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Recap of Auerbach chat at NBA.Com
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And why not check out http://celtics.rivals.com while you're at it?
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NBA.Com has been hosting chats with Celtics personalities all week long, in
conjunction
with the re-launch of its official Boston Celtics site
... Now, the granddaddy of them all makes the
leap into cyberspace, as legendary coach and general
manager Arnold "Red" Auerbach takes
questions from fans online!
This living icon of Celtic Pride has just completed
his online chat, and here now is a brief recap of
what he had to say :
Names winning his first NBA championship as the
defining moment of his career - he remembers
sitting in the locker room afterwards thinking "God,
isn't this a great feeling, being the coach of the
greatest basketball team in the world?"
Actually doesn't think there's much of a difference
between the NBA of the 1940s and 50s with
the NBA of today ("When I coached we used the fast
break, used a lot of pressing defense ... the
only difference is not in the talent, [but] that
there's more of them").
Keeps in contact with every single player that ever
played for the Celtics when he was there
("when I had my 80th birthday party in Boston, all of
the players came; it was a memorable
night").
Promises that the "Celtics are going to come back";
considers owner Paul Gaston to be a real
"fan of the game" (what about Bird?), and with him and
Pitino as coach he thinks the team will be
"on its way".
A fan asks if the great Celtics teams of the 60s
could beat the Chicago Bulls of the 90s, to
which Red replies "if anyone could do a decent job on
Michael Jordan, it's [John] Havlicek; he's
bigger, he's quicker, he's a great athlete who never
got tired".
Yes, one of my questions answered!!!
"What was it like naming Bill Russell as your
successor, considering that he was the first
African-American coach in NBA history?"
"Certainly. You see, Bill Russell had told me he would
prefer not to play for another
coach at this time, so he tried to persuade me to stay
on, and he called my wife to try to
persuade me to stay. But I couldn't, with so many jobs
to do. So I figured, 'Who better to
motivate Bill Russell than Bill Russell?' ... "
When making personnel decisions, Red always looked
for "ability, upside, and potential". Since
he had no scouts or assistants during his tenure as
head coach, Auerbach had to rate all of these
things simply by "watching them and trying to get a
read on them" (he drafted Paul Westphal just
because of what he saw of his game on TV).
Was not surprised that Larry Bird resigned as head
coach of the Pacers ("He's a man of great
tenacity and integrity; when he says something, he
means it").
Woo hoo! Another one of my questions answered by the
master!
"Who was you favorite player as a coach?"
"Well, no. Everybody I had, they had their own
personalities ... I appreciated the
smartness of my players. I would ask them for
opinions. We would discuss things
individually, and so forth. A lot of coaches want to
show that they're the boss, and they're
autocratic. I don't mean this as ego, but I didn't do
things that way. I would go to Cousy or
Russell or Havlicek and ask for their opinions. I
respected their intelligence".
Thinks that Rick Pitino is a "very knowledgable and
a great motivator", but "you can't make
chicken salad out of chicken feathers" (!); the team
needs some help with a new rebounder ... I
guess he doesn't have much faith in Moiso or Battie?
Says that there's very little loyalty left in the
NBA, pointing to the Knicks' recent efforts to unload
Patrick Ewing ("it's all about money or the salary
cap"); the Celtics were a family and everyone
keeps in touch, even today.
A fan asks "How would Bill Russell handle Shaquille
O'Neal?", to which Red replies "The real
question would be 'How would Shaq handle Bill
Russell?'" (yeah!) ...
Lists Shaq, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Allen
Iverson as players he would like to have a
chance at coaching.
Thinks that money issues ("if you win, and then a
guy is offered five million dollars more from
another team, he's going to leave") and injuries ("how
many championships would Chicago have
won if Jordan went down?") will prevent any future
dynasties in the NBA like the ones the Celtics
had.
Says it was "beautiful" watching Russell and Wilt
Chamberlain play against each other - "the
finesse and quickness of Russell versus the power and
relative quickness of Chamberlain".
Names Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Bill Russell,
Michael Jordan, and Kevin McHale as a "pretty
good" starting five ... But tells us not to forget
about Oscar Robertson, Shaq, Jerry West, Cousy,
Chamberlain, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when naming the
best players in NBA history.
Thinks Vince Carter is spectacular, "like Doctor J";
sometimes he gets a little TOO spectacular,
but Red seems confident that he will blossom into a
great NBA player.
Says that the Celts "only" won sixteen
championships, so he'd like to get one more in his
lifetime ("light up one last victory cigar", as he
puts it).
Thanks everyone for joining in the chat, and says
that he hopes "Celtics fans stay Celtics fans".
Alessandro
alessan420@hotmail.com
celtics.rivals.com
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