Danny Fortson

[jmc@ptc.com]

Recently quotes like this have been posted: 

> If Fortson continues to underperform he likely won't be resigned making the
> Mercer trade Mercer for Eric Williams !  yikes .

and

> While I'd love to see Danny step it up, even if he doesn't, the Denver
> trade will come down to Mercer for  Williams and Denvers 1st round pick in

Hey, folks, are you watching the games?  Danny has been playing only 
12 minutes a game, and averaging over 4 rebounds.  He's been a force 
on the boards as expected, but his need for conditioning and learning 
the tougher rules have put him in foul trouble.  Also I heard somewhere 
that he's dyslexic (I think) so he can't read the playbook too well, he 
has to get out there and be shown how the plays go, so he's still 
learning how to fit into the offense, and still getting in running shape 
to keep up with the offense.  

However, his strength is incredible.  He must have spent extra hours 
lifting weights while he was out, because when he gets the ball 
underneath, no one can strip it from him.  He clears out space for 
himself to shoot like no Celtic I've ever seen.  He bumps defenders 
and they willingly move out of the way so they won't get bumped again. 

If his free-throw shooting improves (it looked better in the last game; 
more arc; maybe Andy Enfield's been working with him) he'll score his 
share of points. 

He's shown signs of being everything we expected, except that he's got to 
get in shape, learn the offense, and learn how to control his strength on 
defense.  That could come with time.  They say he has a burning desire to 
play, so that's a good sign that he'll do what it takes to get more 
playing time.  Let's hope so.  In the meantime, at least his currently 
one-dimensional game (rebounding) has helped the Celtics where they need 
it most. 

If the Celtics can re-sign him at a bargain price because of his 
"underperforming", then so much the better. 

Jon Mc