Re: Wink, wink! (long)

[Jim Hill <jahill@leasingservice.com>]

As always, Joe makes some good points and supports his opinions.

I just don't see why Gaston gets dumped on so bad.  He wasn't "given" the
Celtics, he "earned" the right to run the team by being extremely successful
in other areas of the family business.  He took a money losing TV station
that couldn't be sold at break even and in a couple years turned it around
and made the investors/family something like a $20 Million profit.

I would be hard pressed to not give that executive his choice of projects
after that.  He chose to turn around the Celtics.  He has withstood the
tanking of the season to get a shot at Duncan.  I doubt he did that without
the full support of Red etc...  If he was successful, people would have
erected a statue of him.  It didn't work.

He brought in what many, many people thought would be the best coach in
basketball for the Celtics.  Chosen by Bird no less.  He gave Pitino free
rein with the players, built Healthpoint, oversaw the new Fleet Center (to a
degree).  Watched as Pitino cleaned house. Gave Walker the max after being
convinced by the basketball brain trust that he was worth it.  Etc...

Personally I feel the failure of the Celtics is more the failure of Red then
Gaston.  Isn't he supposed to be the basketball guru?  Yet he picked M.
Smith over T. Hardaway.  Ouch!  He wasn't aware that Lenny Bias was a coke
user? What are scouts for?  Who approved the ML contracts?  That's what
killed this team.

Gaston needs to run the team as a business.  He is not going to, and I don't
think should, blow the family money on over paying players who put in so
little effort as most NBA players today.  If you had the "big three" and
were one player away from a championship I believe Gaston would spend what
it takes to win.  But right now, no way.  We're a lot farther then one or
two players away.

Stay within the revenues available, allow the increase of the value of the
team to be your "profit" and hope the basketball brain trust picks the right
players in the draft and that you end up with a Bird, Jorden, Magic,
Garnett, Shaq, Kobe etc...

Portland has and soon Dallas is going to prove that money alone doesn't
assure a championship.  The draft and taking advantage of someone elses
misfortune, Lakers with Shaq, maybe Garnett will be the next, Mourning, Kidd
etc... is how you win.  Look at what the Lakers have done without a real PF
or PG.  Miami has a good base if Morning comes back, Orlando tried hard and
ended up with two big time players, Indiana may be in the running in a
couple years, Chicago is a center away from being in the running in a couple
years.  

We have Pierce who would start for most teams.  We could have had the #8
Miller (Who is starting this year) two years ago, Mason this year (Who will
most likely start this year), Walker and Battie.  That could be a pretty
good team in a couple years with a real center.  Blame Gaston for giving the
keys to the car to Pitino and Red if you want, but I'd rather have Wesley
then Anderson today.  That was Pitino etc's... move.

How many superstars are in the league that the Celtics basketball people
passed on?  This kid Mason, picked 17 by Seattle, is going to start as a
rookie at the 2 spot for a 50+ win team.  Is Moiso going to be a better pick
at 11 then Mason three years from now?  I hope so.  But who knows.

Every time Pitino makes a statement that he is surprised that "so and so" is
better then he thought, I get angry.  Isn't he supposed to know how good
these kids are before signing them?

My long winded point is that Paul "Thanks, Dad" Gaston needs to hire better
basketball people around him, but he certainly tried with the hiring of
Pitino and keeping Red in the loop.  He'll get to start over if this doesn't
work out with Pitino.  I doubt he makes the same mistake again. If ML/Red
didn't hamstring the team and Pitino hadn't "blown" all the past drafts,
except Pierce, and made some terrible trades, Gaston would be a friggen
genius right now.

As far as Gaston selling, If Bird hadn't sh*t all over him in the press he
might have sold (all or some) to his group at a good profit instead of
getting the maximum which it will cost Bird now.  I think that shows the
lack of business savvy that Bird has.

It won't happen, but Jerry West is being pushed out of LA.  If any of you
were Gaston, who would you hire as the next President of basketball
operations for the Celtics?  And why?

I'll be at the game tonight cheering for the/our/my team.  As frustrated as
I get, I love this team.

<Jim