Vin Baker's last stand

By Rich Levine Sports Central Columnist

If I had written an article on Vin Baker six months ago, it most certainly would have been R-rated. Actually, I think they might have slapped it with an NC-17.

Six months ago, the mere mention of Vinny B's name would send me into a tourette's filled attack that could only be tamed by a heavy sedative and/or the comatosed state of boredom that results from any Matthew McConaughey movie.

I'm not sure what it is (most likely the Red Sox cowboying it up into the ALCS), but coming into this season, Baker is finding his way back into my heart.

To be fair, he didn't have much of a shot to succeed in Boston last season. Everyone in town hated the trade because if you can believe it, Kenny Anderson had actually grown on the Celtics' faithful during Boston's run to the 2002 Eastern Conference finals, making them all forget about his years of ineptitude on the court and stupidity off the court.

We lost our point guard and in return we were left with a fat, out-of-shape former all-star who had developed a reputation for being lazy, uncoachable, and having a name usually reserved for 55-year-old Italian men. There was all that, plus the one thing -- probably the most important thing -- which no one even knew about. More on that later...

Long story short, Vin Baker could not have been a worse addition to the Celtics last season. He set a record as the only NBA player to average a double-double during a season in offensive fouls and missed lay-ups, and was an absolute black hole on offensive whenever he got the ball in the paint.

Then came the big shock (actually it wasn't too much of a shock considering that I remember pondering in my Fleet Center seat whether or not the blacked-out, bald, middle-aged man sitting next to me could be more effective than Baker) that Vin was an alcoholic.

Obviously, anyone (no matter how much duress he causes you) suffering from a disease like alcoholism deserves sympathy, positive reinforcement, and everything else in the book to help them get through what they need to get through, but for Boston fans, it was very difficult.

Instead of empathy, Celtics fans reacted with complete and utter anger (and I was right there with every one of them). Here is a guy getting paid more in one year than most people will see in their lives, and he can't stay away from the bottle.

It was tough to handle. With Baker's presence in the middle, a lot of pressure would have been taken of Antoine Walker, who wouldn't have been forced to handle Kenyon Martin all by his lonesome and maybe could have relaxed a little bit on the offensive end instead of putting up one of the worst postseason performances in Boston history. Things could have been different, and it was all Vin's fault.

But that was last year. Fast-forward to training camp 2003 and Baker looks like a different man.

He has dropped about 500 pounds and is back to the playing weight that made him one of the most productive power forwards in the game. The huge bags under his eyes that he sported on a nightly basis last season have now been replaced with a positive attitude and a dedication to get back to the game.

I, for one, will give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. His demons are all out of the closet and hopefully behind him, and if he plays up to his potential, who knows where the C's can go this year.

But then again, once the Sox are out of the playoffs and the negativity returns to Beantown, I might change my mind ... that's just the way we are.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.