FW: [Celticsstuffgroup] Chris Herren: Is there a problem?

[Jim Metz <JBMetzEA@AOL.com>]

----------
From: "Fabio" <legend33@libero.it>
Reply-To: Celticsstuffgroup@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001 20:38:20 +0200
To: <Celticsstuffgroup@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Celticsstuffgroup] Chris Herren: Is there a problem?


Ok, what's best than translating a Chris Herren interview on a local paper
to explain what happened? Though Herren doesn't day too much, his opinion is
quite clear....

Q: What are the motivations that made you change your mind?
Herren:My agent and the team have asked me not to tell the reasons. And so
I'm not telling, there are still many things on the table. Anyway I'm happy
to come back home.
Q: Who decided to call it quits, you or the team?
Herren: It's a very complicate issue. Better not talking about it.
Q: SO let's talk about the Skipper (the italian Bologna team Herren was
playing for)...
Herren: I hope my teammates will be able to play well and to win the
championship.
Q: Has it been difficult to get accustomed with italian system?
Herren: No. I had no problems with (Coach) Boniciolli, nor with the guys in
the team. But it's not easy to stick with a completely different life style.
Italian reality is quite different from the one I knew. You have to realize
that I'm 5,000 thousand miles from home, and that my family is young, and
this makes things even more difficult. And, last but not least, the American
tragedy. My friends are there. Here, I feel like I'm powerless.
Q: Will you come back to Italy?
Herren: No, I won't.
Q: Is it true that you could end up quitting basketball?
Herren: Absolutely not. I don't know where, but I'll keep playing ball in
the United States.

*** I even watched his one and only game in Italy, and he looked like he was
wondering... what am I doing here? Missed his three point shots, and when he
was playing Skipper went down bad.... so I guess the real reason is that he
just found it more difficult than he believed. Matteo Boniciolli is a great
coach, and he's Bogdan Tanjevic's assistant of italian national selection...
So I guess that Boniciolli would have someway found a way to get the best
from Herren if it was possible. To me, it seems that Chris thought he was
going to teach some basketball here, while therewere a lot of things he had
to learn. And the situation (unhappy wife, terrorism and all) did not help
him.
 Fabio


----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Metz <mailto:JBMetzEA@Yahoo.com>
To: Celtics Stuff <mailto:Celticsstuffgroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 5:07 AM
Subject: [Celticsstuffgroup] Chris Herren: Is there a problem?

  Those of you that joined us on draft night will remember our pal from
Italy: Fabio. He follows very closely the Euro. scene and was able to give
us some first hand scouting reports on Radmanovich and our own Croatian;
Josep Sesar.
  Fabio "The Fabulous" has joined here as well and I hope he can give us the
inside story on Chris Herren's sudden departure from his Italian team. The
following appeared in the Boston Globe on Sept 23rd.:


PRO BASKETBALL NOTES
Herren quickly says arrivederci
By Peter May, 9/23/2001
ortitudo Bologna opens its 2001-02 season tonight on the road in Avellino.
Chris Herren, signed in July to be the team's point guard, won't be with
them. His Italian experience is over before it ever really began.
Herren is likely to return home this week to an uncertain basketball future.
He would have preferred to return home sooner, but there were problems
getting a flight back to the United States following the terrorist attacks
Sept. 11.
There are conflicting reports and rumors as to what exactly happened with
Herren in Italy, but this much is known: Herren left the team a week ago
while it was in Chiavari for training camp. He never rejoined it, remaining
in the Bologna area with his wife, Heather, who is pregnant. The team then
went out and signed ex-Laker John Celestand to take Herren's place, another
sign that his services were no longer needed.
Early stories had Herren and his wife concerned over the possible loss of
family members in the attacks. That proved untrue.
''He's just not that anxious to stay under the current circumstances,'' said
one of Herren's agents, Frank Catapano. ''My impression was that his wife,
and the pregnancy, was the main issue.''
Catapano and agent Michael Martin are trying to work out a termination
agreement with the Italian club. Entering the weekend, nothing had been
completed. Those procedures can be difficult, frustrating, and complicated,
as any agent who has done business in Europe will attest. The club already
has taken a stance of sorts in signing Celestand.
Attempts to reach Herren in Italy were unsuccessful. He was briefly quoted
last Tuesday on an international basketball Web site, saying he was trying
to decide what to do. ''I took a couple of days just to figure out a couple
of things with my wife, you know,'' he said. He had appeared in only one
game, an exhibition contest, and had only 2 points while missing all three
of his shots from the field in a loss to Scavolini Pesaro.
Both Martin and Catapano said they had heard nothing about any basketball
problems Herren might have had with the team. But Fortitudo clearly shed no
tears when Herren left, and there were rumblings among the Italian media
last week that he and the Fortitudo coach, Matteo Boniciollo, did not get
along. That would not be the first time an American has not seen eye to eye
with his European coach.
Herren was the sole American on the team, which also included two
Slovenians, one Bulgarian, one Russian, one Croat, and one Belgian. European
basketball isn't for everyone, especially for younger players. (Herren turns
26 Thursday.) It can be an unsettling existence, or even worse.
Americans are expected to post big numbers and are generally seen as the
scapegoat when things go wrong because they are high-profile as well as
expendable. There are two-a-day practices throughout the year as well as
other things (running), which make it vastly different from American
basketball. Some figure it out and prosper because it can be a way to make a
good living. Others find it impossible.
What's next for Herren? Catapano said he has not contacted any NBA teams,
but Herren does have two years of experience, and that could be enough to
get him invited to someone's training camp. The Celtics, with three point
guards, aren't interested. Failing that, there's the National Basketball
Development League, which launches in November and might be a place where
Herren gets what he really needs: playing time.
NBDL players will be eligible to sign with any NBA team. The league may not
be what Herren wants or what he feels he deserves. But he may have to take a
step or two back before he goes forward again.......................

This story ran on page C17 of the Boston Globe on 9/23/2001.
) Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.