Paul okay with Vin

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list:
In case you guys haven't seen this Globe article. Paul 
Pierce is "okay" with Vin Baker, wishes we had signed 
Rodney Rogers.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/233/sports/Baker_deal_is
_OK_by_PierceP.shtml

Baker deal is OK by Pierce 
Rogers was top priority, he says, but this is nice 
consolation prize

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 8/21/2002 

SAN FRANCISCO - He's had about a month to digest the 
Celtics' summer blockbuster trade, and Paul Pierce, like 
a lot of us, has contrasting thoughts about the deal, 
which brought Vin Baker to Boston. 

His first thought: Why didn't they just bring back the 
same team? His second thought: If that was not going to 
happen, then this was the next best thing. 

''It is disappointing we couldn't keep the group 
together,'' Pierce said yesterday while preparing with 
his NBA teammates for the upcoming World Championships in 
Indianapolis. He is the sole Celtic on the United States 
team and the third to play for USA basketball, joining 
Larry Bird (1992 Olympics) and Dominique Wilkins (1994 
World Champonships). 

''I thought we should have done whatever we could to sign 
Rodney [Rogers],'' Pierce went on. ''But I'm not the 
owner, and he's the one who makes the decisions. I just 
thought we owed it to the fans and owed it to the 
organization. But that's just the way the business is. We 
have to do what we have to do. We have to go in another 
direction. So now we've changed the face of the team a 
little bit and we have to build on that.'' 

The Celtics not only did not re-sign Rogers, who later 
went to the Nets, they also traded point guard Kenny 
Anderson and center Vitaly Potapenko to Seattle in the 
deal for Baker. 

US coach George Karl likes the trade (''I'm a Vin Baker 
fan; I think it will work''), and Pierce sees some 
immediate dividends in acquiring a 6-foot-11-inch scoring 
presence. 

''It brings us a new dimension,'' said Pierce. ''If we 
can get Vin Baker to come in here and really work and 
show us that he has a new attitude and that he's willing 
to commit to what we're trying to build, I think it's 
something that could really work. 

''He's a big man that has a lot of skills. He just needs 
to be motivated and pushed. He gives us an inside 
presence, especially in the East, where there are not a 
lot of big guys. I think it'll help me in opening up my 
game a little bit more, too, getting more cuts and 
slashes.'' 

Pierce confirmed that he was called by coach Jim O'Brien 
for his input prior to the deal. O'Brien told him then 
that Rogers was not going to be re-signed because 
ownership wanted to stay away from the luxury tax 
threshold. 

''That was a step back,'' Pierce said. ''So we had to do 
something to keep us as playoff contenders. It was a move 
I could respect, even though we lost Rodney and Kenny, 
who really was coming along for us.'' 

The US team is practicing at the University of San 
Francisco until it faces China (and No. 1 pick Yao Ming) 
Thursday night at The Arena in Oakland. The team then 
moves north to Portland, Ore., for two more days of 
practice and an exhibition game against Germany Sunday. 
The US opener in the World Championships is next Thursday 
against Algeria at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis ... Karl 
is trying to preach a ''We Are The World'' theme to his 
team, feeling that it has more than enough talent to win 
but must be concerned about playing together as a 
team. ''The more we play like the All-Star American 
street game - flash and style - the more chance we have 
of getting beat by a fundamentally solid basketball team 
that is going to give you the work ethic, the intensity 
that's going to get the extra possession, that's going to 
outwork you,'' he said. ''It's respecting the game. It's 
playing the right way. It's having the dignity to come 
together as a team and check your ego at the door and let 
the game tell you who's going to be the star. Don't force 
the stardom. I think that's going to happen. I really 
like my crew. I think they're into playing the game the 
right way.'' ... Jay Williams's hip injury healed enough 
to allow him to practice yesterday, although he did not 
take part in scrimmages. ''It's still a little sore, but 
I tried to do a lot more today,'' said Williams, whose 
thigh was tightly wrapped because of his strained left 
hip flexor. He was injured in a collision with US 
teammate Andre Miller Saturday. 

Material from Associated Press was used in this report. 


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