Celtics' strategy is developing By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 6/23/2003 Jim O'Brien needed soulful singer Sade to make his point about young NBA players perfectly clear. ''You come and earn playing time,'' said the Celtics coach. ''As Sade says, This is `no place for beginners or sensitive hearts.' This is a man's game. You're given nothing, at least on the Boston Celtics.'' The choice of lyrics supported O'Brien's practice of using players who give Boston the best chance of winning, typically veterans. The choice of Sade showed O'Brien has a mellow side. With the 2003 NBA draft three days away, teams are busy trying to figure out which players they want most. Sometimes that is the easy part. For the next 12, 18, 24 months or longer, coaches must demonstrate extraordinary powers of patience. The Celtics' recent draft history is littered with first-round selections who made the organization grateful for its good fortune, then left it frustrated by inconsistent play and slow development. Think Jerome Moiso, Joe Johnson, and Joseph Forte. Barring any trades before Thursday night, and director of basketball operations Danny Ainge maintains he doesn't anticipate any, the Celtics will exercise picks Nos. 16 and 20. The names most often mentioned as possible selections are 19-year-old Serbian Aleksandar Pavlovic and 21-year-old UNLV product Marcus Banks. It may be premature to talk about development before the draft, but bringing along young players is a topic where Ainge and O'Brien must find common ground. Ainge insists the two already have an understanding about how to go forth. At the same time, it's clear O'Brien has strong feelings about who deserves playing time and why. Regardless of whom the Celtics choose, the rookies must prove to O'Brien they deserve minutes. He wants to win every game and allots playing time with that goal. Ainge wouldn't mind giving younger players (Kedrick Brown and J.R. Bremer along with the two rookies) extra minutes in November if it meant the team was better prepared for the playoffs in April. And so begins the debate involved in developing players. ''I'm going to put the people on the court that I think give you the best chance of winning that game because we want to make the playoffs,'' said O'Brien. ''I think every game is key. If I have a player that deserves whatever minutes he deserves, he's going to get those minutes. If they don't deserve the minutes then, maybe, it's a weakness that I don't force feed them the minutes. I have to look at the rest of the players in the eye, our fans, our ownership, and my job is and always will be to win the next game. I take that very, very seriously.'' Ainge factors more long-term goals into his view of the team. ''My philosophy is that you prepare for the playoffs,'' said Ainge. ''You prepare to win championships. Sometimes you have to lose a game in November to become better. So, I think it's silly if you try to win every single game at the expense of becoming a better team. I believe Jim and I will work fine together. I want to win every game, too. But we have to become better than we are. ''If we're going to fight hard to win 46 [games], when we could have won 43 and developed a player, I think that's a sacrifice that's probably worth it if players can be better than what you have going into the playoffs. That's just common sense. Ainge said he's trying to develop a championship team. ''I'm thinking big picture,'' he said. ''So, if Jim feels that he needs to win the game that night and he's not playing the rookie that we just drafted, I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it in November. I'm going to let him coach the team and do those things. Now, if it happens for a month straight and I'm at practice and I'm watching and I think this kid can help us, we'll have a discussion and talk about it. And I'll see what we can do to try to get that guy included in. I don't see that Jim's opposed to young players at all. I think he's opposed to people who don't know how to play, which is a big difference.'' Ainge does not anticipate needing to meet with O'Brien about playing time for the rookies on the roster. The two already have discussed player development. Ainge believes O'Brien may be more flexible about giving minutes to younger players with greater job security (a two-year extension) in hand. While the two espouse different philosophies, they are not in opposition. They have yet to work together during the season, and it will be interesting to watch how their words translate onto the court. But when Ainge arrived last month, he made a point about the Celtics' need to develop players better. He cited Johnson as a prime example. While inconsistent in Boston, the lottery pick became a valued sixth man in Phoenix. Seldom used with the Celtics, lottery pick Moiso has made progress and earned playing time with the Hornets. Forte never made the transition from college shooting guard to NBA point guard. Now he is trying to remake his image and earn playing time in Seattle after running afoul of the law in Maryland (arrested for speeding with marijuana and a loaded pistol in his car) and North Carolina (misdemeanor assault warrant for punching a Tar Heel football player during a pickup game). The Celtics still are waiting for meaningful contributions from the athletically gifted Brown, who was selected 11th overall in the 2001 draft. The 2002-03 season was to be his breakout year, but a sprained ankle in preseason sidetracked him. Last season, Brown averaged 2.8 points and 2.7 rebounds over 13.1 minutes per game. The great rookie success story of the O'Brien era has been Bremer, who started 41 games last season as an undrafted rookie. But when it came time for the playoffs, O'Brien felt more comfortable with veteran Tony Delk as starting point guard in place of a struggling Bremer. ''When I go into [a game], I look at the track record of what a person has done for us on the court and in games and in practice and make my decision as to whether they're going to play based on those things,'' said O'Brien. ''Are there some coaches that will say, `Can it hurt you to give Kedrick 10 minutes?' Well, if in those 10 minutes, you're trying to get the ball to Paul Pierce or Antoine Walker and we're getting trapped and we're not getting anything done in those 10 minutes, then my answer is, `Damn straight it hurts you to play somebody that you, as a coach, don't think deserves X amount of minutes.' ''Now, [Brown's] development has been delayed by his inability or my inability, either way you want to look at it. His inability to deserve playing time. My inability to be flexible enough to give it to him. I make no apologies for this.'' Ainge and O'Brien are unwilling to generalize about rookies. They realize that successful development of whomever they select at Nos. 16 and 20 will depend on the individual. Recent drafts show mixed results at those spots. In the 2002 draft, Philadelphia selected Jiri Welsch at No. 16, and Kareem Rush went to Toronto at No. 20. Welsch averaged 1.6 points in 37 contests for Golden State last season, while Rush appeared in 76 games for the Lakers and averaged 3 points. The contributions of draft picks at those spots become more recognizable the farther back one goes. In 2000, Sacramento selected Hedo Turkoglu at No. 16, and Speedy Claxton went to Philadelphia at No. 20. Turkoglu is a top reserve for the Kings. Claxton helped the Spurs to the 2003 NBA championship with some key minutes as a backup point guard in the Finals. Developed and used the right way, players selected mid to late in the first round can become important role players, provide depth, or possibly more. Still, O'Brien knows the odds are stacked against getting a player ready to contribute quickly at 16 and 20. ''[I want players who show] mental and physical toughness, guys that can play defense and shoot the three,'' said O'Brien. ''I think it's going to be very difficult to get somebody like I just described at 16 and 20. The 16 and the 20, what type of playing time are they going to get? This is a hard league. When you're looking at rookies, it will be a rare rookie at 16 or 20 that's going to come in and have an impact. Hopefully, you can hit a home run and have that happen. How could you say otherwise? I don't think you should be coaching if you thought any other way.'' It will take time before the Celtics know exactly what they have with the players they select. Every year, every team enters a high-stakes waiting game after the scouting and selection process. Some, like Isiah Thomas, who became coach of the Pacers when they were the youngest team in the league, are given a mandate to develop young players. Thomas said he does lots of confidence-building and gives out lots of pats on the back. He added that the biggest challenge has been getting his young players to recover from their mistakes. For Bill Cartwright in Chicago, the emphasis is on fundamentals. Cartwright said he prefers not to force feed minutes to young players. But he acknowledged exhibiting patience can be trying. ''My hair's a lot grayer now than it was at the start of the year,'' he said. Ainge said when he coached he may have had too much of a big-picture perspective and said there was ''no science'' to developing NBA players. But there is compromise. ''Rookies are rookies,'' said O'Brien. ''Certain rookies are easier to integrate into your franchise than others. Over the course of 82 games, generally speaking, veterans win for you. But at the same time you have to develop youth to make sure you're never caught in a situation where you're either getting too long in the tooth or you're not developing a good group of younger guys.'' --

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