Baker & Brown Seek Rebirth

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CELTICS NEWS 	
	
Rehabbed Baker a go
By Steve Bulpett/Celtics Notebook
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 
The ``new'' Vin Baker will have his public unveiling tonight just a short drive from his Old Saybrook, Conn., home. Coming off alcohol rehab, Baker will look to make a good second impression when the Celtics open their exhibition slate against the Detroit Pistons at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. 
	
His last appearance for the Celts was an 11-minute, six-point, two-rebound effort at Golden State last Feb. 18. He was a ``DNP'' by coach's decision in the next three games before being suspended for the rest of the season. 
	
Describing the difference in Baker from last year to this as ``dramatic,'' coach Jim O'Brien said his big man looks ``excellent - a well-conditioned athlete doing a great job of catching and finishing around the basket. 
	
``(He) plays like a guy that knows everything you're trying to accomplish, and I think playing very solid basketball. I think he's going to have a heck of a year. 
	
``He's very light, very mentally focused, extremely confident.'' 
	
Baker will be in a mix of 12 players dividing minutes, with Jumaine Jones (strained hamstring) and Tony Battie (sore right knee) not expected to play. 
	
``Nobody will play any more than 24 minutes,'' said O'Brien, ``so we'll try to come up with a rotation where we're giving the people that we want to give solid looks ample time so you're not running them in and out. (We'll) try different combinations and try to see as much as I can with the new people on the court together. 
	
``I really haven't decided, but we'll try to give all 12 guys an opportunity on the court.'' 
	
According to O'Brien, Jones, a small forward acquired in trade from Cleveland in July, will be out ``a couple of days at least.'' 

	
Brown tries his luck again at Mohegan
By Steve Bulpett
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 
The Arena at Mohegan Sun is a fine facility amid a wonderful casino and resort. But Celtics forward Kedrick Brown [news] hasn't had the best of luck at the Uncasville, Conn., venue. 
	
Last Oct. 10, with a little more than three minutes left in a preseason game against the Chicago Bulls at Mohegan, Brown went high to challenge a Trenton Hassell jump shot and came down awkwardly. Brown sat out until Dec. 6 with a severely sprained right ankle and subsequent turf toe problem, and he never caught up in what turned out to be a sophomore season of disappointment. 
	
Brown - still trying to convince the Celtics to pick up his option for next season - will be happy if he can get away clean from tonight's preseason opener against the Detroit Pistons at Mohegan. 
	
``It was a tough break for him down there,'' coach Jim O'Brien said yesterday. ``We thought that he was having an excellent training camp last year and is having a really good training camp this year. Certainly there are more players and better players this year, but he's doing well. 
	
``We felt really good last year that, geez, Kedrick is ready to turn a corner because he was proving he was ready - just like he is this year. And then he was playing very, very good basketball in the games and doing everything you want to see him do. Then he went down with that ankle sprain. It's very difficult to catch up when you're out five or six weeks like he was.'' 
	
An ankle injury was particularly difficult for an explosive player like Brown to overcome. 
	
``I don't think there's any question about that,'' O'Brien said. ``He lost that ability to really sprint hard, and when he got it back it was so far into the year that it was almost a moot point.'' 
	
Brown, who had 12 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes in the fateful game last year, isn't concerned about bad karma at the casino. 
	
``I'm just really looking forward to the game to just get right back at it,'' he said after practice yesterday. ``Last year I was going in there on the high, but unfortunately I got hurt, and there was nothing I could do about that. But right now I'm feeling 100 percent and hopefully I can just go back to where I left off there. 
	
``The ankle bothered me the whole year, but I had time to rest it this summer and right now it's feeling great.'' 
	
The C's are feeling good about Brown, too. The club has until the end of this month to exercise its option on next season at $2.33 million, and on Monday director of basketball operations Danny Ainge said this is an important time for Brown to prove himself. 
	
But yesterday Ainge said: ``There's a whole bunch of ways of looking at it, but personally I think it's a no-brainer for us, quite honestly. From what I've seen in training camp right now, I think if he just continues to make progress and plays like he's been playing that it's going to be done. We'll just wait and see until the end of the month, but I'm anticipating doing it, for sure.'' 
	
Brown hopes so. 
	
``We talked about it before summer league, but right now that's something that's at the back of my mind,'' he said. ``I'm just trying to get on the court, get playing time and show them that I deserve it. I would love to stay in Boston and hopefully that will work out.''