I Wednesday, Ai cl 11,2010
O’Neal
JIMMY GOLEN,
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WALTHAM. Mass. - When
Shaquille O'Neal was much, much
younger and a good deal smaller,
too. he chose as a —,—
role model one of
the ir.o-! success
ful hie men in
NBA hisiorv
hi it 11 1 came into the league. I
;'' l l it- compete with Bill
-;-eii ini' titles." O'Neal said
:-da\. with Russell's 11 champi
.h;p banners hanging above
him a 1 a news conference to mark
igning with the Boston
. That's not going to hap
r, but I'd like to almost get half
oi w hat lie got.'
(Vllk-s.
With iour lit Its and a Hall of
!-' one career already on his
resume, newly christened "Big
shamrock" signed a two-year deal
:k hr ('cities at veteran's mini
mo hirgoing more lucrative
'•i join the defending
i ( onitrence champions
i .mother championship
A iT Nsover celebrity who has
<ppe;i)vd in feature films and his
:wn TV --how. O'Neal joked about
ns new nickname, his fear that his
no: ■■ -.-. iii develop a Boston accent
nci Tying to beat new teammate
hen "Bic; Baby" Davis in a chow
ht eating contest.
Bui ht was serious when he
miked about his legacy.
■ i)<> I 1;..u the same hunger'?
Vs i! ! birin t.! wouldn't be here."
•aid. "1 don't like wasting
Colt McCoy content to wait and learn in NFL
By Tom Withers
'SS WRrER
Ohio - As the
■.-'cmd Browns sweat through
;,i r sleamy training camp
A a\ stands on f
-. kdeime with
:!‘ms folded,
the A watching. waiting.
This is all new for McCoy, the
•mcr Texas star who won more
n.k - than any other quarter
ed-; in college football history
; - i 'iiird stringer now. buried
.*!t t k ciiand s depth chart below
; after Jake Delhomme and baek
m Seneca Wallace,
it s hard." he said.
i'V not going to get easier any
one soon tor McCov. either.
injuries, he's slated to
' lend the season in an under-
k. learning how lo play
Ls most demanding and
iMniiengmg position as a third-
o take some getting
A -htit* K something I've
..ask on and I've got to
-u.u dcCoy who slid to the
mod in April s draft before
m. -matched by the Browns. "It
is d. especially over the last
vear.' where you've taken
e;y rep a,id every snap in every
one I just got to get used to it
• :,asr it A going to be the same
a\ ail season and I've got to be
nd\ to go and make some
uting for his time to
Mi-Coy has immersed him
i e iii i Iweland's thick playbook.
'ninrimiately. it doesn't have a
;;!<']• dedicated to patience.
McGrady to sign one-year otter with retooling Pistons
By Larry Lage
SPOAS WRITER
DETROIT - Tracy McGrady is
_r!.t\ng a chance to rejuvenate his
career with a team hoping for a
rebound of its ———-
,; '™- . , NBA
MiaTiadv and
idston.s have agreed to a 51.3 mil
lion. one year contract, a person
lamiliar with the negotiations told
Tlte Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on the condition
o! anonymity because the deal
hasn't been announced.
McGrady. a seven-time All-Star
.md two-time scoring champion,
has played just 65 games the past
!wo seasons with Houston and
New York because he had major
surgeiy on his left knee in the mid
dle of the 2008-09 season.
The 6-foot-8 wing drew some
interest from teams this summer,
including the Chicago Bulls,
before choosing to play for Detroit.
Now. the Pistons might have a
greater sense or urgency to trade
Richard Hamilton or Tayshaun
Prince to fix their logjam on the
perimeter.
The 31 -vear-old McGrady aver
aged 8 2 points last season, his
lowest-scoring season since 1997-
98 w hen he was a rookie with the
Toronto Raptors after skipping
college.
Just two years ago, though, he
averaged 21-plus points for the
eighth time in his career.
wants six titles
my time. I don't like wasting any
body's time. At the end of the day,
when I close the book, it's all about
winning."
The news conference to intro
duce O’Neal wasn't the usual type
for a backup, 38-year-old center
w'ho will be paid about $1.3 million
a year. There were a dozen TV
cameras, perhaps 50 reporters in
all and a couple hundred beaming
schoolchildren in the bleachers,
taking a break from their basket
ball camp next door.
Also in the gym: Kevin Garnett,
who promised O'Neal he would fly
back from Hawaii to be there.
"To me this is a very exclusive
event." said O'Neal, who wore a
gray pinstriped suit and a black
bow tie. "It s my last (introducto
ry) press conference. I just want
ed to be very, very sharp. "
The crowd was all there to see
O'Neal the superstar, the former
NBA MVP and four-time champi
on who is certain to be enshrined
in the Hall of Fame down the road
in Springfield whenever he
decides he's had enough.
But the O'Neal the Celtics have
•signed is a much different player
than the one who accumulated
those credentials.
Now weighing in at 345 pounds
- he was 294 at LSU O'Neal
averaged 12 points and 6.7
rebounds tor the Cavaliers last
season, when he was brought to
Cleveland in the hopes that he
would be the missing piece that
would help Leßron James win his
elusive NBA title. He also missed
almost two months of the regular
Colt McCoy (12) hands off during a practice session at training camp
McCoy admits that isn't one of his
virtues.
Given an assignment, he would ing to be the best I can be in the
prefer to knock it out and move on situation that I'm in and when it's
to the next one.
He doesn't have that luxury'any- McCoy, who threw for more
more. McCoy is starting from than 13,000 yards and 112 touch
scratch as a pro. downs with the Longhorns, would
-I think it's universal for most like nothing more than to play
rookies." he said after practice immediately. But he understands
earlier this week. his current status and is tapping
T-Mac facts
Drafted 9th by Toronto in 1997
Third cousins with Orlando
Magic guard Vince Carter
Has played for the Raptors,
Magic, Houston Rockets and
New York Knicks
21.5 ppg for career
Career-high 28.0 ppg in 03-04
Seven-time All-Star
2001 Most Improved Player
Two-time NBA scoring champion
Scored 62 points in one game
with Orlando (Magic record)
Shares NBA record with eight
made 3-pointers in one half
If McGrady accepts his role,
likely as a reserve, he could prove
to be a bargain playing for the vet
eran's minimum even if he doesn’t
approach his career scoring aver
age of 21.5 points.
■‘l've made a lot of money over
my career and I could retire right
now' and I could be fine financial
ly," McGrady said in February
after he was traded by the Rockets
to the Knicks while making $23
million in the last year of his con
tract. "My kids can be fine when
they get older. Money is not an
issue for me."
McGrady, who is from Bartow,
Fla., was drafted No. 9 overall in
the 1997 draft by Toronto. He went
to Orlando in a sign-and-trade
season after injuring his thumb
against the Celtics.
“I told him there won't be 30
minutes (for him) on this team;
there will be 20-25," Celtics coach
Doc Rivers said. “I asked him if
that would be OK, because that's
the only way it’s going to work."
And it was OK with O'Neal, who
hit the free agent market seeking
a two-year deal worth a reported
$8 million to $lO million a season.
The Celtics expressed an interest
though not at that price and
general manager Danny Ainge
moved on to pursue other options.
As the summer wore on,
though, O'Neal came around.
Ainge said O'Neal's agent called
and said, “Shaq would like to play
there, and he's willing to come on
your terms."
"I think Shaq's a guy who can
still make a difference." Ainge told
reporters in a conference, call
after the news conference. "When
he was in his prime, he was con
sidered one of the best who has
ever played. Shaq coming to our
team right now. our expectations
won't be that. We expect him to
contribute to our team and play a
role off our bench."
But that can be a major contri
bution for a team that is without
center Kendrick Perkins for at
least half the season while he
recovers from the knee injury he
sustained during Game 6 of the
NBA finals. Backup Rasheed
Wallace has said he will retire,
though there is a chance the
Celtics could do something with
his contract.
appe' ar •
"Some rookies step right in and
play. Hats oil to them. I'm just try-
time, it's time.
Tracy McGrady (3) rises up for a jump shot as Andrea Bargnani (7) and Hedo Turkuglo attempt to defend
deal in 2000 and was dealt four
years later to Houston.
His last healthy season was five
years ago. He missed 34 games
during the „„ jo-06 season with
back problems, elbow and knee
Shaquille O’Neal poses with his Celtics jersey at his intoductory press
conference on Tuesday. O’Neal said his goal is to win six NBA titles before
he retires. He currently has four over 20 NBA seasons.
into Delhomme and Wallace's
experience to make him a better
player.
Delhomme remembers what
it's like to be a wide-eyed rookie,
lost in the dizzying speed of a
game moving at warp speed com
pared to college ball. Delhomme
has been impressed with McCoy’s
eagerness to learn and passion to
improve. He's willing to mentor
and help the 23-year-old’s transi
tion.
“He's very intelligent, that’s one
thing you can tell just being in
meetings, and it's important to
him," Delhomme said. "If it’s not
important to somebody, then
they're really not going to give you
everything they have. He wants to
be good. He's not getting a whole
lot of reps right now, but he’s doing
a really good job.”
Delhomme never saw the field
as a rookie in 1998 with New
Orleans, and he didn’t make his
first start until his sixth year when
he was with Carolina.
He knows what McCoy is going
through.
‘lt’s hard,’' he said. "I did the
same thing. I started all four years
in high school and all four years in
college. You get to the NFL, I was
on a knee for 90 percent of the
practice just watching. It’s a major
adjustment. There's no other way
around it."
Amv Sancetta/AP
McCoy's baptism began on
Saturday in a scrimmage at
Browns Stadium.
Eager to show his stuff after
getting a loud ovation from
Cleveland fans, he threw two
interceptions, one at the end of the
first half and one that was
returned by Brandon McDonald
for a TD. McCoy didn’t dwell on
injuries led to him missing 16
games two years later and
microfracture surgery put his
career in jeopardy about 112l 1 2 years
ago.
If he’s relatively healthy, happy
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The Daily Collegian
Greg M. Cooper/AP
the mistakes. Instead, he prom
ised not to make them again.
“Those are lessons learned,” he
said. “Those are things you can
take away from that, get back in
the locker room, write it down and
understand that I’m not going to
do that again. B-Mac’s a great
player and made the play. It’s a
great coaching tool.
“I’ve still got a lot to learn.”
Coach Eric Mangini was
pleased to hear about McCoy’s
self criticism, and has been
pleased with the youngster’s
progress in camp.
“He is a really good student,”
Mangini said.
“What I like about Colt is that he
embraces and really understands
the importance of getting with
Jake and Seneca. He will get one
element of understanding from
the coaching staff, but a guy like
Jake who has so much game expe
rience really can help a young guy
like that. He has been like a
sponge, which is what he should
be at this point.”
McCoy has much loftier goals.
But this young Colt, still on wobbly
legs, knows he must learn to walk
before he can run.
While Delhomme and Wallace
took turns running the two
minute drill at the end of practice
on Tuesday, McCoy intently stud
ied their every move. He counted
the steps in their dropbacks, lis
tened to their cadences and as
they scanned the field for open
receivers, his eyes darted around
too.
It’s not his time. Not yet.
‘T’ve got a long ways to go,’’ he
said, “but I’m learning more and
more every' day and I’m feeling
more comfortable every day.’’
and effective for the Pistons,
McGrady will provide a boost for a
team that missed the playoffs
this year for the first time since
2001 with its worst record since
1995.