Free agent Coles is courted

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Free agent Coles is courted


By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 3/6/2003

he Celtics may soon be adding to their roster in preparation for the playoffs
and point guard Bimbo Coles appears a strong contender to join the team.
Coles, who was waived last Friday by Cleveland, is an attractive option. In
fact, the Celtics pursued Coles during the summer of 2000 when he was a free
agent.



''Now that Bimbo has cleared waivers, he has been presented with a few options
that he has to quickly deliberate on,'' said Coles's agent, Sean Holley.
''Should Boston be one of those options, that would be difficult for Bimbo to
pass up given his comfort level with coach Jim O'Brien, [assistant coach]
Lester Conner, and the rest of the staff, as well as his strong belief in how
lethal [ Paul] Pierce, [ Antoine] Walker, and the Celtics are. We [Holley and
the Celtics] have been in contact with each other.''

The Celtics have been two-deep at point guard since they sent Shammond
Williams to Denver in a trading deadline deal that brought back Mark Blount
along with Mark Bryant. But Boston is not the only team looking at point
guards for the stretch run and postseason. Other teams interested in Coles are
Eastern Conference rivals Indiana, Detroit, and New Jersey.

As far as the money is concerned, Coles should sign for the prorated veteran
minimum. Cleveland has bought out his contract for the remainder of this
season and his option for next season. He left the Cavaliers averaging 4.9
points, 2.7 assists, and 24.6 minutes in 21 games.

Cautious approach

Although Pierce started against the Knicks, he's still not ready to take the
floor without limitations. O'Brien kept Pierce to 35 minutes of action as the
Celtics' leading scorer continues to recover after suffering lower back pain.

''[My back] tightened up a little bit in the fourth quarter and limited some
of my mobility late in the fourth,'' said Pierce. ''I wasn't able to get up on
[ Allan] Houston coming off the screens as much as I wanted to. But it was not
to the point where I couldn't walk. It'll be all right. A day of rest and I'll
be back.''

Pierce's lower back started acting up with 6:12 left in the fourth. He lay
down along the sideline, where trainer Ed Lacerte worked on the area. The
Celtics held an 88-82 lead when Pierce exited. When he returned three minutes
later, Boston was clinging to a 92-89 advantage with a little more than three
minutes left.

Healthy outlook

When Walker was asked what it would mean to win the Atlantic Division, he
said, ''It would be everything. It would be huge, especially with what we went
through. This is the first time we've had to fight through [injuries]. I
missed four games, Paul's missed two. Tony Battie's missed his share of games.
Tony Delk's missed his share of games. We're a team that has to be healthy.
When you look at our success last year, we were very healthy throughout the
whole season. Now, we finally can be healthy the last 20 games. Hopefully,
nobody gets hurt and we can make a legitimate run. We were in the same
position last year, but now we're starting to play a lot better basketball and
we've got more games [left]. Now, we've got a legitimate shot with 21 games
left and playing those guys [the Nets] two more times. We've actually got a
shot at winning this title.'' ... Blount on the technical he picked up with
2:05 left in the second: ''The ref said I threw an elbow,'' said Blount. ''I
have no idea what he was talking about.'' ... Pierce is looking forward to
facing the LA Clippers and new head coach Dennis Johnson tomorrow. ''That will
be exciting,'' said Pierce. ''DJ was one of the great point guards for the
Celtics. I have a chance to see him. I work out sometimes with him and his
team in the summertime. I'm glad to see him finally get an opportunity to
coach. It will be a lot of fun.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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