BosGlobe on our Celts

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

Here are clips from Shira Springer, copyright the Boston Globe of
course:

''Michael Jordan is having a great camp,'' said Pitino. ''He's shooting
well. He's a quick penetrator. He beats people off the dribble. What I
definitely want to do with both young men [Jordan and another recent
free agent signee, forward Rodney Elliott] is let them hang on until
they play some exhibition games so they can be seen by some of the other
teams, as well as us.''

Looking eager to take part in training camp, Paul Pierce dribbled and
shot a few baskets at the end of practice yesterday. He also helped out
in shooting drills by catching balls and passing them out to teammates
waiting to launch 3-pointers. But the game plan remains to bring Pierce
back slowly .

The praise continues for 7-foot center Mark Blount, who earned mention
in the same sentence as Adrian Griffin. (Quick reminder: Optimism always
reigns early and it's only been five practices.) ''When he consistently
learns to give the effort on blocking shots and rebounding, we'll have
ourselves a legitimate 5-man,'' said Pitino.

Antoine Walker looked comfortable from the 3-point line in drills,
easily draining shots from that distance. That could be either a good or
a bad omen. It's hard to forget he was 73 for 285 (.256) from the arc
last season. On the positive side, Pitino said this was ''the best he's
looked the last three years at this point in time.''