BIRD KNEW MONTROSS HAD GAME

December 23, 1994

BIRD KNEW MONTROSS HAD GAME

Don Casey doesn't have enough problems coaching somebody else's team, and now he's got to listen to Larry Bird giving him a hearty "I-Told-Ya-So."

"I said to Bird, 'You know, Eric has a game,' " related the Celtics' interim coach, "and he said, 'What? He always had a game.' Well, I didn't know that from looking at the tapes."

To say that someone "has a game" is not, in NBA parlance, a casual throwaway line. If someone "has a game," then that someone has a clue. He may also look forward to a long and fruitful NBA career.

People who rolled their eyes when the Celtics drafted Eric Montross with the ninth pick of this year's NBA draft had better refocus. A quarter of the way through the season, it is obvious the Celtics made an intelligent decision.

"Hey, Eric is a player," beamed M.L. Carr, "He's a throwback. He listens, he learns, he wants to improve. He never stops working. That's why he's been, probably, more than anyone ever expected."

Not everyone was enamored with Eric Montross after watching him play at North Carolina. Too slow laterally. Too mechanical. Too -- there is no other way to put this -- white. Some very well-intentioned people believed he was destined to wind up on the NBA discard pile marked "BWS." In other words, Big White Stiff.

Bird was not among those people. He had played against Montross when the kid was on the pre-Olympic development squad in the summer of '92. He scouted Montross last season. No. 33 believed Montross had a chance to be a decent player in the NBA.

Anyway, here is Montross, some 25 games into his professional career, proving Bird and other backers to be correct. Montross may never play in the All-Star Game, but he is establishing on a nightly basis that he has, yes, a game to be respected.

Who, for example, could have predicted the events of Saturday last, when Montross was a 48-minute man while playing evenly with league MVP Hakeem Olajuwon during a Celtic victory?

"Eric's coming-out party," declared Carr.

"If someone had told me before the season there'd be a night this early in the season where I'd be in a position to do something like that, I'd have been very excited," said Montross. "I'd have been excited about the coach wanting me in there that much, and I'd have been excited about making that kind of contribution."

His 14 points and 12 rebounds were helpful enough, but that truly impressive feat came at the other end, where he harassed Hakeem into 10-for-25 shooting and a 4-point second half. "That was as a good a job as I've seen on Olajuwon, going back to my days in the Western Conference," lauded Casey.

It was the kind of effort the Celtic brass would have been pleased to see next year, or the year after that. Everyone was prepared to be patient with this aggressive, likable kid from Indianapolis.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. If you recall, Acie Earl did begin the season at center, largely because he abused the rookie daily during the first few weeks of practice. But the 7-footer kept his mouth shut and did his homework. When Acie reverted to form, the Celtics turned to Montross in semi-desperation. The grateful Tar Heel proved he had learned from his earlier mistakes and began making the most of his OJT.

"I suppose it would have been nice to have played behind The Chief for a year," Montross said, "but practical experience is the only way you're going to learn a whole lot. You can't learn all the moves people have, and the little tricks, unless you're out there."

With the presence of Eric Montross we were once again confronted with the Carolina Conundrum: That is to say, some Carolina players are smothered by The System, and some Carolina players are protected by The System, and it's impossible to know which are which until you get them into your training camp. I didn't see it on the tapes. The Dean Smith system so stresses offensive conformity that its more conscientious practitioners become frighteningly self-limiting. And they don't come any more conscientious than Montross.

So Montross was clearly in the smotheree category, which is not to say he didn't benefit from the basic Dean Smith regimen. When it comes to establishing the kind of game foundation professionals love, the experts will tell you that Smith is their man among the college set.

"It's easy to pick on them," said Casey. "You know, apple pie and all that stuff. But Dean sets up an atmosphere of respect for the game and what's gone on before. I think the whole thing down there (Chapel Hill) is for real. They learn all about work habits and what coaching can do for a team. I think it's genuine."

"You really have to know the game in order to play up here," said Montross, "and Dean Smith teaches a clear philosophy of basketball. You learn how to set a solid screen, how to move without the ball, how and when to cut . . . "

Montross is building his offensive game in a precise, orderly fashion. What we are seeing now are right and lefthand jump hooks, simple drop-step moves and putbacks. "He isn't trying to do too much," explained Casey. "He has modified his game."

He can shoot from the outside, but he will introduce that into his repertoire gradually. He is determined to walk expertly before he starts running.

Defensively, he will never be quick afoot, and thus must learn to make maximum use of his sturdy body and his agile mind. He already has proven to Olajuwon that he knows something about the art of positioning. He will learn even more.

Montross is a happy young man. He's young, he's healthy, he's a newlywed, he's wealthy beyond measure, and he's a starting center in the NBA at age 23. "I wouldn't trade this situation for anything," he said. "I'm learning so much more than I ever could if I were over on the sidelines."

P.S.: Bird's other pick to click at No. 9 was Temple's Eddie Jones. The guy appears to know something about basketball.

"We are pleased to have Eric in the fold," said Celtics basketball head M.L. Carr. "We signed him to a lengthy pact because we feel he will be an integral part of the team's immediate future.

"With eager anticipation, we look forward to the opening of camp and seeing Eric's talents as part of the Celtics. Eric was a winner in college (at North Carolina), and we anticipate the same at the professional level."

One of the minor details to be worked out reportedly was an agreement on when the termination clause would take effect.

Carr would not confirm this but said, "There were a couple of issues. One of them was that we wanted to make sure that everything was taken care of from a medical standpoint." He would not elaborate.