Globe - New owners miss first deadline

[Eggcentric@xxxxxxx]

CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Team buyers fail to beat the clock

But missed deadline will not affect sale

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 11/26/2002

Celtics owner-in-waiting Wyc Grousbeck was at practice yesterday. 
The first (read: optimistic) deadline for getting everything in to close 
the deal is Saturday. That is not going to happen.

That means the new owners have to add another $2.5 million to their $5 
million deposit (which goes against the purchase price).

The next deadline is Dec. 31, but there's a clause in the agreement 
that allows the deadline to be pushed into 2003.

Sources close to the new owners insist that financing the $360 million 
deal is not an issue. The delay, if it can be called that, comes from 
vetting the individual investors that Grousbeck & Co. are lining up to 
help finance the deal.

Delk rejoins team

T ony Delk was back at practice after missing Saturday's game in 
Atlanta to attend to family matters. Delk's mother is back home after 
surgery, according to coach Jim O'Brien, and Delk's daughter, who lives 
in Charlotte, N.C., was scheduled to be released from the hospital 
yesterday. The daughter had been suffering from pneumonia ... Tony 
Battie sat out most of practice yesterday with a swollen right knee. He 
is not expected to miss tomorrow night's game against the Bulls. 
Antoine Walker and Walter McCarty were ''under the weather,'' according 
to O'Brien, but both participated in drills.

His time is coming

B runo Sundov left Indiana and came to Boston with the hope that he'd 
get more playing time. So far, he hasn't. Sundov has appeared in only 
seven games for a total of 37 minutes. Asked about the situation, 
O'Brien said, ''Things can change dramatically. I don't believe that 
just because he's not getting playing time now doesn't mean he's not 
going to work his way into playing time. I think he can.'' O'Brien said 
he has kept the rotation at eight players so far ''because we didn't 
think a larger rotation was the way to go.'' O'Brien said that as the 
season progresses, there will be opportunities for Sundov as well as 
for J.R. Bremer and Ruben Wolkowyski... The Bulls come to town tomorrow 
night having lost four straight games overall and eight straight on the 
road since their one and only road triumph in Boston on Opening Night. 
''They're a team that needs a win,'' O'Brien said. ''And they have the 
weapons to beat us, as they've shown.'' The Celtics beat Chicago in the 
United Center Nov. 6, 91-69. The teams will play once more, next month, 
in Chicago ... Paul Pierce has put together four consecutive 
double-doubles (points, rebounds) ... O'Brien on Vin Baker: ''He's 
going to have a really good year for us. His defense is coming. And our 
guys are starting to understand his strengths around the basket. We're 
going to be very pleased with the two centers we have.'' As O'Brien 
said, it's a long season. Mark Blount, who was in Boston the last two 
years, is averaging 6.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 21.8 minutes for the 
Nuggets. Baker is averaging 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 19.5 minutes 
per game.