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Bob Ryan Is Happy To See The NBA Back
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
OK, NBA...almost all is forgiven
By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 01/24/99
They're back, and I'm glad. [Image]
Oh, hey, I was a paid-up member of the ''Bleep All Those For extensive
Guys'' Club while the lockout was going on. I won't deny coverage of The
that. But now it's late January and I'm ready for some Boston Celtics,
NBA basketball, even if it hasn't all been up to my see The Celtics
artistic standards the past few years. in The Boston
Globe's
But it doesn't matter what I think. It only matters what Boston.com.
vox populi thinks. Fans will determine the success of the
NBA.
During the height of the lockout, it was very chic, even for people who
professed to love the sport, to say how little they missed the game and how
the league could keep the players out until the Twelfth of Never for all
they cared. That was easy to say in October, November, or December. Now, in
the dead of winter, it is clearly time for some basketball.
''I'm in a very forgiving mood,'' says Peter Shankman. ''I'd probably be in
an even better mood if the Celtics had a center.''
Shankman has had Celtics season tickets since 1975. He started off in the
balcony, was moved to splendiferous seats in the old Garden press box via
lottery and now occupies a nice center-court seat for which he pays $72 a
pop. He is someone the Celtics would not wish to offend.
The organization, that is. He's a little too old to worry about actually
relating to the players in a personal sense. As long as they shut up
occasionally and play ball, that will be just fine with him.
''I can listen to Kenny Anderson say whatever it is he is supposed to have
said to that kid and say whatever he says he was kidding about on the
subject of selling one of his luxury cars, and it doesn't make any
difference to me,'' observes Shankman. ''I don't have to like these people.
I didn't know Larry Bird, either, and that had nothing to do with the fact
that I loved watching him play.''
Shankman is excited and intrigued for the same reason I find myself excited
and intrigued. The Celtics aren't contenders in any sense, but they aren't a
bag o' doughnuts, either. In fact, they might prove to be one of the most
entertaining teams in the league.
The most important news that came out of Celticland in the late stages of
the lockout was Anderson's declaration that his oft-ailing knees felt good.
That got my pulse rate up, because as Kenny Anderson goes, so goes the
Celtics' offense.
You all recall how it went last year; I'm sure. Anderson arrived, and the
offense took flight. Everyone began getting easier shots, most notably
Antoine Walker. When Anderson's knees kept him out of the lineup, the team's
offense sagged. There really isn't another true point guard on the roster,
and even if there were, he wouldn't have the offensive creativity of Kenny
Anderson.
With Anderson directing an offense that has Walker, Ron Mercer, Paul Pierce,
and, let's not forget, himself, the Celtics will be one of the more potent
offensive teams in the league. (I am, of course, assuming that Pierce will
be an instant player.) If they are running, then Walter McCarty becomes an
offensive threat, and there is always Dana Barros.
It all adds up to the product known as NBA basketball, and this, reminds
Shankman, is something special.
''I can never understand people who say they like college ball but don't
like the NBA,'' says Shankman. ''These are the best college players, the
ones who were good enough to go on and play in this league. And college ball
really doesn't get good until March Madness. Oh, and don't forget the
zones.''
In the interest of full disclosure, Shankman admits the lockout wasn't all
bad.
''It may have been the best thing that could have happened,'' he says. ''I
saved a lot of money. First of all, I didn't have to pay for exhibition
games, which mean nothing. This year, the exhibition game is free, which is
the way it should always be. I mean, come on. Seventy-two dollars for a
meaningless exhibition game?''
Shankman would have preferred a better home schedule, but what are you going
to do? Have you checked out the six Western Conference teams? Shankman has.
''We get Denver, Sacramento, Vancouver, Portland, the Clippers, and
Minnesota,'' he points out. ''We don't get Houston, Seattle, Phoenix, San
Antonio, the Lakers, and Utah. I suppose the good thing is that we'll have a
better chance of beating the teams that are coming in here.''
There's one argument Shankman doesn't want to hear, and that's the one that
says the 1999 title won't matter because Michael Jordan will be out on a
golf course somewhere while the NBA playoffs are taking place.
''What is the matter with people?'' he inquires. ''That would be like saying
that the 1970 title didn't matter because Bill Russell was no longer
playing. They miss the point. You have a career and then you retire. That's
the point. Bill Russell had his time and then Larry and Magic had their
time, and now Michael has had his time.''
Shankman isn't foolish enough to ask for another Russell or Bird, but he
thinks he has realistic ambitions.
''Another era,'' he says. ''A run of five or six years where you have a
chance.''
It's probably too much to ask that every fan be this enlightened. But it's
something to strive for.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist.
This story ran on page E03 of the Boston Globe on 01/24/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.