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Pitino Enthusiastic About Battie And The Playoffs Next Season
Boy, he's talking up Battie....
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Celtics' future has already started
By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 04/29/99
MIAMI - Rick Pitino knows something
you don't. He sees something you
don't. You have to wonder if he carries a
stack of tarot cards in his back pocket.
You hear him constantly say his team will
begin the 21st century with a playoff
appearance. He doesn't say ''maybe.'' He
doesn't say ''if.'' He doesn't say ''one
more year.''
Nope. It will be next year. Playoffs. Call
the Celtics' ticket offices right now. Get
an early start. There will be playoff
basketball on Causeway Street in 2000.
You see a quasi-lottery team just like
everyone else (save for the fact this
lottery team probably won't have its own
first-round draft pick in June). What does
Pitino see? The coach was asked that
yesterday when his team, appropriately,
practiced at the University of Miami. Many
students on campus were surprised when
told the Celtics were working out at a
nearby gym. The undergrads were expecting
the pros to have hairlines that recede
like South Beach shorelines. But the
Celtics look like them: young and
college-aged. They'll look that way next
year too because that's exactly who they
are.
So, what will change?
''I think when you're young and talented,
what you need is practice,'' Pitino
explained. ''And I'm positive that we'll
get the necessary practice time and become
a very good basketball team. I think we
have the necessary ingredients. Now,
without [Tony] Battie and [Vitaly]
Potapenko, I wouldn't be quite as sure.''
Since arriving in Boston, Pitino has
talked about the team's lack of size. He
has size now in the 6-foot-11-inch Battie
and 6-10 Potapenko. He likes Battie so
much that he has considered having him
guard smaller, quicker players. He likes
Potapenko, too. He will get a chance to
tinker with the center's game this summer,
since he has already committed to playing
in the team's summer league.
''I think they've given us a new level
rebounding-wise and a new level from a
physical standpoint,'' Pitino said. ''One
is a big, physical guy who will knock you
on your ass. And the other is a shot
blocker. Those are the two necessary
ingredients that we needed.''
Although Pitino did not wish for an
injured team, he said his players'
ailments have helped him evaluate. Now he
knows he likes Potapenko and Battie
together on the court. He also has found
some things that may surprise you.
''You want to know something? I almost
made the move [Tuesday night]; I almost
put Tony Battie on Grant Hill,'' Pitino
said. ''I think eventually, if he was a
year or two older, we could do that. He's
quick enough to guard a smaller man and he
would be the best guy to play Grant Hill
in that scenario - with another year of
seasoning.''
The scenario Tuesday was the 6-8 Hill
rarely had to look up when posting up a
Celtic. He had nearly two inches on Paul
Pierce, an inch on Ron Mercer, and could
go around Walter McCarty, who is 6-10.
Pitino insists that Battie, who went
through a growth spurt his first year of
college (he had entered as a 6-7
freshman), has the footwork to stay with
Hill as well as the shot-blocking ability
to discourage soft turnarounds.
So, just to be sure, this will help make
the Celtics a playoff team? Some of the
players certainly believe it.
''I think that not only will we be a
playoff team,'' Pierce added after
practice, ''I think we'll be fighting for
that top spot in the East.''
Pierce was reminded that NBA neighborhoods
are similar to neighborhoods across the
country: If you do something, your nosy
neighbor may try to do it better. The
Cavaliers will most likely have two
lottery picks. Same story with the
Raptors. Both of those teams are ahead of
the Celtics now. They may choose to keep
the picks they have or trade them for
established players.
If the Celtics are going to make the
playoffs in 2000 they had better be ready
to leap a few people.
This story ran on page C10 of the Boston
Globe on 04/29/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.