
seemed the delivery time was close. Now Cheaney
has to offer relief to Adrian Griffin, who has
done well in two matchups against Carter.
``Adrian's a little tired right now, a little
banged up,'' said Pitino. ``It looks like he's
fought a few heavyweight fights.
``It'll help getting Calbert back, especially at
the defensive end.''
Anderson rests
Kenny Anderson was allowed to sit out yesterday's
practice after playing 46 minutes in Monday's ugly
108-100 loss to Dallas during which the Celts blew
a 20-point, third-quarter lead.
``I did not do a good job (Monday),'' Pitino said.
``I played Kenny Anderson way too many minutes. I
should have gone longer with Doug Overton. The
problem I have is when Paul Pierce leaves the
lineup we have a very difficult time scoring
without Kenny on the floor. But I should have
gambled. With Paul in the lineup, we're a tough
offensive basketball team. The moment he leaves,
we really struggle scoring points.'' . . .
Vitaly Potapenko had a tooth knocked out during
yesterday's workout when he took a hit from Pervis
Ellison.
Security reports
FleetCenter security issued a report on the late
Monday night incident in which reporters were
allegedly jostled and knocked down while trying to
get a post-game comment from Dennis Rodman as he
made his way to the Dallas bus. According to the
report, the contact made was initiated by
reporters trying to get past security people to
Rodman. . . .
Antoine Walker on the fallout from the loss to the
Mavericks: ``I mean, we're still playing. Yes,
it's a disappointing loss, but right now we're at
the point with 26 games left that we can't afford
to get down. Our goal was to finish 19-8, so we
did figure we were giving ourselves eight games to
lose. . . .
``Unfortunately, you hate to lose at home and blow
the type of lead we had. It gets frustrating at
times, especially at this point in the season. You
hate to let a 20-point lead go. You can understand
maybe in the first couple of weeks of the season
you let one slip away, but now it does get
frustrating.'