Fords Insider Article

["Sean Giovanello" <sgiovanello@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While five teams in the West are busy building all-star teams, Jason Kidd is
trying to build a dynasty of his own in the most unlikely of places -- the
Eastern Conference.

Kidd turned down a $90 million-plus offer from the Spurs to re-sign this
summer with the Nets amid whispers that he was scared of the competition in
the West.

"I wouldn't have been scared to go to the West," Kidd said in his press
conference Thursday. "Nobody scares me."

Over the past two seasons, the Nets have played a total of 10 NBA Finals
games. They've won only two of them.

This year he expects that to change. Kidd says he believes that with a young
core of Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin, the Nets play his style of
basketball.

"There's no better place. I feel my game fits and also my personality and
everything else," Kidd said. "I just want to be on a winning team. There's
no better way than to be a part of something you started [building] from the
ground, to see it building at the end and to sit back and say. 'You know
what? We accomplished something here.' "

     Alonzo Mourning
            Center
            New Jersey Nets
            Profile


     2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS
                  GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
                  - - - - - -



It also won't hurt if the guy Kidd's bringing along for the ride, Alonzo
Mourning, ends up returning to his old form.

"It's a high risk, but sometimes you've got to put yourself out there to
roll the dice," Kidd said. "I felt adding a piece like Zo could help us in
the sense of it's somebody who has the same goal, and that's to win a
championship. He's not here trying to get a new contract or trying to make
the most money."

With a lineup of Kidd, Kerry Kittles, Jefferson, Martin and Mourning, the
Nets clearly are the team to beat in the East again.

"They beat up on everyone in the East last season -- and that was without
Zo," one rival GM told Insider. "If he's healthy, I think they have a great
shot of giving the teams in the West a run. If he isn't -- and that's a big
if -- I believe the East will be wide open again."

Wide open is one way to look at it. The other is downright mediocrity. With
the exception of the Nets and Pistons -- very few teams in the East have
made the upgrades it's going to take to make a run at the title.

     Juwan Howard
            Power Forward
            Orlando Magic
            Profile


     2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS
                  GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
                  77 18.4 7.6 3.0 .450 .803



The Magic added Juwan Howard, but without a star center or point guard, the
team will still be lacking. The Sixers, Knicks and Hawks basically just
shuffled around unwanted players in the last few days. The Pacers lost Brad
Miller and Ron Mercer and have only Scot Pollard to show for it. The
Celtics' big free-agent move was to re-sign Walter McCarty. The Hornets' big
splash was Sean Rooks. The Raptors trumped them a bit by landing free-agent
studs Jerome Moiso, Milt Palacio and Mengke Bateer. The Bulls' big addition
was a 60-year-old Scottie Pippen.

Several cellar dwellers did get better. The Cavs will be much improved with
LeBron James running the show. So will the Wizards with Gilbert Arenas at
the helm. A few teams, however, may have actually gotten worse. The Bucks
stripped their roster of their best four players in the matter of a year,
and the Heat, unless they land Lamar Odom, struck out in free agency despite
the fact that they have a legend of a coach and play in one of the premier
free-agent destinations -- South Florida.

How do they rank against one another? Insider breaks it down:

Also see: How the West will be won

1. New Jersey Nets
Projected record: 55-27
Biggest additions: Alonzo Mourning, Zoran Planinic
Biggest subtractions: Anthony Johnson, Eddie Jordan
The skinny: If Mourning is healthy, and if Martin and Jefferson keep up the
learning curve, the Nets will be tougher than ever. Their big weakness last
year was in the middle. If Zo can give them 25 minutes a night of solid
defense in the paint, they'll be very tough to beat. Planinic is the
sleeper. He played well enough in the summer league to prompt one Nets
assistant coach to predict that he could get major minutes in the back ourt
alongside Kidd. The other big issue is the loss of Jordan. He was the
architect of the Nets' run-and-gun offense and also played mediator between
Kidd and head coach Byron Scott. Kidd reiterated on Thursday that there is
no rift between him and Scott -- but one may develop if the Nets don't hire
an assistant who can keep Kidd happy.

2. Detroit Pistons
Projected record: 53-29
Biggest additions: Larry Brown, Darko Milicic, Elden Campbell
Biggest subtractions: Jon Barry?
The skinny: Good things are bound to happen when you hire a Hall of
Fame-caliber coach and add the No. 2 pick in the draft. The Pistons are on a
roll of good fortune and the Nets appear to be the only team in the East
that can slow them down right now. If the deal for Campbell goes down as
expected (one Pistons official thought the signing would happen today) -- 
the Pistons will have four 7-footers and Ben Wallace to anchor their front
line. Throw in the dynamic threesome of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton
and Tayshaun Prince and the deepest bench in the East and this could be the
year that the Pistons break through to the Finals.

3. Indiana Pacers
Projected record: 48-34
Biggest additions: Scot Pollard, Anthony Johnson
Biggest subtractions: Brad Miller, Ron Mercer
The skinny: Pacers fans are up in arms over the loss of Miller and Mercer
for Pollard. Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh is pleading for patience. In all
likelihood, the Pacers aren't done tinkering. New GM Larry Bird really wants
another point guard and may be willing to give up Jamaal Tinsley to get it
done. The Pacers did pick up Danny Ferry and his $4.5 million non-guaranteed
salary in the trade. Package that with Tinsley and it could land them a
veteran like Eric Snow or Charlie Ward. Even if that doesn't happen, the
glass still appears to be half full in Indy. Jermaine O'Neal, Al Harrington
and Ron Artest form a solid nucleus. The team believes that this is Jonathan
Bender's breakout year and plans on playing him at the four and moving
O'Neal to the five when they aren't playing the dominant centers in the NBA.
Pollard may not be Miller on the offensive end, but he is a better defender
and rebounder. With so many offensive weapons to choose from, the Pacers
don't really need Pollard to score.

4. New Orleans Hornets
Projected record: 48-34
Biggest additions: Sean Rooks, David West
Biggest subtractions: Jerome Moiso, Kenny Anderson?
The skinny: For the second straight year, Hornets owner George Shinn shocked
the NBA by re-signing one of his own players. Last summer it was Baron
Davis. This summer it was P.J. Brown. Put Brown and Davis together with
Jamal Mashburn and Jamaal Magloire and the Hornets still have one of the
best inside-outside threats in the league. The two keys for the Hornets this
season will be health and coaching. They can't afford to lose Davis and
Mashburn for long stretches again. On the coaching side, Tim Floyd now
replaces Paul Silas. Can he keep the momentum going? Silas is one of the
most underrated coaches in the league. Floyd believes the same thing about
himself after a miserable stint with the Terri-Bulls. Can he get the same
effort out of his team that Silas did? If he can't the Hornets will slide.

5. Orlando Magic
Projected record: 46-36
Biggest additions: Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines, Tyronn Lue, Zaur Pachulia
Biggest subtractions: Darrell Armstrong, Jacque Vaughn, Shawn Kemp?
The skinny: Another year, another season without Grant Hill. The Magic
appear to have had it with Hill's annual comeback attempt and tried to push
him into a box this summer when they applied for the league's medical
exception. It was denied after league doctors determined that there was a
chance that Hill could play this season. Fat chance. While medically that
may be true, it appears the Magic have no intention of letting that happen.
Hill probably won't play again until the Magic are sure that the odds are in
their favor. That's why they ran out and landed Howard. Like Hill, Howard
has the personality to fit into the Magic's system without disrupting Tracy
McGrady's dominance. Howard's a nice pick-up, but what does that do to Drew
Gooden? Gooden struggled in Memphis when the team moved him to small forward
and flourished in Orlando when he played power forward. Howard's no longer
quick enough to play the three and neither player has the size to really
play the five on a consistent basis. Point guard is also an issue.
First-round pick Gaines struggled in the summer league and Lue is too small
to play major minutes. Pachulia may be the wild card in all of this. He
dominated at times in the summer league and could be the answer, down the
road, for the Magic in the middle.

The Best of the Rest: After the top five, the rest of the East is wash. The
Sixers will still be in the mix somewhere. The addition of Glenn Robinson
will give them plenty of scoring, but Kenny Thomas and Marc Jackson don't
make the strongest of front lines. Chemistry will also be an issue. How well
Allen Iverson responds to Robinson and new head coach Randy Ayers will be
the deciding factor.

The Celtics live and die by Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. The news all
summer has swirled around rumored Walker trades. But the Celtics may be
cooling their heels. Walker has been religiously working out with Michael
Jordan's trainer, Tim Grover. One Celtics official told Insider that he's
lost so much weight he resembles the Antoine Walker we saw at Kentucky. Put
him with an improving Kedrick Brown, quick as lightning rookie point guard
Marcus Banks and a recovering Vin Baker and the Celtics should at least be
able to hold serve.

It appears that there aren't many Keith Van Horn fans out there right now,
but that's really irrelevant. The Knicks will be a playoff team this year if
Antonio McDyess is healthy and returns to form. If he doesn't, it seems
doubtful that the team will be able ride Allan Houston, Van Horn and Mike
Sweetney to an eight seed. The Raptors will also be in the hunt as long as
Vince Carter and Antonio Davis remain healthy.

The rest of the East could be labeled the young and the restless. The Bulls
appear to be the most ready to make the leap this year. If Jamal Crawford,
Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry continue their development, veterans like
Jalen Rose, Scottie Pippen and Donyell Marshall should be able to give them
a shot at an eighth seed. The Wizards will go as far as young players like
Kwame Brown, Gilbert Arenas and Jarvis Hayes take them. Jerry Stackhouse can
only do so much. LeBron James should lead the Cavs back to respectability
but it will take huge years by Darius Miles and Carlos Boozer to push them
into the playoffs.

The Hawks, Heat and Bucks should all battle for last place. The Hawks
basically conceded the battle when they shipped Robinson to Philly for cap
room. The Heat added another nice young player in Dwyane Wade, but unless
they land Odom, they're still a couple of players away from being a
contender. The Bucks have a nice young nucleus with T. J. Ford, Michael
Redd, Desmond Mason and Tim Thomas, but the firing of coach George Karl was
a pretty clear sign that the team knows it will be in the throes of
rebuilding for a while.

Around the league

a.. The Mavs may not be getting into the Western Conference trading frenzy
after all. Owner Mark Cuban denied a report in Thursday's New York Daily
News that claimed that the Mavs were talking with the Knicks about a Raef
LaFrentz-for-Kurt Thomas/Charlie Ward swap.

Does that mean the Mavs are going to sit things out this summer? Coach Don
Nelson said he's been working tirelessly trying to make something happen. "I
don't think people should confuse lack of action for lack of effort," Nelson
told the Fort Worth Star Telegram. "We've been burning the candle at both
ends while burning up the phone lines. We felt like in a lot of these
[potential trades and free agent signings] that you put yourself in good
positions and you hope luck is with you. But for every [Steve] Nash trade
that you do, there's 10 others that look just as good and feel just as good,
but for whatever reason it just doesn't take."

The Indianapolis Star reported that the Mavs and Pacers did talk about a
Brad Miller/Jamaal Tinsley-for-Steve Nash/Shawn Bradley swap, but the deal
never materialized.

a.. The Mavs aren't the only team having problems convincing free agents to
come play for them. The Jazz are in the same boat. If the Clippers match
Utah's offer sheet for Corey Maggette next week, the team will be left
holding around $20 million in cap room with no free agents to show for it.

The team isn't giving up, however. While there aren't any free agents the
team is locked onto, trades aren't out of the question. In fact, it may be
the best way for the Jazz to acquire talent. If top free agents are
reluctant to come to Utah because of stereotypes or a wariness to fill John
Stockton and Karl Malone's shoes, the best plan may be to trade for guys who
are already locked up. A number of teams are desperately trying to get
further under the cap and would be more than willing to send a player in a
long-term deal for salary-cap relief in return.

"The biggest thing that we can do is, in an orderly process, try and
evaluate," GM Kevin O'Connor told the Salt Lake Tribune, "whether it's a
sign-and-trade, whether it's a straight trade, whether it's . . . having
other teams look at us as somebody who can take a player from them."

     Antoine Walker
            Forward
            Boston Celtics
            Profile


     2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS
                  GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
                  78 20.1 7.2 4.8 .388 .615



While the Jazz aren't tipping their hand on who that may be, there are a
number of players on the market the Jazz could grab. Among the most
prominent? Boston's Antoine Walker, Atlanta's Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo
Ratliff, Golden State's Antawn Jamison, Miami's Eddie Jones, Indiana's
Austin Croshere and Detroit's Cliff Robinson and Corliss Williamson.

a.. It appears that the Rockets will not match the Grizzlies' offer for
restricted free agent James Posey. The Houston Chronicle reported on Friday
that the team had come to terms with Eric Piatkowski on a three-year, $8
million deal. He'll come at half the price of Posey and allow the Rockets to
replace him without incurring the luxury tax.

That's good news for the Grizzlies, who are seriously concerned about the
long-term future of Michael Dickerson. Jerry West told Insider on Thursday
that his goal is to get the Grizzlies two players deep at every position.
"We just need to keep adding more talent here and Posey gives us something
that we really don't have," West said in a phone interview from California.
"If the Rockets don't match I believe we're now two deep at every position
but center and we're still trying to address that."

West wouldn't divulge who the team is targeting, but it's clear that he
believes it needs to add another center to help out Lorenzen Wright.
Whatever the Grizzlies do, it will have to be via trade at this point. Posey
will take up the team's full mid-level exception and the team used its $1.5
million exception last year on Gordan Giricek. Besides, the team already has
16 players on its roster with guaranteed contracts, assuming the Rockets
don't match Posey.

The Grizzlies do have trade bait and it isn't Wright or Stromile Swift.
("We're trying to add size, not give it away," West said.) Both Wesley
Person ($7.7 million this season) and Brevin Knight ($5 million this season)
are in the last year of their contracts. A team trying to clear cap for 2004
might be willing to take those players off the Grizzlies' hands and give up
a big man in return.

a.. Agent Dan Fegan told the Denver Post that he's had conversations with
the Nuggets about free agent Stephen Jackson. The Atlanta Journal
Constitution reported on Friday that the Hawks have interest in Jackson.

a.. The Nets have offered free agent Lucious Harris a two year, $5 million
contract the New York Post reported. "We don't have a deal done," said agent
Jerome Stanley. "I don't know where things are. It's up to the Nets to make
it happen. The negotiations are on-going, it's safe to say it is a difficult
process."

a.. It looks like the Celtics won't be signing Travis Best. The Boston Globe
is reporting that the Celtics have made a one year offer for the minimum to
Heat point guard Mike James. Team president Danny Ainge said he expected a
deal to be completed today. The team also signed second round pick Brandon
Hunter to a two year, $1.1 million dollar deal.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean Giovanello" <sgiovanello@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <celtics@xxxxxxxx>; <Celticsstuffgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Snoopy the
Celtics Beagle" <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: ESPN, the place where "No Celtics News Is Good News"


> http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/story?id=1585356
>
> Chad Ford discusses the Celts in his preview of the East.  Not sure if
this
> link has been posted here.  He also takes a couple shots at the C's...
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Snoopy the Celtics Beagle" <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <celtics@xxxxxxxx>; <Celticsstuffgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 12:44 PM
> Subject: ESPN, the place where "No Celtics News Is Good News"
>
>
> > It's amazing, really.  If a flea farts on LeBron James, it's an ESPN
> > sidebar.  Kobe Bryant buys an apology present for cheating on his wife
> (and
> > when said event puts her on the evening news it had BETTER be expensive)
> > and rates a headline for doing so.  Even a whisper of talks between the
> > Clippers and the Heat merit a clickable headline.
> >
> > Yet the Celtics have completed at least one signing, possibly two,
> > accompanied by showing Travis Best's agent how the Celtics expect the
game
> > to be played on and off the court; and from ESPN we get.....
> >
> > Zip.  Not so much as a whisper.
> >
> > I know, it's me being a hometown fan, some will say.  True, but that
> > doesn't matter any to a sports desk.  Others will chime in, insisting
that
> > signing a second-round pick isn't worth the space.  This is the
internet,
> > people.  For all intents and purposes, space is limitless, given the
> amount
> > of drivel that somehow finds it's way online.  Besides, a look at
today's
> > news of front page interest includes the naming of the Rockets' new
arena;
> > Lue signing with Orlando; and someone named P. Diddy wanting to own the
> Knicks.
> >
> > It was two days after the fact that Walter McCarty's signing was
mentioned
> > on the site.  The Summer League, to hear it from them, was attended by
one
> > player from Cleveland.  No mention of the fact that LeBron's first shot
of
> > the league was an airball courtesy of the Boston Celtics.
> >
> > I know there's some bad blood in the past.  Red was arrogant in
> > victory.  No less so, I think, than anyone who has won 16 championships
> has
> > a right to be.  The Celtics had the whole mystique thing going.
Anything
> > bad that happened to the Lakers, was cause for celebration in
> > Boston.  Anything bad that happened to the Celtics was cause for
> > celebration everywhere else.  The owners got to stick it to the C's by
> > voting down a request for relief when Reggie Lewis died, which is the
main
> > reason the owners no longer have this power.
> >
> > But the networks have perpetuated this sort of idiocy for years, now.
Tom
> > Heinsohn was fired as a national NBA announcer because of his bias for
> > Boston during the mid 1980's.  As Heinsohn put it, paraphrased, the team
> > was winning 60+ games.  Was he supposed to say they stank?  Yet Jeff Van
> > Gundy, a former coach of the Knicks, conspicuously said "we" in speaking
> of
> > the Knicks, as if he were still working for them, and not TNT.  Hubie
> Brown
> > never met a negative comment about Boston that he didn't freely repeat
on
> > the air as often as he could.  We all remember too well the playoffs tv
> > schedule, where the Celtics had two playoff games in the same series
> > relegated to NBAtv, including what could have been a series-deciding
> > game.  Other teams had only one such appearance.  During those games we
> DID
> > see, the announcers would talk about every subject under the sun BUT the
> > Celtics, save only to say, "Walker likes taking threes" like it was a
> state
> > secret that nobody had figured out.
> >
> > The Celtics take more heat than the Heat do.  The Trailblazers team
> picture
> > practically needed to be taken at the city jail.  The Lakers are getting
> > progressively crazier.  Police in places ranging from Toronto to Orlando
> > are making it clear they don't tolerate NBA players behaving like thugs.
> >
> > The Celtics have been to the playoffs two years running with a team that
> > the previous owners did their best to gut like a cheap fish while taking
> > money by the truck full  to their own hands.  They have made a
determined
> > effort under new ownership to commit to long-term winning, not only this
> > season, but in the future.  I think that ESPN, to name one incredibly
> > unbalanced bastion of sports journalism, needs to stop bashing Boston
and
> > start acting like they know what the words "balanced" and "objective"
> mean.
> >
> > Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
> > Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website

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