About the challenge to establish definitive roles as soon as possible for new acquisitions Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers? For Celtics coach Jim O'Brien, it turns out there was no challenge in the process at all.
"Tony Delk is going to start, so much for that challenge," O'Brien said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Rodney has to be able to play the (power forward) spot, where there's not going to be a lot of minutes - about 8-10 minutes a game to free up Antoine (Walker) to play 38-40 minutes.
"But (Rogers) has got to learn the (small forward) spot and the (center) spot, so it's more of a challenge for Rodney. Certainly when he learns to play those spots at a high level, not only offensively but defensively, he'll be able to contribute more."
O'Brien would have liked to have had Delk and Rogers available at yesterday's practice, the Celtics' first since returning from their seven-game western swing early Sunday morning. But the two newest Celtics, acquired last week from the Suns for Joe Johnson, Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick, were tending to some last-minute business in Phoenix.
Aware Delk and Rogers were on a road trip with the Suns when they learned they had been traded - and had no opportunity to prepare at home for their cross-country move - O'Brien gave them permission to skip the morning session and planned to work both players out last night.
"They had some things to clean up in Phoenix," O'Brien said. "Rodney had to pretty much say goodbye to his family, and Tony just renovated a house out there and had some other business he had to tend to.
"They weren't going to get back here (in time for the morning practice) unless they took a red-eye (flight), which is something I didn't want them to do."
Which means Delk and Rogers will be playing a bit more catch-up than originally expected when they rejoin their teammates at practice today. Still, that did not stop O'Brien from declaring Delk his starter at shooting guard, a departure from the coach's initial plans to work both players into the mix slowly.
The move means Eric Williams, the team's designated sixth man and a more effective player coming off the bench, returns to that role after starting four of the team's seven games out West. Rookie Kedrick Brown started two, while Delk, with just one brief practice under his belt, started the trip finale in Houston.
"Tony and Rodney are quick learners who have been around the game a long time," said guard Erick Strickland, who will back up Delk and continue to get a portion of his minutes spelling Kenny Anderson at point guard. "In my case, it took me about a month to feel fully comfortable with the system here, but they came in (last week) and got a quick understanding of things.
"Tony is familiar with some of what we do (from his days with O'Brien and ex-Celtics coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky). And Rodney should be able to contribute with the time he gets up front. He's a formidible power forward who's going to take some of the load off Antoine."
Said O'Brien, "We didn't bring (Rogers) in, nor did we bring Tony in, to watch the action. We want them to be a big part of the rotation." {sl26CNOT1 {pd02/26{pg079{sespt{ed {ve01
Kenny Anderson believes the acquisitions of Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers will help the Celtics' playoff push immensely this season. But Anderson said the cost of bringing in the two veterans in last week's five-player deal with Phoenix was not cheap.
"You don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand who we let go," the Celtics point guard said after practice yesterday at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham. "Milt (Palacio) is a friend of mine, and so is Joe (Johnson), and I'm not knocking the deal.
"If I were the general manager, I might have made the same move. But I would have been bothered by giving up on Joe Johnson so early."
Johnson was the first of three Celtics first-round picks last June, selected 10th overall. The 6-foot-8 swingman was a starter for much of the first-half schedule, but he lost his job in January and had fallen out of the rotation completely during the last month. His confidence level appeared to diminish with his playing time.
Johnson had given up most of his minutes to fellow rookie Kedrick Brown, who was selected with the 11th overall pick. Though many inside the Celtics organization believe Brown will turn out to be the better player of the two, Anderson had his reservations about the team's decision to bid Johnson farewell midway through his rookie season.
"It was a tough call (to trade Johnson), but there's a BUTthere. You look at Rodney Rogers, a solid veteran player and a former Sixth Man Award winner, and you look at Tony Delk, a proven scorer and solid all-around player. Both great pickups, and that makes (the deal) a give-and-take proposition.
"The way I see it, it's a good situation for us -- for now. But you look down the road and you're losing a great young player in Joe Johnson, who I believe is going to be a great player in this league. I think the (philosophy behind the deal) was that we can't go young anymore. We have to turn it around right now."
Home stretch
Although second-half collapses in their trip-ending losses to Houston and Dallas had the Celtics less than satisfied with a 3-4 record for the two-week sojourn, the schedule is in their favor the rest of the way. Of the Celtics' 26 remaining games, 16 are at home, beginning with tomorrow night's visit by the Milwaukee Bucks.
"I think we're in a solid frame of mind," C's coach Jim O'Brien said. "I know if any of us had said at the beginning of the year, 'You're coming off the West Coast trip, you're fourth in the East, you're healthy and you're looking at 16 more games at home and 10 on the road, plus you've added Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers to your team,' I think we'd all say that's pretty good.
"But that being said, we need to get back to playing tough-minded basketball. We have to play a hardened type of game where we're really scrapping. Where we raise our game a notch back to the level that it took to win 31 games.
"We've got people like Milwaukee coming in, so homecourt or not, you have to play really solid basketball to win those games."
Razor sharp
After going with a full head of hair since training camp, Vitaly Potapenko showed up at practice yesterday with a shaven head.
Potapenko, as had been his custom in previous years, saved himself a trip to the barber by giving himself the haircut.
"I'm good with a razor," he said.
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