Re: Guidelines For The Celtics Draft

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

> > 8. Ousmanne Cisse is the next Bo Outlaw. Might be a nice
> > selection at 22.

I've never seen Cisse play even one minute (he missed the McDonald's
game, which is the only televised game I know of) but I assume you have
seen him locally. In this case, though, I'm missing the point of the
definitive "next Bo Outlaw" comment. In retrospect, that would seem to be
precisely the type of prospect well worth a 10th or 11th pick in the
minds of any GM. If that's how good you project he's eventually going to
be, then I'd love to see the "next Bo Outlaw" as part of the Celtics
lineup. An ideal pick for a winning franchise. An ideal Celtic. On paper
he sounds like a destroyer...somewhere between Outlaw and Rodman in terms
of game impact.

It is debatable, but I think at this stage that any impact defender is a
far greater need than a third scorer, and could have a bigger influence
on whether we finish over or under .500.

Also, I'm not reading anything whatsoever into Wallace's or Papile's
comments for public consumption.

Joe

p.s. My hunch is we might actually begin hearing offers from Issel to
waive the remaining lotto protection on next year's pick in exchange for
our giving the 11th pick this year (not that I favor it). It depends on
how many more top players declare and thin out next year's draft (which
also will not benefit from anywhere nearly as heralded a prep senior
class). In Denver, you are talking about an actual 40-win team that
probably feels it is just a wise lotto pick away. This is kind of a
repeat of the Potapenko phenomenon. You had a Boston team perceived to be
getting wailed on inside and coming off 36-wins, whose coach had a
perfect record of dramatic W-L improvements in his second season. Pitino
also had added the steal of the 97 draft in Pierce (rookie-of-the-month)
to their 36-win nucleus. Even though the team was going through growing
pains (abbreviated training camp etc), I don't think Poultrino or Wallace
imagined for a second that Boston would be lotto bound when they offered
a naked first round pick to Cleveland for their backup center. Doh!

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