O'Brien's work is not done

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

O'Brien's work is not done
By Steve Bulpett/Celtics Notebook
Sunday, October 26, 2003

With just three days left until the season-opener, the Celtics practice
facility sort of resembles Santa's workshop the week before Christmas. Only
we're talking about some extremely tall elves here.

     After putting his lads through the first of four straight days of
practice leading up to Miami's visit Wednesday, Jim O'Brien said he believed
the club was making ``good strides,'' but there is so much to be assembled -
particularly in light of Monday's trade that brought two new players and
shipped out a pair of regulars in Antoine Walker [news] and Tony Delk.

     This, of course, comes after a summer of change.

     ``You really feel like you've got to spend so much time teaching what
we're doing, because it's not just Raef (LaFrentz) and Jiri (Welsch),'' the
coach said. ``Vin (Baker), instead of backing a player up at the four spot,
now is starting at the four spot. So there are a lot of different situations
that we've got to kind of get in a groove on.''

     And don't bother asking O'Brien if he feels comfortable. As soon as that
last word was uttered in a question, he interjected that he didn't know the
rest of the query but that he was pretty sure his answer would be no.

     Speaking of the limited time, the coach said, ``It's the source of great
concern to me to start the season, because of the shortness of training camp,
because of having new players and because of having basically, if you count
Vin in it, eight out of 14 new players and a recent trade. We're spending a
lot of hours trying to get ready for the beginning of the season.''

     So when O'Brien walked into his press conference after Friday's preseason
finale win over New Jersey and exhaled, ``Let's get on with the real stuff.
I'm glad to have exhibition over,'' he was hiding his desire for more prep
time.

     As for an overall look at the Celts, O'Brien said, ``It's a work in
progress. That's the way I feel about our team. I think we have a chance to be
a very solid ballclub. There are a lot of things we have to work on. (It's a)
very difficult first three weeks of the season - not that any week is easy. We
have a long way to go before we open up against Miami.''

     While the offense has seemed to flow better in the two games since the
trade, O'Brien doesn't see an overall difference in tone.

     ``Not yet,'' he said. ``I'm sure it'll be a different team because of the
personnel changes. But in three days we played two games and had one day of
practice. It's tough to make a statement that it's going to be a different
feel or different attitude.''

     Aches and pains mount

     Paul Pierce [news] and Tony Battie both sat out the main portions of
yesterday's practice with sore ankles. In the case of Battie, it's almost good
news in that it isn't his problematic right knee that's causing the trouble.

     ``They should be fine probably by (today),'' O'Brien said.

     Walter McCarty [news] is playing through some issues.

     ``He's a little banged up,'' O'Brien said. ``Walter doesn't talk about
it, but he has a bad back and his knees are bothering him. He hasn't missed
practices and we appreciate that, but he's really had some tightness.''


Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx