EIGHT-MAN ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Kenny Anderson	5.7 APG	Career .416 shooter from field shot .451
SG	Paul Pierce	50 blocks	Rookie plays like grizzled veteran
SF	Antoine Walker	.559 FT %	Team star must shoot, pass better
PF	Tony Battie	71 blocks	Starts while toughman Fortson recovers
C	Vitaly Potapenko	.495 FG %	Certainly better than Andrew DeClerq
SF	Calbert Cheaney	.493 FT %	What do teams continue to see in him?
SF	Eric Williams	7.3 PPG	Can score if gets chance (15.0 in '96-97)
PG	Dana Barros	64 threes	Better closing option than Anderson?

		This is a key year for the Celtics. They traded Ron Mercer to get Danny Fortson from Denver, but now Fortson (fractured foot) is out for two months. The pressure is on the organization to win now. They have relatively the same roster as a year ago, but the key will be how Kenny Anderson plays at the point. I have always felt he had a tough adjustment to Pitino's system, one very difficult for a point guard because it requires him to play pressure defense. That's not one of Anderson's strengths. He needs to stay healthy and play the way Pitino would like him to play. The Celtics added rookie Wayne Turner from Kentucky and have Dana Barros as backups, but Anderson needs a big year. It's a fragile team. I don't know if the rumors about Antoine Walker and Pitino having problems are true, but it's a team that must get off to a good start and get some confidence.

When Pitino came to Boston, he said the Celtics would contend for the playoffs in years three and four of his regime. But during last season's mess, he was asked if he still was guaranteeing the club would make the postseason in the third year. Pitino bit, and he is now fully aware of what he hath wrought.

"Actually, when I made the original statement, it was before the draft," Pitino says, recalling the impetus for his optimism. "At that point, I thought I was going to have either (Tim) Duncan or (Keith) Van Horn-and maybe even both. So it wasn't really stepping (out) to say what I said. In essence, I was expecting to have a different team."

Ultimately, Pitino lost out on Duncan in the draft lottery and missed out on Van Horn when New Jersey traded up with Philadelphia prior to the player dispersal.

"I was talking about the playoffs, but I was thinking that if we had Duncan, we'd not only be in the playoffs, we'd be vying for a championship in the third year," Pitino says. "But even without him, I still figured we could contend for a playoff spot in the third and fourth years. As it stands now, we've had to speed up the process. I went along with what people were asking me last year because I understand that people become very impatient.

"And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. We're just moving up our goals. It's what I call good pressure. It's the kind of pressure you want in life. Your back is to the wall and you've got to come out fighting. That's what we have to do if we're going to achieve our goals. But regardless of what I say, that's not going to make it happen. The players are going to make it happen."

	Player to watch
	Potapenko If Antoine Walker scores and Danny Fortson rebounds, things should open up in the middle for Vitaly Potapenko, a big, slow player who has shown improvement in his career and does match up well with top-shelf centers. Is Potapenko a legitimate 16-point, 8-rebound guy? Probably not, but he may not be too far away.

Rookie Wayne Turner figures to get serious minutes under the coach who recruited him to Kentucky. His lack of shooting ability is actually seen as a plus on a team with so many willing hoisters of the rock.

Dana Barros is traditionally counted out at this point in the season, but he's always found a way to play an important role. Displaying theretofore unseen point guard skills last season boosted his stock and belied his image as simply a shooter.

Shooting guard
There is much uncertainty here after the departure of Ron Mercer, but a lot of the remaining questions arise from versatility. Paul Pierce proved to Pitino in the L.A. summer league that he was ready to step in and handle this position -- which made it easier to move Mercer -- but it is fair to believe Pierce will also see time at small forward. Pierce worked much of the summer on his ball-handling to complete a true shooting guard package.

The Celtics signed Calbert Cheaney as a veteran presence, while Cheaney comes to Boston looking to regenerate a sagging career. Things had gone south for him in Washington, but in choosing the Celtics, Cheaney declined to go south geographically. He could have made more money in a sign-and-trade deal sending him to Miami, but Bobby Knight, his coach at Indiana, spoke well of Pitino.

It is interesting to note that another free agent, reigning CBA MVP Adrian Griffin, would have seen a good deal of playing time on last year's squad. But this season Griffin, though well appreciated by the coaches, will likely be looking at just spot duty.

Small forward
Last year Pitino gave Antoine Walker a choice. His body stuck in Tweenerville, the captain was asked to either muscle up and be Karl Malone or trim down and be Scottie Pippen. Walker chose the Pippen model, but he has yet to get where he needs to be shape-wise. Still, for the Celtics roster to truly fit, Walker must be the small forward.

As the preseason wore on, Pitino was looking at keeping Walker at the 4-spot, with Eric Williams and Walter McCarty manning the 3. Williams gives the Celtics a slasher who will get to the free throw line, a quality the club lacked badly last season. The fact he is also a great friend of Walker's from their initial Celtics days means two talented players could be pushing each other here.

McCarty is coming off a season in which he missed games because of three different injuries. This time he's had a summer to find and develop his stroke, and if he gets minutes, he could prove to be more than simply a gangly body to use on the press.

Power forward
The man making the biggest splash here was newcomer Danny Fortson, until a fractured right foot was expected to put him out for the first couple of months. Everyone knew about his redwood arms and the fact he was fourth in the league in rebounding last season. But even Pitino got a little surprise when, on physicals day, Fortson measured 6-7½ barefoot. That makes him more than 6-8 in sneakers -- and Pitino insists he will not put Fortson into a game without his shoes on.

Fortson should eventually serve in a complementary role to Walker, forgiving many of his misses with strong work on the offensive glass. On a team where seemingly everyone wanted to shoot on each possession last year, it is refreshing for the coaching staff to have someone who believes that missed shots are the plays being run for him.

With a new six-year contract extension in tow and a stronger body from offseason work, Tony Battie claims he's ready to make those intriguing flashes from a season ago a more consistent part of his game.

Center
Vitaly Potapenko is the incumbent, and there is every reason to believe he will again be solid, if unspectacular. What the Celtics sought when they traded for him last season was someone who could stop opposing centers from kicking sand in the Bostonians' faces. The biggest challenge for Potapenko this year will be using his toughness while avoiding foul trouble.

Pitino isn't allowing himself to count on Pervis Ellison being available, but so far the oft-injured center has done well through camp. And while the coach says flatly that a healthy Ellison is the best center the Celtics have, the only ray of hope he has comes from the fact that this is Ellison's last year under contract.

Expect Battie and even Fortson to see some pivot time as well.

Coaching
Pitino started off the preseason by admitting that he, too, had made mistakes last year. It was a positive step.

There is no question he knows the game, but micro-coaching has worn thin over an NBA schedule, and Pitino knows he must cede more control to the players. If Anderson can handle the offense without much sideline help, it will go a long way to quieting the high-volume monologue from the bench.

The biggest impediment for Pitino the coach may be Pitino the president. But while he's not putting anything into stone, he insists he is ready to go to battle with his current roster.