Bird Added to Olympic Squad

September 21, 1991 Three months ago, the Olympics were somewhere between cold fusion and natural law in Larry Bird's thought process.

Just off back surgery, he was unsure he'd ever play basketball again, for the Celtics, the US Olympic team or in his backyard at French Lick.

Lakers, Lakers, and more Lakers

 October 12, 1991

The Lakers last night. The Lakers tonight. The Lakers next week.

The Celtics and Lakers play three times in 11 days in the exhibition season. "That tells me one thing," said Robert Parish. "Someone is making a lot of money off of us."

The last time these teams saw so much of each other was in 1985. They went at it four times, and in the last meeting, Parish and Maurice Lucas got into a fight.

Could familiarity again breed such contempt? Parish was asked.

"Nah," the Chief said. "Maurice Lucas was a bully. Period. They don't have any bullies on that team."

Three down

John Bagley (eye), Brian Shaw (knee) and Kevin McHale (foot) were unable to go for the Celtics. That will again hold true for tonight's tilt at the Worcester Centrum . . . Stojko Vrankovic wheezed his way through 28 minutes and had 12 rebounds. He also had four goaltending violations. Parish played the other 20 minutes at center, and that means a DNP for Joe Kleine. "Joe will get his minutes," coach Chris Ford said.

Laimbeer Petitions NBA to Try Out for "Dream Team"

 
Bill Laimbeer is the latest Piston to give an Excedrin headache to USA Basketball and the NBA over the selection of the Olympic team. Laimbeer believes there should be Olympic tryouts and further believes he can secure a petition with the signatures of the majority of NBA players asking for those tryouts.

Boston's favorite public enemy even claimed he could think of four or five Celtics willing to sign it, naming Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Reggie Lewis as likely candidates.

Laimbeer did present well-organized arguments. He said any player who was not willing to try out for the Games because of ego or potential endorsement loss if they were cut doesn't deserve to be on the team. On that count, he's correct. 

He also has a point when he says picking the team a year in advance presents problems. What if Dee Brown and Derrick Coleman become All-Stars this season? What if Larry Bird's game drops off significantly because of a major operation? Think about it. Scottie Pippen wasn't even an All-Star selection last February, but since then, his game has blossomed so quickly that he is now recognized as one of the 10 best players in the sport. A lot can happen in one season.

The committee's argument is that these superstars are so busy they need to know a year in advance to clear their calendars. Nonsense. If they want to play in the Olympics, make that the first priority.

But back to Laimbeer. Is he correct in assuming McHale, Parish and Lewis would jump to his side on this issue?

Not exactly.

"I wouldn't sign it," said McHale of the Laimbeer petition. "I think they've assembled a great team. What difference would tryouts make? Why would you want to have 30 players come in and beat each other up? Would you take the last 10 that were standing?

"The NBA game is so pure that after an 82-game season, you have a pretty good idea of what the players' strengths are. That isn't necessarily true with the college game, where a coach can almost put a game at a standstill if he wants. In college, you can neutralize a great player much easier, and it might be hard to determine what he can do.

"But the pro game is up and down every night. There are no secrets. I think the committee had a tough decision to make, and I stand by what they did. I think the guys they picked are fantastic, and who's to say any one of them don't belong?"

Lewis was a little more ambivalent about Laimbeer's proposal.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I think some of Bill's points are very valid. There are a lot of guys who would just like the opportunity to try out for the team.

"It's a tough call. I'm not sure I'd sign it, but I'm not saying I wouldn't, either. But I'm happy with the guys they chose. I wanted to play in the Olympics, but I'm not upset about not being on there. Those guys are all clearly ahead of me. I wish them all the best of luck."

It's not surprising that Celtic players would hesitate to join Laimbeer's crusade, particularly since CelticsCEO Dave Gavitt is head of USA Basketball. Indeed, McHale said the fact that he likes and respects Gavitt so much probably does make him biased.

McHale never expressed a desire to play in Barcelona, yet there was a grass-roots campaign among writers nationwide that kept his name alive in the Olympic debate. Would he have gone if asked?

"I don't think I could have accepted," said McHale. "Just because of the fact of how I feel about my family and the kids and everything.

"A lot of things are very, very important to me. Basketball is one of them, but I had my chance in 1980. I felt bad at the time there was a boycott, and looking back, it's something I would have liked to have done, but there's not a big empty hole in my life because of the lost opportunity."

Laimbeer said that lost opportunity is precisely why people such as McHale should have a chance to audition for the shot at Olympic gold. He conceded his stance has put the Pistons and Olympic coach Chuck Daly in an uncomfortable position, but added, "Chuck hasn't said anything to me. He knows there's nothing he can do about it.

"I'm my own person. I will always speak my mind, and no one in the organization will try to tell me differently. In this case, I think I'm speaking for a lot of other players who probably aren't willing to stick their neck out like I am."

By the way, no word on what Parish thinks of all this. Parish once termed Laimbeer "the most despicable human being that's breathing."

Guess we'll take that as a no.

Getting to know you

Boston opens camp Friday, and that won't be a moment too soon for draft pick Rick Fox, who has been in town all week and has yet to meet Bird, Parish or McHale.

Fox received a lukewarm reception from fans and media following his selection by the Celtics in June, but a strong showing in the Los Angeles Summer League has perked interest.

The rookie says he didn't even notice the skeptics.

"I don't feel anything was stolen from me," he said. "I know I have to prove myself here. To tell you the truth, I was so busy running around with a smile on my face, I didn't notice much else.

"Heck, I was just excited that someone picked me up at the airport."

Fox said the most valuable part of the summer league was growing accustomed to the coaching staff and its expectations. He was warned of coach Chris Ford's tirades about poor defense, and therefore was not surprised when the first talking-to came his way.

"I know I've got a lot to learn," he said. "I'd say the biggest difference so far has been getting used to the length of the game. I remember during some of those games in LA sitting down in the middle of the second quarter and thinking the game was almost over."

It's unclear how Fox fits into the Celtics' rotation (the return or retirement of Derek Smith will be a factor), but he's aware he won't be logging Dee Brown-type minutes.

"I'm not sure how comfortable they are with certain skills I have," he said. "They seem wary of my inexperience. My job is to also make them see a talent with lots of potential, hunger and drive."

Fox also logged time at Pete Newell's big man camp this summer and worked out with Danny Manning, Kiki Vandeweghe, Kevin Duckworth and Vlade Divac.

Having absorbed a Duckworth pick and lived to tell about it, Fox officially has begun his NBA indoctrination.

Bet on the Blazers

OK, OK, it might be a bit early, but this observer believes the Portland Trail Blazers will win the 1992 NBA crown. With a nucleus that remains young and fresh and a group of athletes who must have had one of the longest offseasons imaginable, these guys are ready to do it. "I was really depressed the first three weeks after we lost," said Buck Williams. "I felt we had the personnel and management to win it all. Now I just believe it wasn't meant to happen." Williams cited the now-famous dropped pass by Cliff Robinson against LA as evidence. "Sometimes you drop a ball like that and you get it right back - easy," he said. "This time it rolled out of bounds. When something like that happens, it wasn't meant to be." . . . Poor Danny Ainge. He's been trying to renegotiate his contract ever since he was in Boston and has failed to do so with the Celtics, the Kings and now, apparently, Portland. Ainge said he will consider holding out of training camp unless the Blazers up the ante from about $ 1.3 million annually over the next two seasons to his $ 1.7 million-a-year request. At present, Ainge makes $ 725,000. "Maybe they think I've been a nice guy my whole career and they've got a fish," said Ainge. When the Blazers acquired Ainge, they did so with the idea he would be the difference in winning a title. The fact that the team didn't even make it back to the Finals probably hurt Ainge's negotiating stance, but isn't it unfair to pin that on one player? Still, in today's shrinking market, $ 1.3 million isn't all that unreasonable . . . Sherman Douglas also appears headed for a holdout in Miami, as the Heat have left their $ 2.2 million-a-year proposal on the table. Douglas is among three high-profile point guards - Kenny Smith and Rod Strickland are the others - who remain unsigned . . . The Heat have invited Ronnie Grandison, who played for Athletes in Action last season, to camp. Word has it that with no overseas prospects available for second-round pick George Ackles, he may have to suffer the indignity of going to Miami's camp and getting cut. This is the player the Celtics were willing to deal Joe Kleine for . . . Don't be surprised if Jack Haley ends up in Miami, too . . . Not surprisingly, Laimbeer is fretful about Vinnie Johnson in Celticgreen. "You simply cannot find a classier guy," said Laimbeer. "He's also very team-oriented. I'd much rather see him go out West." Laimbeer said he did consider retiring following the news that both VJ and James Edwards would not return to the Pistons. "If we couldn't be competitive mentally, and everyone was going to say, 'Well, we had our fun, now let's just collect the paycheck,' then I would have had a serious problem," Laimbeer said. "But I still believe we have a nucleus of players who are some of the best there is. We do have a lot of question marks, but I really like Darrell Walker, and the other guys Orlando Woolridge, Brad Sellers, well, let's just say a lot of people change when they come to the Pistons." . . . Jeff Ruland, with a bad knee and a 33d birthday approaching, is trying a comeback. He worked out with the Sixers during their rookie camp, and those who were there said the big fella simply is not mobile enough to do it . . . New Jersey has asked some of its players to rewrite their contracts so they can pay first-round draft pick Kenny Anderson some decent cash. Anderson wants something like Coleman received the year before (five years, $ 15 million), but that won't happen. "We felt Derrick could come in and play right away and we needed him right away because of the question marks about Roy Hinson's knee," explained Willis Reed. "I don't think any of the top five guys in this draft are going to walk in and play at that level."

Trading downward

Sacramento has no one to blame but itself for the sorry state the franchise is in. The Kings made two more bonehead offseason trades, the first swapping Travis Mays for Spud Webb, the second Antoine Carr for Dwayne Schintzius. The Kings were overloaded with forwards and Carr was making news about a new contract, but he also was their most reliable scorer. In a Sacramento Bee poll on the trade, 2,439 people said it was a bad one, while 1,495 said it was a good one . . . Roy Tarpley, who has been attending the John Lucas rehabilitation clinic in Houston, played ball with some of the Rockets last Thursday, his first full-contact game since he injured his knee last November . . . Phoenix president Jerry Colangelo decided to disband the Suns' dance team, for what he termed "reasons of my own," but when there was a loud public outcry, he reinstated it. Meanwhile, the Suns' new stadium is 70 percent completed, and there is a waiting list of 1,000 people for season tickets. Not bad for a first-round-and-out club . . . Dave Cowens' whirlwind big man tour included stops in San Antonio with David Robinson and Schintzius, in Charlotte with J.R. Reid and Eric Leckner, in Cleveland with Danny Ferry, in Seattle with Shawn Kemp and in Miami with Rony Seikaly and Alec Kessler . . . With the Atlanta Braves in a pennant race, the Atlanta Hawks felt compelled to take out an advertisement for their club featuring a picture of draft piapoff dinner Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Lombardo's in Randolph. For tickets, call 986-5067 or 267-1626 . . . Vinnie Johnson. Here. It would be poetic justice.

Joe Kleine in Search of a Role

July 21, 1991 

Joe Kleine, Olympic gold medalist, lottery pick and six-year NBA veteran, is fighting for his professional life and has decided to knock heads with NBA wannabes this weekend at Celtics rookie camp.

The Life of Riley

  October 15, 1991 It's usually misleading to read anything into exhibition results, but when you're 2-0, and you've won by margins of 26 and 21 points, something must be going right.

That's what Pat Riley's New York Knicks have done. They wasted Dallas, 117-91, and Washington, 112-91. They host the Celtics tonight at Madison Square Garden and then rendezvous in Hartford tomorrow night for a rematch. 

Fox in the Hunt

October 13, 1991 He didn't want to call it nerves. Or jitters. Rick Fox instead called himself anxious as he stepped onto the Boston Garden floor for his real taste of NBA action.

Larry Returns to Action . . . Against the Lakers

October 12, 1991 Nice week. The Bruins were trying to score just one goal, the Patriots were contemplating changing the locks at Foxboro Stadium and the Red Sox gave us Morgan's Memorial and The Return of the Gerbil.

It was left to Larry Bird to wash away the pain and the fears of this wicked week. Has he ever let you down? 

We Have a Jerry West Sighting

October 13, 1991 There was a verified Jerry West sighting at the Centrum last night. That, in itself, speaks either for the attraction of Paris or some latent love for Worcester.

West, the Lakers' can-do general manager, never travels. Not when it matters, anyway. 

Dee Brown Wants to Fit In

October 12, 1991 The intended message is clearly no longer, "I want to fit in."

Dee Brown is past that. Heck, he leaped over that in a single bound a long time ago, then did a handspring and dunked the ball lefthanded with his eyes closed for good measure.

McHale has Late Night Taping for Cheers

October 13, 1991
The man deemed Most Likely To Play Backup Center showed up for the 7 p.m. game, some 56 minutes late. He then escorted his wife and four children to their designated seats, amidst wild applause from the celebrity-conscious Centrum crowd.

"I thought it was someone important," Larry Bird cracked.

It wasn't. Just Kevin McHale. 

The Chief Keeps on Ticking

October 14, 1991 Chick Hearn, the venerable Lakers' announcer, studied the 1991-92 Boston Celtics and asked what is beginning to be an annual, rhetorical question.

"How does the Chief still do it?"

By now, of course, Celtics fans know that the 38-year-old Parish is getting better with age, keeps himself in great shape, rarely misses a game, and remains a key part of the Boston team.

Shaw Still a Spectator

October 15, 1991 The Celtics will play two exhibition games in the next 24 hours and Brian Shaw again will watch them from the end of the bench, unable to play.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming for a Microwave Update

October 11, 1991 For those of you monitoring the Vinnie Johnson Watch, you can take a break. The Microwave is out of commission until Thanksgiving.

Johnson had torn cartilage removed from his left knee in an arthroscopic procedure Wednesday, his agent said yesterday. "He'll be ready to play in an NBA game in six weeks," said Johnson's agent, Boston-based Mitch Frankel. 

Joe Kleine has No Takers

October 10, 1991
He decided to drop the 20 pounds on his own, with no decree from the front office attached. Joe Kleine doesn't do much talking to Celtics management; he just shows up to work every day trying to make their lives as difficult as possible.

How so? One of the worst-kept secrets in preseason camp is that Stojko Vrankovic will be guaranteed minutes to determine whether he can develop into a legitimate NBA player. The second-worst-kept secret is that Kleine has been shopped around the league for the better part of five months as a result. 

There have been no takers, so Kleine has showed up at camp lean, hungry - and realistic.

"I'm not looking at it as going against Stojko," said Kleine. "Whether I like it or not, they're going to give him a chance.

"It's just that I get afraid sometimes they forget about me."

Kleine was truly the forgotten man of the 1990-91 season. His previous 1 1/2 years with Boston enabled him to settle in as a dependable backup to Robert Parish, but when coach Chris Ford took over, he implemented an up-tempo offense and experimented with a rotation that logged Kevin McHale some serious minutes at the backup center spot. McHale flourished in the role, and with Larry Bird almost exclusively a power forward these days, Kleine was the odd man out.

He struggled with the running game and posted career lows in both scoring (3.6 points a game) and rebounding (3.3). He was as erratic as his minutes played. He logged nine DNPs, Coach's Decision.

The forecast for this season is even more bleak. Ford is committed to a similar rotation, only now Vrankovic factors in, too.

That has left Kleine with the helpless feeling that no matter what he does, for the moment, anyway, it won't make any difference.

"I've said a thousand times I'd love to stay here," he said. "I have no problems with anyone in the organization.

"But I've got to be realistic, and when you are realistic, you understand you could be traded.

"I don't want to make the team as a 12th man. I'm not looking just to make the team.

"I'm interested in trying to crack the rotation."

Trade talk historically takes its toll on athletes, and the Celtics made a point of calling Brian Shaw this summer to assure him they were not trying to move him. No such phone calls were made to Kleine.

Asked point-blank about what reassurances he could offer his center, Ford said, "I haven't said anything to him one way or another.

"This is part of the business," Ford continued. "There will always be guys we will be willing to deal and others who are untouchable.

"It's the hardest part of the game. Guys get released or traded and it's just not them that's affected. It's their families, their friends, their teammates."

Kleine's teammates are in no hurry to see him go. He is affable, hard-working and doesn't complain about playing time. He is also, in the minds of folks like Parish, an asset on the floor.

"We need Joe Kleine on this team - period," said Parish. "We can't afford to lose him."

Other players quietly agree. They wonder if Stojko is ready, if he will ever have the mental toughness and the work ethic he has failed to exhibit thus far. And what if after all this training, he leaves next year, anyway?

"I can't speak to that," said Kleine. "I'm in a very tough situation here."

So what can Kleine do besides lose 20 pounds and keep banging away?

"There isn't anything he can do," said Ford. "You can't worry about things you can't control. You play as well as you can and hope that's enough."

Only one problem: Joe Kleine already knows it isn't.