Re: laugh or cry?/Duncan

["Greg Odegaard" <grodeg@xxxxxxxxxx>]

As this topic clearly rears it head every year about this time, it must be
reminded that when waiting for the draft he noting he was uncomfortable with
the idea of playing pure center for an NBA team; would have much rather
played PF.  He didn't want to be THE go to guy in the low post and have to
carry the burden of the team on his own.  A rather pathetic statement at the
time for the certain number 1 to SA, who had DR soundly positioned to cover
his butt.

What does he plan to do now, when DR is gone?  Granted it likely will be as
a 2 time champ, but it won't be as "simple" as finding a replacement center,
for the SA, it is more likely TD is going to have to move over to center,
learn that position to play full time and bring his worst fears of 1997 back
to the fore front.  Welcome to the rest of your career Timmy.

Take care all,
Greg
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>
To: <markp@edu15.coe.ufl.edu>; <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: laugh or cry?


> it's not true though. If the C's had got Duncan, their whole future would
> have been changed. They never would have been in position to pick Pierce,
or
> McGrady, or Parker. Sure, they would have been a much better team, but to
> assume that everything would have remained the same except the drafting of
> Duncan is foolish.
>
>
> >From: Mark Piotrowski <markp@edu15.coe.ufl.edu>
> >To: Celtics@igtc.com
> >Subject: laugh or cry?
> >Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 09:45:09 -0400
> >
> >sad because its true....another find from Boston Sports Media Watch:
> >
> >The Celtics have been a dynasty since choosing Duncan - right?
> >Wednesday, Jun 4, 2003
> >Sports Column by CHAD FINN
> >
> >
> >The NBA Finals begin tonight, but David Stern might as well hand the
> >important hardware to Tim Duncan now. Championship trophy, Finals MVP
> >trophy, whatever else the two-time NBA MVP desires.
> >
> >There is no reason to play these games. The league's best player is
> >the centerpiece of the best team. Another championship for Duncan and
> >his high-flying buddies is a foregone conclusion.
> >
> >It's almost unfair . . . unless you are a Boston Celtics fan. Then
> >you believe a cry for fairness is a losers' lament, one more sorry
> >case of Green Envy.
> >
> >Because your team is blessed.
> >
> >Your team has Tim Duncan. And so much more.
> >
> >Ever since that wonderful May day in 1997 when the ping-pong balls
> >bounced their way, the Celtics have enjoyed an Auerbachian run of
> >dominance. They won the right to draft Duncan, and they haven't
> >stopped winning since.
> >
> >With the Celtics favored to overwhelm the Los Angeles Lakers in the
> >NBA Finals for the fourth straight season, with banner No. 20 a mere
> >formality, the time seems appropriate to reflect on the rise of the
> >latest Celtics' dynasty.
> >
> >It began, of course, with Duncan. He is the fulcrum of it all, the
> >foundation, the slam-dunking, shot-swatting embodiment of Celtic
> >Pride.
> >
> >"Without Tim, who knows how all of this would have turned out," said
> >coach/chief architect Rick Pitino, who waited until after the lottery
> >to accept the Celtics' job, just in case they didn't land the top
> >pick. "It seems foolish to say, but without Tim, maybe I would have
> >been a failure here."
> >
> >Pitino, the only man ever to win Coach of the Year and Executive of
> >the Year four seasons in a row, laughs at the sheer silliness of such
> >a notion. "Yeah, I'd have gone scurrying back to college with my tail
> >between my legs. Ha. Imagine that."
> >
> >Duncan was the surest thing to come into the league since Shaq, so
> >Pitino figured he could gamble with the sixth overall pick, which had
> >been pilfered from Dallas. Pitino considered taking Kentucky's Ron
> >Mercer, but the remarkably self-aware coach soon realized he was
> >overrating a player simply because he coached him in college.
> >
> >"The last thing I want to do is flood the roster with my old Kentucky
> >guys," Pitino said. "Ron is a fine player and a nice young man, but
> >he looked like Stojko Vrankovic compared to the kid."
> >
> >So Pitino chose the kid, a skinny high-schooler from Florida.
> >Someday, Tracy McGrady's number will hang alongside Duncan's in the
> >FleetCenter rafters.
> >
> >Duncan at one, McGrady at six. "Not a bad draft in retrospect,"
> >chuckles Pitino. But the dynasty was not built in a single day.
> >Pitino's first Celtic team featured Duncan and precocious second-year
> >forward Antoine Walker, along with Rick Fox and David Wesley, a pair
> >of veterans whom Pitino had the wisdom to re-sign soon after
> >accepting the job. The talent was there. But success took its sweet
> >time.
> >
> >While Duncan was a unanimous rookie of the year selection, the
> >teenaged McGrady was too raw to contribute, and the 1997-98 Celtics
> >labored until the waning days of the season. That's when Pitino made
> >a crucial decision. He abandoned his beloved full-court press.
> >
> >"It was something of an epiphany," Pitino said. "I realized that you
> >have to coach to your players' abilities rather than forcing them to
> >play a certain system that may not best suit their skills. I learned
> >that you can't fit square pegs into round holes."
> >
> >Coincidentally, Pitino's next best-selling motivational book was
> >titled Don't Try To Fit Square Pegs Into Round Holes. Oprah loved it.
> >
> >Call it the luck of the Irish, but those early struggles? They were
> >blessings in disguise. The Celtics' 36-46 record gave them the 10th
> >choice the following year, where Pitino again turned a lottery pick
> >into a jackpot.
> >
> >Cue the commish: "With the 10th pick in the 1998 draft, the Boston
> >Celtics select, from the University of Kansas . . . Paul Pierce."
> >
> >Decent pick, Rick? "When Paul started to slide on draft night," said
> >Pitino, "we were stunned. We just had to get him. I mean, even the
> >worst talent evaluator in basketball history - I'm talking about a
> >real nitwit here, like someone who, oh, I don't know, might give a
> >stiff like Travis Knight $22 million - couldn't screw that pick up."
> >
> >Pierce was a draft-day steal, but he wasn't Pitino's last. Three
> >years later, on the suggestion of omnipotent personnel guru Chris
> >Wallace, the Celtics spent a late first-round pick on an unheralded
> >19-year-old French point guard. Tony Parker was deftly quarterbacking
> >the Celtics' offense within a year. "Tony's the best thing to come
> >out of France since a personal hero of mine," said Pitino. "Napoleon."
> >
> >Pitino's personnel genius is not limited to drafting players. He's a
> >savant at discovering them, too. In 1997, Bruce Bowen had played a
> >total of one NBA minute. Pitino must have recognized something
> >special in that 60 seconds, because he signed Bowen and molded him
> >into one of the game's premier defensive stoppers.
> >
> >Then there was the day a ripped but raw power forward from Div. II
> >Virginia Union showed up at the 1999 training camp. The coach watched
> >the man-child snatch every rebound in sight, and realized he'd be a
> >fool not to offer this havoc-wreaking beast a contract. "This kid is
> >the next Paul Silas," said Pitino, showing his usual respect for
> >Celtics history. That's how Ben Wallace came to wear the green and
> >white.
> >
> >And that's how a dynasty came to be built. The starting five that
> >will take the court tonight is a Dream Team unto itself: Duncan,
> >Wallace, Pierce, McGrady and Parker. Walker, the selfless captain,
> >proudly carries on the Celtics' storied sixth-man tradition, while
> >Fox, Bowen and Wesley provide depth that is the envy of the league.
> >
> >How superior are these Celtics? It has come to this: They have become
> >sympathetic to their former rival, the always-a-bridesmaid Lakers.
> >
> >"You have to feel bad for Shaq and Kobe, not having a single
> >championship between them," said Pitino, his words sincere as always.
> >"Even with two great players, it's tough to win anything if you don't
> >have a capable supporting cast. I can't imagine us winning with, say,
> >just Antoine and Paul, no matter how hard they'd try."
> >
> >In the era of the salary cap, Rick Pitino has proven that building a
> >champion takes luck, serendipity - and most of all, a savvy general
> >manager.
> >
> >"And having Tim doesn't hurt," said Pitino, deflecting praise as
> >usual. "I don't even want to imagine what might have happened if he
> >had never walked through that door."
>
> _________________________________________________________________