Nolan Richardson quotes in the Herald

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

In today's Herald, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson compares Joe Johnson to 
Paul Pressey, one of the greatest non-Celtics 6th men. Hey that's fine with 
me. The Celtics play in Little Rock tonight against the powerful Milwaukee 
Bucks.

As for Paul Pierce, he came to camp as a 20-year-old rookie having spent 
the summer improving his jump shot by leaps and bounds. All three Celtics 
rookies have the natural ability to shoot the ball accurately from range 
(that's why they were drafted), but they need to make a similar commitment 
to get to the next level. On paper, they are all at least as dangerous or 
more at shooting from distance than Paul Pierce was in school. In fact 
there were some serious enough questions about Pierce as a shooter and ball 
handler in college, although 1st team All American isn't exactly chopped 
liver on your resumi.

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) Copyright by the Boston Herald
http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/basketball/cs10192001.htm
``I can't wait to go home and eat,'' Johnson said. ``Mom will probably cook 
some greens, cornbread - you know, all that good down south stuff. Some of 
that good soul food. I'm really looking forward to it.''

Richardson said Celtics fans should be looking forward, as well.

``Oh, man, this kid understands the game,'' Richardson said. ``He's not 
overselfish. He probably needs to become a little more selfish, but that's 
just his manner. He's going to get the ball to the open guy. He plays to win.

``I think he's going to be one of the easiest transition guys to come out 
of this draft, no question about it. First of all, Joe doesn't do anything 
bad. I mean, is he a great shooter? No, but he's a good one. Is he a great, 
great passer? No, but he's a real good one. You just go down the line and 
when you put his whole game together, he's got the package.

``He's way ahead of a lot of kids because they don't understand the game 
the way he does. A lot of them just understand the points that are being 
scored. Joe understands the game. I had one other kid I'd compare him to 
and that's Paul Pressey. The only difference was Pressey was a defensive 
whiz and Joe still has a way to go on defense. But for the game thought 
pattern, they were alike.''

Though it was tough to see Johnson leave his program with two years of 
eligibility left, Richardson had no quarrel with the decision.

``No question it was the right move,'' Richardson said. ``He's a poor kid, 
so no question it was the right decision for him. It was time for him to 
go. The window of opportunity is only going to be there so long for some 
kids, and for Joe that window was wide open.''

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