Re:Celts cap

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Alex Wang wrote:

> Joe,
>
> I agree that Pitino probably isn't actually constrained to the budget
> that he has talked about. But I do think that Gaston is firmly committed
> to not losing money on the Celtics. I don't know how many huge money
> contracts the Celtics can afford. It looks like their five starters
> are all going to be $5-12M players; they are going to have bench players
> ranging from $2-4M. So I don't think all five starters can make huge
> bucks. My guess is that Pitino won't trade for another third year
> player because it would involve increasing his overall budget (after
> the extension), unless Fortson is willing to sign at a budget number
> similar to Potapenko's. Instead, the type of deals mentioned where
> Pitino packages some other bad contracts along with Mercer to take
> back a somewhat older player seem more likely.

Build a team and the fans will come. This has always been the reality in
Boston...even with our Red Sox (who never win anything).

The Celts have never been a two man team. All five of the Celts starters from the
'80s made at least one All Star team (including Ainge) and were paid well. The
organization even carried five players with Hall of Fame credentials (including
Walton & DJ). For the most part, our payroll mirrored that of the Lakers.