Michael Holley Article in Sunday's Globe

[Chris Littlefield <chrisl@mjr.com>]

Celtics' gambling is a dicey situation

                       By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 08/24/97

                              hris Wallace is a renaissance general
                              manager. He knows how to gather
                              his collection of tapes and CDs and
                        spend an afternoon listening to classic funk
                        or R&B. He knows Big East football. He
                        knows Harry S. Truman (he named his son
                        after him). He knows the difference between
                        Henry James the athlete and Henry James the
                        novelist.

                        If you're a Celtics fan, you had better hope
                        the GM knows how to gamble, too.

                        Wallace and his boss, Rick Pitino, have done
                        exactly that in the past two months. It would
                        be understandable if they were doing this at a
                        Foxwoods blackjack table. There, you can
                        throw down a lump of cash, lose, and feel
                        the effects for the next week or so. But if
                        you have a bad hand in the NBA's free agent
                        game, it could stick with you for, say, seven
                        years and cost, say, $22 million.

                        Think about that last sentence. It has only
                        one ''if''; the Celtics, though, have at least
                        six of them. One is named Travis Knight.
                        Another goes by Chris Mills. There's also
                        Andrew DeClercq. And so on.

                        The gamble doesn't stop there. Signing a
                        free agent is chancy enough, but that isn't the
                        Celtics' highest stake. Their biggest risks are
                        in their planning.

                        Remember the late spring afternoon when
                        Wallace was hired? He said

                        the idea was to land the Celtics three All-Stars,
the NBA prerequisite for 50- and 60-win seasons.
                        A good idea? Certainly. Here's the problem: The
Celtics have added eight new players since
                        Wallace came to town; none is an All-Star. Scan the
roster for a player who has participated in an
                        All-Star Game and you'll find one. His name is Dana
Barros. And based on what we've heard,
                        the Celtics have shopped him several times in the
past few weeks.

                        Is it just me, or did someone else hear a sobering
''uh-oh''?

                        The Celtics must have altars and other spiritual
paraphernalia set up in their Merrimac Street
                        offices because they're hoping - praying - for a
lot. They are saying that Antoine Walker could be
                        an All-Star. They say that Chauncey Billups could
be one of the top five point guards in the
                        league. They say Mills and Ron Mercer (who, by the
way, could pass for first cousins) are better
                        than people think. They say Knight has upside. They
say Bruce Bowen is a sleeper.

                        But that's all speculation. It's like a teacher
telling B students that they have valedictorian
                        potential. Well, yeah, maybe they do. But what's up
with the current report card?

                        Now, that's not to say the Celtics signed bad
players. You need guys like Knight and Mills to
                        win a championship. They love basketball and, just
as important, they can run forever. They're
                        also smart. After Mills's rookie season in
Cleveland, he called the team's public relations office
                        and asked for pictures of every referee in the
league. He wanted to learn each face and put it with
                        a name so when a call went against him he could
say, ''Come on, Danny,'' rather than, ''What
                        was that, ref?'' He was observant enough to know
that such details lead to respect from the
                        officials.

                        But for every four Chris Millses on your team, you
need a Vin Baker, a Gary Payton, or a Scottie
                        Pippen. Today is Aug. 24. The Celtics are loaded
with unproven and mid-level professionals.
                        They won't have salary-cap flexibility any time
soon. They need a Baker or a Pippen and are
                        hoping that one arises from a player on the current
roster. If that doesn't happen? Well, the
                        Celtics won't exactly be dogs. They'll just be the
guys who take their 42-45 wins into the spring
                        and then go home.

                        To their credit, Wallace and Pitino have been
aggressive, albeit controversially. They got cap
                        space by buying out Dino Radja, renouncing nine
players (including the team captain), and
                        dealing 25-year-old Eric Williams to the Nuggets
for two second-round picks.

                        The Celtics will win more than 15 games. But ask
yourself this: How many players and years are
                        they away from a title? One and three? Two and
four? Three and five?

                        ''Oh, we're definitely not leaning our heads out
the window screaming that we're ready for the
                        Finals,'' Wallace said. ''We're not wetting our
finger, putting it to the wind to see which way the
                        wind is blowing and then making decisions from
there. We've got a long way to go. What we've
                        done is added depth and quality to our roster so
that we can be competitive.''

                        Yet another good plan. What happens, though, if
Walker does become an All-Star next year?
                        He'll be one season away from free agency. He'll be
on a team that traded away Williams, his
                        best friend. He'll be facing the 1999 NBA, a league
that will probably dictate that he be paid at
                        least $8 million or $9 million per season. Would he
stay if he had the chance to go home and
                        become a member of the Bulls?

                        Or say that Billups becomes the next Payton by the
year 2000. A team comes his way, armed
                        with loot. Does he stay?

                        Wallace and Pitino have already gambled that Mills
will be better than Williams. They have
                        already gambled that a promising Knight is more
important to the franchise than a proven Rick
                        Fox. They have already gambled that their potential
All-Stars will grow into actual stars. And if
                        that happens, they have gambled that they can
either re-sign those stars or find an acceptable
                        alternative for them in a trade.

                        ''The beauty of sports is that we can debate all
this and have different opinions about it,'' Wallace
                        said. ''That's what keeps this all going; that's
why sports are so popular.''

                        Wallace and Pitino believe they have made the
correct decisions. They didn't take their chances
                        with cards and dice. They came to their game with
pens, long-term contracts and hope. The
                        contracts are signed. Only hope remains.

                        This story ran on page of the Boston Globe on
08/24/97.
                        =A9 Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.