WALTHAM-- The first thing Celtics assistant coach Lester Conner wanted to
work on this summer with Vin Baker was his lazy reputation.
As far as not being a guy with a high tolerance for pain, not wanting to
put out a lot of hard work, Conner said. I told him hard work would make
it easy for him to be accepted by our team because these guys like to
battle.
Thrilled to be traded from Seattle closer to his home in Old Saybrook,
Conn., Baker did everything asked of him for the past two months. He spent
2.5 hours a day on the basketball court with Conner and in the weight room
and on the treadmill with strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown. As
the Celtics begin training camp today, the 6-foot-11 Baker weighs 255
pounds, seven or eight less than he normally does entering camp.
I'm in the best shape coming into a season in my 10 years in the league,
Baker said yesterday during Celtics media day at the Sports Authority
Training Center at HealthPoint.
Baker said he's been so busy working out he hasn't seen anything of the
Boston area other than the Westin Hotel.
I'm tired of the clam chowder over there, I can tell you that much, he
said.
The Celtics are counting upon Baker, who will turn 31 three weeks into the
regular season, to provide their best offensive production out of the pivot
since Robert Parish's glory days in the late 1980s.
Being in shape is just half of the battle, Baker said. I've got to come
out and do a lot of good things on the floor for this team.
If the Celtics are going to return to the Eastern Conference finals, Baker
must be more similar to the player he was during his first five years in the
league than the last four. After playing in three All-Star games in his four
years with Milwaukee, Baker was voted second-team All-NBA his first season
in Seattle in 1997-98. He was never the same player or showed the same
motivation after gaining weight during the lockout prior to the next season.
When you get a guy who's a proven All-Star, Conner said, vs. a guy you've
got to help make into an All-Star, it's totally different. We know he's
capable of doing what he needs to do.
If Baker can regain his old form, he and co-captains Antoine Walker and Paul
Pierce should give the Celtics their best front line since Parish, Larry
Bird and Kevin McHale. But to acquire Baker, the Celtics gave up Kenny
Anderson, leaving themselves without a proven point guard. Tony Delk,
Shammond Williams and rookie J.R. Bremer will share the point. None has
entered an NBA season as a starting point guard, but all three can defend
and can stretch a defense more than Anderson by making 3-pointers.
Delk is not only trying to take Anderson's job, he took his uniform number,
7. Delk wanted 00, which he wore throughout his career, but the Celtics have
retired that number in Parish's honor. Walter McCarty wears 0, so Delk
switched from the 28 he wore last season after being acquired from Phoenix
in February to 7 because his mother's birthday is Jan. 7.
Hopefully, it will bring me a lot of good luck, Delk said.
Walker, who handled the ball a great deal last season, could end up playing
point forward.
I wouldn't mind playing that role, Walker said.
I think our point guard situation will be a lot stronger than people
think, Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said.
Walker isn't so sure.
It's going to be tough, he said. It hurts me because Kenny was so great
on the pick and roll. He got me a lot of open looks. But it's going to be
harder to double-team us now because these guys can not only shoot, they can
make the 3. Teams hate giving up the 3.
While the Celtics players were pleased to hear about the sale of the team to
three Boston-area businessmen who are expected to stress winning over profit
more than Paul Gaston, they weren't quite sure what to make of the rumors of
Bird possibly becoming involved in the front office.
I love Bird, but right now we're in a good position, Walker said. I don't
think we need any changes personnel-wise or management-wise.
Seven Celtics return: Walker, Pierce, Delk, McCarthy, Eric Williams, Tony
Battie and Kedrick Brown. Five newcomers are under contract: Baker,
Williams, Bremer, former Winchendon School star Bruno Sundov and Argentine
Ruben Wolkowyski.
Four others were invited to camp, but aren't expected to stick: guard Tommy
Adams, center Jay Locklier, swingman Byron Mouton and forward Frantz
Pierre-Louis.
Walker believes there is enough talent to add to the franchise's 16 NBA
championships.
This is the first time I can actually look at No. 17 as a real
possibility, Walker said.