Pitino To Trade For Veteran Help

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

Good bye lottery pick...
      Boston Herald

      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.''