Interesting article on Baker (Worcester T&G)

["Alessandro Celtics-Fan" <alessan420@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Article published Dec 7, 2003

 One day at a time for Baker
 Remaining sober 'an everyday event'

 Bill Doyle
 NBA

 Vin Baker has to be the early favorite to win the NBA's Most Improved 
Player Award. The 6-foot-11 Celtics forward
 couldn't care less.
 "I haven't given it any thought," Baker said after practice at HealthPoint 
last week. "My one goal at the end of the season is
 to be the most improved person in the league."
 Baker's early success in his fight to recover from alcoholism is the NBA's 
feel-good story of the year. After collecting 22
 points and 9 rebounds against Phoenix, Baker is averaging 14.8 points and 
7 rebounds - his best numbers in four years -
 and he's given the Celtics a legitimate power forward to replace the 
traded Antoine Walker.
 "No matter what walk of life you're in," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said, 
"if somebody has dealt with the crisis Vin has dealt
 with, you have to admire him. There would be something wrong with you if 
you didn't admire the way Vin has handled the
 situation with directness and class."
 While binge drinking to numb his feelings of failure, Baker, 32, averaged 
career lows of 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds a year
 ago in his first season with the Celtics before the team suspended him 
Feb. 27 to force him to address his alcoholism.
 Baker underwent four weeks of alcohol rehabilitation at Silver Hill 
Hospital in New Canaan, Conn., then received daily
 testing as an outpatient for 10 more weeks. He regularly attends 
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and speaks to his
 sponsor daily. Every Sunday the Celtics are home, he travels to Old 
Saybrook, Conn., to hear the sermon his father gives
 as pastor of his Baptist church. He tries to set a good example for his 
three young boys, Gavin, 5; Kameron, 3, and Vin Jr.,
 2, who live with their mother in Connecticut. He tries to be a good 
teammate. Most importantly, he tries to remain sober
 one day at a time.
 "He has a wonderful family," O'Brien said. "Super parents, great children. 
He has surrounded himself with very positive
 people. They're there in Vin's best interests. None of them have their 
hands out. They're there to support him."
 Even opponents are pulling for Baker. When Boston played at Toronto last 
week, Vince Carter and Donyell Marshall of
 the Raptors embraced Baker and wished him luck. Against the Nets, Alonzo 
Mourning and Jason Kidd did the same.
 "From a personal standpoint," Baker said, "it feels tremendous to have 
people in my corner. Guys after games giving me
 hugs and telling me how proud they are of me. Basically, every game."
 As a recovering alcoholic, Baker fully accepts becoming a role model to 
fellow alcoholics.
 "I prayed and hoped for the basketball aspect to go well," Baker said, 
"but the most important thing I wanted to do was to
 come out and show if you go through a crisis like I did, you can get out 
of it. That's what I continue to be every day - try to
 be motivation and a good story for someone. When you hear about drug 
addicts or alcoholism, you always hear about
 negative stories, about how they end with people dying. I wanted to be a 
story where somebody could look on my situation
 and if they're going through a difficult situation, it could help them."
 That has happened already. Friends with substance abuse problems have 
called Baker for advice. He's talked to teenagers
 at schools and suicidal children with drug problems.
 "That means more to me than anything that could happen on the court," 
Baker said.
 Baker has sought advice himself from other athletes who are recovering 
from substance abuse.
 "They say to remember that anything that happens on the court is not going 
to be the end of the world," Baker said. "As
 long as you remain sober, that's the most important thing."
 Worcester resident William Krauss is program director of McLean Ambulatory 
Treatment Center at Naukeag in
 Ashburnham, an acute residential short-term treatment center. Although he 
has not worked with Baker, he treats substance
 abuse and co-psychiatric disorders and he believes it's too early in the 
recovery process for Baker to serve as a role
 model.
 "You see these athletes get up there," Krauss said. "They're early in 
recovery and you just don't want them to say anything
 because it doesn't work that way. They'll say, "I went through 30 days of 
rehab and I'm doing great, I'm cured, I'm treated
 and I'll never pick up another drink.' They set themselves up because 
relapses occur. A relapse is not a moral thing. It's not
 a weakness. It's a relapse."
 O'Brien won't allow himself to think Baker's sobriety won't continue.
 "I don't think that at all," O'Brien said. "I have no reason to think 
that. I have full belief in him as a person. I think he has the
 support mechanisms in place to give him the best chance of success. I try 
not to think about what-ifs."
 Baker realizes he's not cured of alcoholism, nor will he ever be. 
Alcoholism is the same as diabetes, asthma or hypertension
 - incurable but treatable.
 "Fortunately," Baker said, "God has blessed me to do well on the court and 
people tend to forget that I'm still in an
 everyday battle with alcoholism. I'm still a baby in it."
 "There are people in recovery all around you," Krauss said. "You don't 
know it because they're not telling you. It's none of
 your business. Vin's most important responsibility is to himself."
 Larry Gottlieb, vice president of homeless services and administrator for 
the detoxification unit of Community Healthlink, is
 a big basketball fan. He played the sport at Rutgers-Camden and 
professionally in Israel for two years. Here is Gottlieb's
 advice for Baker and any recovering alcoholic: "He's got to continue to 
work at the things that are keeping him healthy. As
 soon as he forgets what's working for him and thinks he's got it under 
control, that's when you lose it."
 Gottlieb doesn't think patients at his mental health agency have been 
especially inspired by Baker.
 "The role model piece would be more suitable," Gottlieb said, "if you're 
talking to other professional people. My people
 might say "Vin Baker's got a $13.5 million contract with the Celtics, I've 
got $300 a month from the welfare department.'
 There's a big difference between our clients and a professional athlete."
 Baker's seven-year, $86-million contract enabled him to get faster and 
better treatment than most alcoholics.
 "We've got people here on the streets of Worcester," Gottlieb said, "who 
are trying to get in here for treatment - street
 addicts and alcoholics - and without insurance they go on a waiting list 
because we don't have enough publicly funded beds.
 Vin Baker doesn't have to wait two weeks, three weeks or four months. He's 
got an agent, he's got all these supportive
 people around him that want to see him do well. So that's a plus."
 But most alcoholics or substance abusers don't live in a fishbowl like 
Baker.
 "Being in the public eye," said Gottlieb, "puts a lot more pressure on you 
than the guy who's quietly drinking every night and
 getting up and going to work every day, but having a problem with his 
family. He's not in the newspaper every day and
 being reported on - his successes and failures. The Celtics fans were 
saying the destruction of the Celtics was all on the
 back of signing Vin Baker and what a failure he was. That's a lot of 
pressure."
 The Celtics acquired Baker from Seattle prior to last season in the hope 
that his return to his native New England would
 rejuvenate his sagging career. Instead, the drinking he began during the 
lockout before the 1998-99 season grew worse.
 Passes slipped through his hands. He fell during games and took forever to 
get up. His breath smelled of alcohol at
 practices. The media, unaware of Baker's drinking problems, lambasted him 
for his poor play and ripped general manager
 Chris Wallace for taking on his $86-million contract.
 Finally, the Celtics suspended him to force him to seek help. To Baker's 
credit, he did.
 "The Celtics had given him ultimatums with regards to going into 
treatment," Krauss said. "Those can be very positive
 because very often the person doesn't have the wherewithal to get to that 
point in time."
 Baker worked out all summer with James Lloyd, a personal trainer who 
whipped Mourning back into shape after sitting out
 last season with a kidney disease.
 "I knew that he was going to be in fantastic condition," O'Brien said. "So 
I knew he had the best chance to take advantage
 of his considerable skills. The question that I had was, "Did he lose a 
lot of his quickness and his hops, things like that?'
 He's had natural aging, but I don't think he has lost too much of it. As a 
result, he's a very difficult guy to guard."
 Mourning's disease forced him to quit a month into the season, but Baker 
is still going strong. His 12-foot jumper in the
 closing seconds gave Boston its biggest win of the season, at Indiana. 
He's scored 20 or more points four times and
 grabbed double-digit rebounds three times. His most impressive game could 
have been a 16-point, 12-rebound, 5-block
 performance against New York.
 "To see such a dramatic turn-around is rewarding," O'Brien said, "because 
I happen to be his coach, but also I am a person
 who I think is going to be a friend of Vin's for a long time, long after 
we're not with the Boston Celtics."
 Although the season is only 19 games old, he's already scored more points 
than he did all of last season in 52 games. He's
 bounced back after a sore left knee slowed his lateral movement and 
dropped his scoring for three games.
 "I didn't know where I'd be at this point," Baker said. "Just being back 
on the floor I knew was going to have an
 opportunity to be better than last year, but I didn't know I was going to 
be adjusting this fast and I think I'm getting better
 every day."
 According to Krauss, giving up alcohol frees a person emotionally.
 "It probably allowed Baker to refocus on what he wanted to be, what he 
wanted to do," Krauss said. "But after that period
 of time, it's hard to move on from that. He's probably not going to get 
any better as a basketball player, but he now has to
 maintain that level of play and his sobriety."
 Baker has been sober since he checked into Silver Hill Hospital on March 
4. Many alcoholics are tempted to drink again
 around the anniversary of when they became sober. Baker is determined not 
to be one of them.
 "The most important thing that they taught me is you have to take it one 
day at a time," Baker said. "So I don't look for
 goals or look down the road. It's an everyday event."
 Baker will face his old team Wednesday when Seattle visits the 
FleetCenter. Sonics coach Nate McMillan tried and failed
 to turn Baker around.
 "Those are some of the people I definitely want to make amends with," 
Baker said. "They were good to me in Seattle."
 But Baker would love to show the Sonics he's a changed man.
 "After all the shaking of the hands," Baker said, "I definitely want to 
get on the floor and play my former teammates. I'm a
 different player now."

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