Leo Papile Speaks Out On The Celtics Draft

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

Thia comes from the ESPN Message Boards and Irish 03,
so who knows.....

Hey guys

I just wanted to let you know that I was listening to an interview with
Leo Papile on 790 the score today at around 530 and he had some VERY
interesting stuff to say.

First of all, it has been obvious for a while but the Celtics will
pretty much definitely take the 11th pick from Denver. The Celtics
absolutely love the talent in the draft and feel like they can get a
bunch of quality players to put around Pierce and Walker. Now his
insights on who they liked.

The first guy he was asked about was players that possibly should have
stayed in school and they highlighted Omar Cooke. Papile went off about
how he loves this guy. He has been scouting him since his high school
days and has had AAU teams that have played against him. It sounded as
tho if he were there at 21 he will be wearing Celtics green next year.
They said that he is making a strong push to be the first point guard
drafted and Papile feels he is a jumpshot away fro9m being a star. He
said that he feels he has star quickness and passing ability much like
Jason kid and he called him a "we player" that makes his teammates
better.

Secondly they asked if the Celtics were going to draft for need and
draft a point guard and a big man. He said that they are going to draft
the best athelete available. They feel the point guard system by
commitee worked well enough last year that they weren't going to reach
for a point guard with one of their top picks. THIS MEANS NO TINSLEY. He
also said that he doesn't feel that there are any big men who warrant a
pick at 10 or 11. He said that Woods' body is too frail to go through an
82 game season (they weighed him in at 242) despite the fact that he has
a nice touch and good quickness. He said that Heywood was too slow to
play NBA defense and has no range on his jumpshot. He said that the two
will go in the 12-18 range which means neither will be Celtics next
year.

What he said he did want was an athletic wing player who could score. He
said the league is ruled by Kobe Bryant types and he wanted a wing
scorer with great athleticism of his own. He said that these types of
players can be found around these picks and will be there when he picks.
He talked a lot about Joe Johnson from Arkansas and hee seemed like he
loved him. He said he thinks he can come right in and be a potent NBA
scorer right now. He loves his size and quickness and he said he even
has the ability to play the point or two guard. It sounds like he will
definitely be the pick if he is there and from many reports he will be
if Gasol gets taken before him.

He said they really like Gasol. However, he said he wasn't really
interested in a trade unless it was a really good deal for the Celtics
because he thinks there will be a lot of equal talent in between the 6
through 11th picks. I think there may be a lot of rumors but I think in
the end the Celtics love what they can get from the three picks and will
stay with all three.

Guys they won't draft from hearing him talk. He said that Murphy and
Bradley are not good enough defensively to guard pro power forwards and
therefore will not be guys that can play 40 mins a game. He sounded like
he liked Bradley more than Murphy and said he will go before him but he
said they both will go in the "12 to 18 range." Since the Celtics don't
pick in here that means no Troy and no Mike. He said Woods and Haywood
will go in here as well.

He said he like Forte as well but it sounded like he wasn't going to
reach with him at the first two picks and he wouldn't be there at 21. He
said he thinks the best two players in the draft are Chandler and
Browne. He says that Chandler reminds him of a young Lou Alcinder. He
said Brown reminds him of a young Spencer Haywoode who was one of the
all-time great amateurs but for a bunch of reasons was a pro flop. He
says Browne won't be a flop tho. This is interesting considering
Chandler could fall to 10.