Jordan to camp in Boston

For the past four years, Michael Jordan usually only visited Boston when the Quakers traveled to Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion. Now, if things go his way, Jordan may get to spend a bit more time playing basketball in Beantown. On Saturday, Jordan was invited to training camp by the Boston Celtics. He arrived for his first day of camp yesterday in Waltham, Mass. Jordan, however, did not find out that he had been invited until Saturday. He was watching the Penn football team face off against Dartmouth when Quakers coach Fran Dunphy delivered the news. Jordan's agent, Keith Glass, had called Dunphy to inform him. Now, Jordan will have the chance to realize his dreams of being an NBA player. "I don't think there are any expectations right now, but he'll be given every opportunity to show what he can do," Dunphy said. With NBA veteran point guards Kenny Anderson and Randy Brown ahead of him on the Celtics' depth chart, however, Jordan seems like a longshot to make the final cut. "Hopefully, I can impress some people and see what happens," Jordan told the Associated Press. "If I don't make it here, maybe another opportunity will open up from being here." Since graduating in May, Jordan has had several opportunities to break into professional basketball. He started for the Philadelphia Force of the upstart National Rookie League and was also invited to play for the Philadelphia 76ers' entry in the the Shaw's Summer League. Former Quakers star guard Jerome Allen, who graduated in 1995, was with the Celtics in the summer league. Now Allen is playing professionally in Rome, and one of his successors is trying to make it with the Celtics. Celtics General Manager Chris Wallace told the AP that Jordan's intelligence on the court played a significant part in Boston's decision to invite him to camp. "He's a very cerebral player," Wallace said. "To bring a guy into camp at the point guard position, you've got to have somebody who's a quick study because you're throwing a lot of things at him in a short period of time." While at Penn, Jordan finished his career with 1,604 points -- ranking him third all-time in Penn history behind just Ernie Beck and Keven McDonald. He also ranks second in assists and third in steals. A three-time first team All-Ivy selection, the six-foot, 170-pound guard led the Red and Blue to two consecutive Ivy League titles and capped off his senior campaign by being named the Ivy League Player of the Year. For now, though, Jordan's only concern is finding his way onto an NBA roster, whether it is with Boston or with another team in the league. "I haven't even thought about having my name on the same team with Bird and all those guys," Jordan said. "They accomplished so much. I haven't done anything." Like it has so many times in the past, though, Jordan's name is helping him get noticed. "I tried to register for my room. I go, ORoom for Mike Jordan,'" Jordan said. "The lady at the desk starts laughing. The guy who's with me says, OShe thinks you're joking.' She goes, OYeah.'"

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