May Endorses Best

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If they can get Travis Best for the minimum, that would be an excellent
addition.

ON BASKETBALL

A point to consider

Deal brings guard question

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 7/24/2002

You trade Kenny Anderson and Vitaly Potapenko in July 2001 and you
immediately qualify for a Lindberghian parade through Boston. Mayor
Menino has a podium erected, orders up a fireworks display, and you
never have to wait for a seat in a North End restaurant for the rest of
your life.

 You do the same thing in July 2002 and here's what you get: Who's gonna
play point guard?

''I'll find out in the locker room who I have to kiss up to to get the
ball,'' Vin Baker said yesterday.

Like everyone else, he doesn't know either.

It says a lot about how far the Celtics have come that the day Baker and
Shammond Williams were introduced as the newest acquisitions, there was
considerable talk about the now, up-for-grabs, point guard position. In
trading Anderson, the Celtics have a hole there, one that could be
filled by Tony Delk, Williams, or even rookie JR Bremer.

But don't bet on it. They still have two ''scholarships'' left, as
personnel boss Leo Papile calls them. And one of them almost certainly
will go to a veteran point guard who is feeling the financial squeeze
later this summer or even in the early fall.

''Our chore now is to shore up the point guard situation,'' Papile said.
''People talk about Vinnie. He's not the issue. Point guard is the
issue. People think we gambled and rolled the dice on Vinnie. We didn't.
We gambled and rolled the dice on point guard.''

It's hard to get a read on Williams based on what he did in Seattle. He
was playing behind Gary Payton and, later, also behind Earl Watson. In
other words, he wasn't exactly burning it up. But there's no Payton in
Boston. There may not even be a Watson. So he'll get a chance. Plus, he
has that added plus for Boston - he can shoot the 3-pointer.

We saw Delk for what he is, a streaky shooting guard in a point guard's
body. We saw Bremer in the summer league; enough said. Simply, the
Celtics understand they must address the situation before the start of
the season and they don't think it's going to be much of a problem.

The consensus not only in Boston, but in most places, is that the labor
squeeze is real and that, as Papile noted yesterday, ''there are going
to be a lot of guys walking the streets looking for work in the
league.'' Let's just use simple math and say that each team decides to
go with an average of 13 players. That's a cut of two per team, or 58
guys out of jobs.

The list of free agent point guards doesn't include Payton or Jason
Kidd. But it does contain serviceable veterans who've been around and
who, in all likelihood, are going to have to ''settle'' for the veteran
minimum, which means somewhere between $700,000 and $1 million depending
on years of service.

Who are these guys? Well here's a partial list: Kevin Ollie, Troy
Hudson, Travis Best, Rod Strickland, Damon Jones, Chris Childs, Dana
Barros, Mookie Blaylock, Jeff McInnis, William Avery, Rick Brunson, John
Crotty, Erick Strickland. Maybe a couple of those guys will finagle real
offers. The rest will be battling for exception money and the Celtics
feel one of them will end up in Boston.

''You may remember,'' Papile said, ''that Erick Strickland rolled in
here last year at Halloween.''

The Celtics don't want to wait that long. They have two spots and one
could well go to second-round pick Darius Songaila, who will play for
short money, NBA-style. Signing someone to a $1 million veteran
exception contract also includes a bonus that the league will pay a
third of and that only the amount the Celtics pay goes against the cap.

Make no mistake about it, this is still a team watching every penny. The
Baker deal was motivated by money because the team a) wouldn't pony up
to re-sign Rodney Rogers and b) saved an additional $1 million in the
deal. The free agent point guard, whoever he is, will likely come on the
cheap because no one is going to give him anything more.

So, no, the Celtics didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater in this
deal. Yes, they lost Anderson. And Anderson is correct in pointing out
that the players there now aren't an upgrade at the position. (They are,
however, a big upgrade over Anderson, 2000-01.) But it's still July and
a lot of players eventually will have to face the hard, fiscal reality.

One of them - here's a vote for Best - will sign with Boston. The
situation will be compelling - a chance to start for a likely playoff
team, a chance to play with two, young All-Stars, a chance to play with
a third veteran former-All Star trying to recapture his game, and a
chance to play for a coach who doesn't micromanage, scream, or think
he's the show in town.

All in all, it's not a bad situation.

This story ran on page D7 of the Boston Globe on 7/24/2002.
) Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.