Ainge's assurance: Brown stays aboard

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ainge's assurance: Brown stays aboard

by Steve Bulpett
Saturday, June 28, 2003








Those who believe Kedrick Brown is a ripe plaintiff for an abandonment suit
against the Celtics will likely have their day in court in the coming season.
Make that on court.



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When Danny Ainge talked on draft night about adding three young players -
mentioning Brown with draftees Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins - he wasn't
just blowing smoke. The new president of basketball operations is a Kedrick
Brown guy, putting him in a group of celebrity endorsers that includes Paul
Pierce and Antoine Walker.

Ainge signed on after recently sharing the floor at the Celts' facility with
Brown. While he spoke in fairly measured tones about the third-year swingman
who has picked up more splinters than meaningful minutes, the word from inside
is that Ainge was bubbly about Brown's possibilities.

``I talked with Kedrick and we went out on the court and spent 15-20 minutes
going through some stuff that I'd like to see him work on,'' Ainge said. ``He
was leaving town, and hopefully he'll be back and I'll have a chance to work
out a lot more with him.

``I like him. I think that Kedrick has some definite skills and talents. I
think he's great defensively. I think he has the ability to be a real force as
a post-up player and the two positions - especially since we have great
shooters in Pierce and Walker. With Antoine being able to stretch the defense,
you have the ability to go down and take advantage of positing up smaller
positions like 2-guard and small forward.''

With his interest in Brown, Ainge is clearly taking a role in shaping the club
and deciding how its parts will be used. But he made a point to preserve Jim
O'Brien's sovereignty.

``I'm anxious to work with Kedrick, but I don't want you to get the wrong
impression,'' Ainge said. ``I mean, I feel like I have coaching experience,
but I'm not the coach of this team and I don't want to step on toes. But
there's some things I can do.

``I think there's some things that can be accomplished with Kedrick. He's got
a lot of work to do, but I see some good upside in him. I just like him. He
obviously needs some experience, but I see a lot of potential in him.''

One of Brown's main attributes is tied to the fact the Celtics take - and miss
- a lot of long shots. If that continues, there is a great need.

``Someone to run those misses down,'' said Ainge.

O'Brien hasn't exactly run Brown down over the last two years. He even had him
pegged for a major role before a preseason injury last October. But O'Brien
and staff have wanted to see more from the 22-year-old in practice.

During the playoffs, the coach went away from his ``defense above all else''
approach when assessing Brown.

``He's developing maybe not as fast as he and I would like him to develop,''
O'Brien said during a break in the New Jersey series. ``He's struggled with
his shot this year. We feel very strongly about his ability to defend at a
high level and run the court and rebound the basketball. But he needs to be
able to knock down that 18- and 19-footer on a consistent basis or Paul Pierce
will never be allowed to go one-on-one when he's in the game.''

Now O'Brien is singing a more hopeful tune.

``I think it'll be a productive summer and I fully expect it to be a
productive year for him,'' he said. ``I think too much is made of him not
really hitting his stride for whatever reason - either he didn't earn it or I
didn't have the flexibility to give it to somebody who I didn't think earned
it. I wanted to go with veterans that had certain things. The fact of the
matter is he should be graduating from college right now, and he came into the
NBA never having played a Division 1 game. It's a new situation, and I think
Kedrick will respond.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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