No Blount questions: C's center has earned top job

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

No Blount questions: C's center has earned top job
By Mark Murphy
Friday, October 31, 2003

Bill Walton he's not.

     The greatest passing big man of them all probably doesn't look over his
shoulder when Mark Blount threads a bounce pass to some teammate making a
backdoor cut.

     But Blount doesn't have to be Bill Walton. If he continues to supply the
sort of intangibles that went into his performance during Wednesday night's
98-75 win over Miami, the Celtics may be a lot more solvent in the middle of
the floor than anyone imagined.

     Blount's four blocks were the backbone to a superior nine-block team
effort. And yes, his five assists were indeed redhead-like.

     Most of all, Blount provided the defensive consistency that earned him a
starting job in the first place.

     And heading into tonight's game against Memphis, coach Jim O'Brien
couldn't be more proud of a player he first had to let go to fully appreciate.

     ``We missed Mark at the beginning of last year in a dramatic way,''
O'Brien said of Blount's decision to sign with a bare-bones Denver team last
year as a free agent in an attempt to get more playing time. ``Not until we
got him back in the trade (for Shammond Williams) was he ready to play the
kind of defense that we needed.

     ``But he was not happy with the way that I played him when we went to the
Eastern Conference finals,'' he said of Blount's role two seasons ago. ``We
had Rodney Rogers and Tony Battie ahead of him, and when we went to the bench
we tried to spread the court.

     ``But after he went to Denver, I think he might have realized that this
was a good place for him, with a staff that knew what he could do. He was a
better rebounder when he came back, but he's always been incredibly fit. He's
a workaholic with his body.''

     The coaching staff also had to rarely worry about Blount's toughness
quotient - except during those occasional moments when the rough stuff crept
out of control.

     ``Yeah, maybe there's too much of that sometimes,'' Blount said with a
laugh. ``But that's one thing they also count on me for.''

     Indeed, these days it remains one of Blount's most marketable traits on a
team that was somewhat deficient on the toughness scale last season.

     The difference now is that Blount has managed to combine his hard edge
with knowledge of the Celtics' fairly complex defensive system.

     ``The (power forward) and (center) positions are the most important
defensive positions for us,'' O'Brien said. ``They direct things out there.
And getting these guys to yell and communicate with each other is a big thing
to implement.''

     From Blount's perspective, however, talking has never been a problem.

     Refinement has.

     But his new starting role is perhaps the greatest sign that refinement is
indeed finally part of the Blount game.

     ``Chris Wallace and Leo (Papile) brought me in here, and just the
confidence of (O'Brien) to know that I'll be there for everyone is a great
thing,'' Blount said. ``I just want to continue to be part of one of the best
defensive teams in the league.''

     There appears to be little question about that.

     ``This year he completely dedicated himself to conditioning, and he's
earned the right to be the starting center on this team,'' said O'Brien.
``It's a credit to him. I think a great deal of him as a man.''
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx