Croshere is new prey (yeah okay)

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Here is Bulpett's article. The part about Croshere being available for
the 2.25 million slot seems incredibly, incredibly absurd. It is a dumb,
wishful-thinking headline at this stage frankly.

The rest of Bulpett's article has some fascinating or head-scratching
tidbits. One is that Fortson is now officially gone. The other is the
following gem from Pitino about how Antoine has a better chance of
guarding NBA pointguards than guarding small forwards:

``Believe it or not, it's easier for him to play backup one (point
guard) than it is the three (small forward) spot,'' Pitino said.

****

Croshere is new prey
The NBA/by Steve Bulpett
Thursday, June 29, 2000

Say goodbye to Danny Fortson. Say hello to Jerome Moiso.

And let the recruitment of Austin Croshere begin.

The Celtics had what looked to be a positive draft day experience, from
a key meeting between Rick Pitino and owner Paul Gaston to a failed
pursuit of Jermaine O'Neal.

Yesterday began with a power outage at the Celtics' training facility
and Pitino wondering how much power he'd have to shape the club this
summer. But when the electricity came back on at the training facility
early yesterday afternoon, Pitino got the news for which he was looking.
Though any thoughts of retaining free agent Fortson were gone, the coach
and president had the financial ability to get and keep his first-round
draft pick and also to use the $1.2 million and $2.25 million salary cap
exceptions.

With the latter, the Celtics are hoping to convince Indiana Pacers free
agent Croshere to come back to New England (he starred at Providence
College). It may be a long shot, but Pitino will polish his best
collegiate recruiting skills.

While not naming anyone specifically, Pitino said, ``Chris (Wallace, the
GM) and I will be packing our bags very soon.''

Teams can begin speaking with free agents on July 1 and signing them on
Aug. 1 when the salary cap figure for next season is announced.

The attempt for O'Neal never really got heated. Portland decided to look
elsewhere with the 21-year-old power forward-center, and with Blazer
forward Brian Grant opting for free agency, the club may decide to hold
on to him.

With Gaston's blessing, the Celtics were offering a swap of this year's
first-rounders (the C's picked 11th and Portland chose at 28) as well as
Boston's first round pick next season and the Denver first-rounder the
Celts got in the Ron Mercer-Fortson trade. The latter pick is available
in the next four drafts with diminishing protections (through five in
'01, three in '02 and three in '03).

To make the numbers work, Portland would have had to take back
contracts, but the Blazers are obviously waiting until O'Neal's
base-year number goes down and he is more easily dealt. The three-year
veteran averaged just 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 12.3 minutes this
past season, but he is valued as a raw talent.

The point was pretty much moot, however, when Moiso was still on the
board at 11. In Celtic personnel director Leo Papile's mind, the club
got their O'Neal-type. Other trade talk never really got off the ground.

Meanwhile, Pitino got a directive to speed things up - which is good
news in that he has said he will offer his resignation if the Celtics do
not make the playoffs this season.

``Paul met with us and said the future is now,'' Pitino said. ``He says
our fans have been very patient the last six or seven years.

``We're going to be very active to try to bring the future a little
closer to now. We're going to be very active trying to bring our fans a
winner. We're going to pursue a lot of different things. Now, no one
says we're going to be successful doing that.''

As for Gastonian specifics, Pitino said, ``Go out there and do the
things necessary to make you more athletic to get the job done. He wants
to bring the fans a winner.

``He's obviously been an owner now where they've lost for five or six
years, and he wants to turn that around.''

Pitino also said he will be turning the Celtic style back around to the
attacking defensive plan he prefers. To that end, he noted that Antoine
Walker will also see some minutes at backup point guard if he can get
his body fat down to 8 percent.

``Believe it or not, it's easier for him to play backup one (point
guard) than it is the three (small forward) spot,'' Pitino said.

With Fortson looking for large money and now out of the picture, Moiso's
development will be a key to moving Walker around.