Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V8 #182

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:49:12 -0700
> From: "John Lyell" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: More Celtics & NBA News & Draft Scenarios
>
> Anderson vs. Coleman both evils, but at least DC provides us with some
> inside presence (if he can be motivated). I can't see why Charlotte would
> want Anderson though.
>
>
Good point - ask yourself, why WOULD Charlotte rather have Anderson than
Coleman? Because Coleman's attitude makes Anderson look like a boyscout,
humanitarian and cheerleader all wrapped up in one. Believe me, I'd rather
have another point guard - I'd even take Jason Williams with all his baggage
if it would get us running and passing again. But as bad as Anderson is
about sharing the rock, what he has had to say about the role of PG's on
this team or about Twon running the point or about his current situation has
actually been accurate and on target. It's not like he saying anything that
most of us on this list haven't already observed. Sure, Kenny has flaws as a
player and he's unhappy with his current (non)role with the team, but I
don't really see any evidence that he is a locker room cancer.

Here's what a quick internet search turned up on Coleman:
-----------------
Hornets' Coleman denies that he might be in denial
Sunday, December 5, 1999
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/99/12/sp120526.html
By Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian staff

Charlotte Hornets forward Derrick Coleman, who has had numerous brushes with
the law during his career, says he doesn't have personal issues to deal
with. This coming a month after a car accident in which Coleman was charged
with driving while impaired after refusing a Breathalyzer test.

Coleman's sport utility vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer, injuring
himself and two passengers. The most seriously injured was Hornets guard
Eldridge Recasner, who suffered a partially collapsed lung and chest and
shoulder injuries. Recasner might not play this season.

A day after the accident, Coleman said he was "just happy everybody's OK and
that we can at this particular point in time laugh and joke about it." That
earned Coleman resounding jeers, followed by an effort at damage control
with a written statement saying he was sorry.

During the Hornets' visit to Portland last week, Coleman was still
incredulous at what happened and says people (mainly the media) were
overreacting.

"I think it got blown out of proportion," Coleman said. "They asked me how
my teammates treated me after the accident. I said, 'Once everyone knew I
was OK, they pretty much were cracking jokes.' Everybody took it personally
and all of this was misconstrued."

"They tried to make it sound like I didn't really care about what happened
or what was going on," Coleman said, adding that such an impression was
wrong.

The accident was the third incident this year for Coleman, who pleaded not
guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obscene conduct
after being accused of urinating in the dining room of a Detroit restaurant
in September. In August, Coleman did not contest a charge that he interfered
with police as they tried to arrest a friend at a Detroit nightclub.

Other incidents dating to his college days at Syracuse suggest a trend.

"I haven't had a problem in my life," Coleman said.
---------------
Ask yourself, do you really want Coleman on this team?