Re: News: Chris Herren says "arrivaderci"

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

At 11:10 12/07/01 -0400, you wrote:
>I, for one, will miss Herren. Injuries prevented him from ever getting into
>the flow but he did show real promise at times. I hoped he'd be retained but
>realized that the contracts to Anderson & Brown and our "no-PG" offensive
>options would push him out the door. However, if he does fine tune his game
>and the Celts decide they do need a PG next year maybe he'll be back.
>
>George

I agree on Herren. I don't know if his wife is from a different region of 
the USA, but I think Chris Herren would give the Boston Celtics first 
consideration should he choose to return.

Besides, we've got a couple of veteran point guards leaving or retiring in 
the coming two years, so he might be welcomed back down the road. Just as 
long as he doesn't do obnoxious shoe commercials in Italian like Kobe 
Bryant. ;-)

I do hope Josip Sesar shows off his shooting skills in the Shaw League, so 
the official site suggests he's only here for workouts. Even if Sesar 
doesn't play, at least this is the first real look the coaching staff will 
have of him. Luckily, we already have around 7 other Paul Pierce back ups 
on the roster. ;-)

At times like this I really wish the NBA finally had a farm system. For 
instance, I bet if the Celtics built an affiliate minor league team (say in 
Hartford, CN), that club could draw enough fans to support an NBA minimum 
salary roster. If you had 8-dollar courtside tickets, I'm there every night.

Maybe you'd discover that guys like Klack, Sesar, Pepper, Herren, Monty 
Mack wouldn't mind playing within the Celtics system for a little less 
money, in hope of getting a call-up to the pros if the occasion arises.

This would also give guaranteed-contract guys like Moiso and Waltah a kick 
in the derriere to know they might get sent down to the minors if they 
didn't shape up.

Of course if you expanded NBA rosters by 12 more guys, that would already 
add a good 4 to 5 million to the salary cap.

Joe

p.s. Thinking back on when Brian Shaw left the rebuilding Celtics to play 
in Italy, I remember thinking I'd be all over moving to Italy or Spain if I 
were a bubble NBA player. The food is great, the weather and pay are good, 
the season is shorter and you usually get to be the "man". I don't think 
you could script a better way to spend your first 3 years out of college. 
Too bad I can't dribble, shoot or dunk.  ;-)

****