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Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Celtics: More bad news in Beantown
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Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason / 1999 | Roster
Last year: 35-47, fifth in Atlantic, 10th in conference
Coach/GM: Rick Pitino/Chris Wallace
Arena, first game: FleetCenter (18,624); Nov. 3, 1995
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 2,527-1,656/16
Notable: Losing record for seventh straight season
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THE TOP EIGHT
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Pos
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Player
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Key Stat
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Skinny
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PG
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Kenny Anderson
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5.1 apg
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Shooting was fine, but assists were awful
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SG
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Paul Pierce
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19.6 ppg
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Stabbing shouldn't halt career growth
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SF
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Adrian Griffin
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.424 FG
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Was co-rookie of November 1999
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PF
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Antoine Walker
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8 rpg
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Best boardman on bad rebounding team
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C
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Vitaly Potapenko
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29 blocks
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Some rebs, but no defensive presence
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6th
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Randy Brown
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.361 FG
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Can't score, but may supplant Kenny A
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7th
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Tony Battie
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82 games
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Stayed healthy, blocked 70 shots
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8th
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Bryant Stith
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5.6 ppg
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Nugget castaway may start with Pierce out
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The Celtics have to get a total game going, getting everyone to contribute. They need Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker playing at their best, and Kenny Anderson must be a solid player for them. They have high hopes for rookie Jerome Moiso. Defending and rebounding have been issues for the Celtics. If they improve in those areas, Rick Pitino could get them in playoff contention for the first time in four seasons.
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By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com
The Good
Not much at all from this once-proud franchise. Paul Pierce is
a rising star. On some nights, Antoine Walker can be the best player on
the floor. Adrian Griffin was a great find last season. With one more
lottery finish, Rick Pitino might be ready to step aside and let someone
else try to rebuild this team. For many Celtics fans, that wouldn't be
at all bad.
The Bad
Now in the midst of five straight lottery seasons, the Celtics
are in their longest playoff drought in their history. It's going to continue, too. The Celtics lack size up front, particularly at the
power positions. Opponents made 47 percent of their shots -- the third-worst
mark in the entire league -- so it's easy to see why they won only 35
games a year ago. According to one Eastern Conference GM, their top
players -- Walker, Pierce and Kenny Anderson -- wouldn't be
ranked anywhere among the top 75 players in the league. Walker is an
erratic scorer who's been paid the maximum ($73 million) but has not
been a "max player" when it has come to consistent performance.
Anderson, who should be a backup at this stage of his career, is not a
Pitino favorite. Pierce, now entering his third season, has a lot of
upside.
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THE BIG QUESTION |
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Pitino's frenetic coaching style wears on players. How
are players like Walker and Anderson going to respond to his style,
knowing that he is probably a lame duck?
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Whose team is this?
It's Rick Pitino's, but it's probably the final
season of the Pitino Era. There's been enough bad luck, bad moves and
bad results since Pitino came aboard to rebuild the team to get him
fired. Late last season, in fact, he called himself a "failure" for his
first three seasons, when he won 36, 19 and 35 games. Hard to argue with
that appraisal, although the trouble started when the Celtics had two
chances to get the No. 1 overall pick in 1997 and wound up getting the
No. 3 and 6 picks. The No. 1 pick turned out to be Tim Duncan, with
the plan to take Duncan and Keith Van Horn at No. 2. Oops. The Celtics
wound up with Ron Mercer and Chauncey Billups, both long gone. They also wound up getting very little for both. If there's no real
progress this season, all indications are that Pitino will probably call
it quits as GM-coach and head back to the college ranks.
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| Walker |
How they'll play
Without any talented size, Pitino will try to hide his
team's weaknesses, meaning they'll be doing lots of pressing, running
and trapping once again. They're much better with that style at home,
where they claimed 26 of their 35 wins. Overall, they took 500 more
shots than their opponents. But they'll likely struggle again on the
road, where they went 9-32. Defensively, because of their style, they're
apt to again give up too many easy baskets. And, they don't
challenge or block enough shots. Last season, they collected the
second-fewest blocks 286 -- almost 200 less than their opponents. They
also were outshot from the line, with foes getting almost 400 more
attempts from the charity stripe. None of their big three -- Walker,
Anderson and Pierce -- shot better than 44 percent last season. Chances are they
won't improve much. Danny Fortson was a rebounder, but now he's in Golden State. Although not
a starting-quality player, he gave them almost seven rebounds a game.
Griffin's defense and hustle helped last season.
Projection
36 wins, tops. They've made some personnel changes, adding
veterans like Randy Brown and Bryant Stith. But they just don't have the
talent or size up front to do much more. Last season, their 13 losses in
games decided by three or fewer points was the second-highest in the
league. With another poor season, there's already speculation that
Pitino will be replaced by Larry Bird as GM. That would mean the start
of yet another rebuilding campaign.
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