Baker, Baker, A Wild Card Maker

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Metrowest Sports

Megliola: Celts' Baker playing role of wild card

By Lenny Megliola
Tuesday, July 22, 2003


They say he looks good. Those who have seen him. Not many have, it
seems. Vin Baker looks good. Slim, said Celtics coach Jim O'Brien. Trim.
And you thought 'Well, that's nice.'

But you wonder, too. Has this guy got anything left? On one hand, you
wouldn't want to be Vin Baker, even though he's only 31 years old and
could be in the prime of his athletic life. Could be. Ain't. The demons
in the bottle got to Baker. Something evil did anyway. He was a Celtic
for 52 games last season but Boston's season was 92 games long. He
wasn't much help to the team, then he had to get some help for himself.

Baker's a likable fellow, and his coaches and teammates went out of
their way to say he wasn't a distraction. The fans weren't so kind.
Distraction? They thought he was a disaster.

He came here in a trade hardly anyone in Boston seemed to endorse. In
the moving and shaking done after the uplifting 2001-2002 season when
the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, their first
playoff visit in six years, O'Brien was looking forward to building off
that. He had his cornerstones, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce. He wanted
newcomers Rodney Rogers and Erick Strickland to remain with the Celtics.
Didn't happen. Blame it on selling owner Paul Gaston or Chris Wallace or
the luxury tax, blame 'em all maybe, but Rogers and Strickland wound up
elsewhere and Vin Baker became a Celtic.

He arrived with baggage. Nobody realized how heavy. Or that it was
liquid.

Baker had four productive years with the Bucks (first team All-Rookie;
all-NBA 2nd team) and five up-and-down seasons with Seattle. Not long
after he arrived in Boston there were stories that trailed him from the
Pacific Northwest. He was moody; he was washed up; he had no heart; he
was a drinker. Welcome to the 16-time NBA champions, pal.

He wanted to make it here. He was a Hartford kid. He was close to home.
His father was nearby. The dad showed up on media day. His son smiled
for the cameras, talked to the writers. He seemed happy. He looked
pretty damn good for all the alleged baggage.

Only trouble was, he couldn't play a lick anymore. Walker defended him,
spoke well of Baker. Give him time, said Walker. He'll fit in. He'll
help.

It never happened of course. Baker averaged 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.
He played his last game Feb. 20. Celtics fans, and surely some in the
team's front office, including the new owners, wished that was truly so.
Baker's last game.

But, and this is on the other hand, you'd want to be Vin Baker. He is
due to make over $13 million this season, about $31 million more the two
seasons after that. And he may be all washed up. There's the dilemma. Do
you keep him because you owe him all that money? Do you wish that he'd
just go away, make a financial settlement with the team and wish him
well in his retirement? Do you play him? What's the choice if he shows
up and says 'Put me in coach? I'm ready to play.'?

Or does this have a happy ending? Is that possible? Doesn't even have to
be that happy. Just decent. A decent ending so the guy's not humiliated.
Maligned. For what he's making, it's going to take a lot on Baker's part
to script such an ending. The Celtics could really use some help up
front, a low post presence. Baker could supply some of that. He's no $13
million player, but he's not the only one making tons of dough and a
long, long way from being worth it.

Nope, he's just a guy hanging on, an albatross to his team, a burden on
the budget. If they could just get something in return.

Anyway, they say he looks good. Couldn't tell by last week's summer
league at UMass-Boston because Baker wasn't there. So what's he been
doing, where did he rehab, how did it go? Is he sober? Sane? In
basketball shape?

The answers will start to come when the Celtics open camp, when Baker
shows up, when he runs the floor again, when he jumps. Last time we
looked, the 6-11 Baker could barely get off his feet. Maybe that was the
old Vinnie. Maybe the new one is rejuvenated, in body and soul. Maybe
the hops in his life don't come from a bottle anymore.

You gotta feel for the guy, but you're just not sure where this is
going. If he stumbles and falls, if he can't play anymore, it'll be a
brutal winter for Vin Baker. Is 10 points, six or seven rebounds a game
too much to ask?

You just hope it works out. That's all you can do.

(Lenny Megliola is a News Sports Columnist.)