Ex-baseball player Ainge: Rocket, Larry alike

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ex-baseball player Ainge: Rocket, Larry alike
By Steve Bulpett/Celtics Notebook
Saturday, October 11, 2003

CHICAGO - Danny Ainge reached into his Celtics past to hand Roger Clemens what
has to be one of the stronger compliments he's received.

     Ainge, who, of course, played Major League Baseball with the Blue Jays,
is watching the Red Sox-Yankees series intently and looking forward to Game 3
today.

     ``I'm a huge Roger Clemens fan,'' the Celts' director of hoop operation
said before his club took on the Bulls in a preseason game here last night.
``I know Roger pretty well. I've been around him a lot. He's the closest thing
to Larry Bird that I've been around, as far as a competitor.

     ``I think he's a superstar, one of the best pitchers of all time. And
what he's still doing at age 40 is miraculous.

     ``And when you're talking about (today's) matchup, add in the fact that
Pedro (Martinez) to me is arguably the best pitcher in the game today. So I
think that's fun. This is fun. This is great. Are you kidding me?

     ``Clemens and Pedro . . . how sweet is that? I mean, the two best Red Sox
pitchers of all time. A guy (Clemens) pitching his last game at Fenway. It
doesn't get any better than that.''

     Ainge will be attending Game 5 Monday at Fenway.

     ``I'm hooked up,'' he said with a wide smile.

     Dunk you very much

     Jim O'Brien was talking about Kedrick Brown [news] when he caught himself
at an unaccustomed altitude.

     ``I think what we can get out of the high tempo will be of great benefit
to him because of his speed,'' the coach said. ``If he can get out and get a
dunk or at the rim, I think that has to help him.''

     O'Brien paused and grinned.

     ``Never having done it I wouldn't know,'' the former St. Joseph's point
guard said, ``but I'm sure it gives you a lot of confidence.''

     Air of interest

     The Bulls had an interesting visitor to training camp. Michael Jordan
stopped by the club's practice facility.

     The reason for the appearance is said to be new vice president of
operations John Paxson, who has fostered a different atmosphere from the days
of former GM Jerry Krause.

     ``Pax makes the environment around here very comfortable,'' said Scottie
Pippen, the former and current Bull. ``There's no reason why any player who
played with John Paxson wouldn't want to come by and see him succeed. Over the
years, we realized that it wasn't the most comfortable place for us. That's
why guys tended to stay away. But the environment has changed now.''

     Said Paxson of Jordan, who had some serious issues with Krause (he used
to unflatteringly call him ``Crumbs''), ``He's welcome here any time. I talked
to him early in the week and asked him if he could stop by sometime. It was
great. The way I could utilize Michael is just through his knowledge. He told
me this summer if I had any questions about players or things like that (to
call). Don't read anything into this. It's just Michael being around, which is
exactly what I want.''

     At the start of camp, Paxson got the team together for a meeting and
handed out T-shirts that read, ``No Excuses.''

     ``At some point everybody has to accept the fact that we're in this
business to get into the playoffs and win,'' Paxson said.
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx