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Howard Manley On The Validity Of Peter Vecsey
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
SPORT VIEW
Vecsey's reports vexing
By Howard Manly, Globe Staff, 06/04/99
The good news is Peter Vecsey is
not a medical doctor or an airline
pilot or in any profession in which you
need to be more than 50 percent right.
The bad news is that viewers of NBC and
TNT and readers of his New York Post
column don't really know whether the NBA
analyst is spreading rumors or reporting
facts.
By all accounts, Vecsey is a decent enough
guy, a newspaperman able to transform a
ruffled exterior into a television
personality. But even an on-air talent has
some responsibility to get the truth.
In recent days, Vecsey has dropped
significant ''news'' during the NBA
playoffs. The first piece involved the
Celtics. He said that Orlando's troubled -
and oft-injured - Penny Hardaway is headed
to Boston in a trade for Ron Mercer and
Kenny Anderson.
The rumor has touched off all sorts of
buzz locally. But no one, including
Vecsey, really knows whether Hardaway will
ever wear a Celtics uniform. A Celtics
source said the trade is on the
''backburner.''
At first glance the deal sounds good.
Hardaway is miffed at Magic management for
not ''respecting'' him enough.
Translation: He wants a lot more money and
a coach that doesn't tell him what to do.
That definitely wouldn't happen under Rick
Pitino, largely because Pitino is a
control freak.
If the Celtics can't pay Mercer, then how,
pray tell, are they going to pay a
perennial All-Star? And that's the problem
with Vecsey.
He's sort of like the NBA's version of
CNN. He has a lot of information but has
little time to explain what it all means.
The next troublesome Vecsey scoop is his
reporting on the Phil Jackson mess.
There's no real sorting out this Gotham
saga. Everyone involved, from Madison
Square Garden president Dave Checketts to
the former Bulls coach, are unseemly at
best and liars at worst.
Checketts had to apologize for lying to
the media about his clandestine meeting
with Jackson while the Knicks were
mounting their surprisingly successful
playoff run. The fact that Jackson would
even meet with Checketts while Jeff Van
Gundy was still at the helm was pathetic.
But then for Jackson to reject a $6
million offer from the New Jersey Nets and
fan rumors about going to the Los Angeles
Lakers was just plain sick.
Vecsey needed to be in the gutter with
these guys, but he remained a Jackson
coatholder despite having published
information suggesting that Jackson would
not get the Lakers job.
The Los Angeles Times and New York Times
published stories last week that indicated
Kurt Rambis would probably return as
Lakers coach. The stories went on to say
that Jackson's price was too high and that
his best chance at securing that kind of
money would come from the Nets or Knicks.
Vecsey wrote in Tuesday's column for the
New York Post: ''Regardless of how far the
Knicks go and what Dave Checketts
ultimately decides to do with Jeff Van
Gundy, it's my licensed belief Phil
Jackson won't agree to coach anyone next
season except the Lakers.''
Really Pete? That doesn't have anything to
do with the fact the Lakers never met with
him, much less offered him a job?
Not according to our ace reporter.
''As I understand the situation,'' Vecsey
wrote, ''from those privy to the cunning
and conversations of Jackson's agent, Todd
Musburger, neither the Nets nor the Knicks
particularly captivate the six-time
coaching champion. But it doesn't hurt to
elevate his market value by playing the
passionate interest shown by both
franchises for all its worth in an effort
to whet the appetite of LA owner Jerry
Buss.''
Vecsey did manage to describe Jackson's
secret meeting with Checketts as a
''low-rent stunt,'' and then went on to
flesh out his story with interesting but
irrelevant blather about Kobe Bryant
boning up on the triangle offense.
Vecsey concludes: ''Given the pick between
helping [presidential candidate Bill]
Bradley or the Lakers, I say he goes
political. The Democrats win more than the
Lakers.''
Later that night, during the Knicks-Pacers
playoff game, Vecsey reported as much
during TNT's halftime report.
''The Lakers haven't contacted Jackson at
all,'' Vecsey said. ''I believe he is
going to help Bradley next year. That's
where he is headed.''
As rumors go, Vecsey's reports were fine.
But they missed one important bit of
analysis: just how sleazy the NBA has
become.
This story ran on page D13 of the Boston
Globe on 06/04/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.