Re: Where do the C's go from here?

["John Lyell" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>]

I read where something like 27 of the last 45 are on the road. This makes
our pick look very promising.  We could end up winning less than 30. I also
read that the max the Warriors can offer Marc Jackson is $4M, so unless he
does a John Amaeche and show some loyalty he will be off to the highest
bidder.

John


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexander Wang" <awang@MIT.EDU>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 4:15 PM
Subject: Where do the C's go from here?


> Right now, it seems that the Celtics are in a precarious position. The
> primary decision maker has left and things are now being run by Wallace
and
> O'Brien, who both have uncertain futures. I think there's a danger that
> they'll make short term moves in an effort to hold onto their jobs. In my
> mind, these would just be patches to try to keep a sinking ship above
> water. I'd rather not see anything like this.
>
> My top preference is the same as just about everyone else's: the "Bird and
> the Billionaire" scenario. There are several nice things about having a
> ludicrously rich owner. The first is that you can basically ignore your
> past mistakes. If you paid Potapenko $30M and he now stinks, so what? The
> second is that you can throw money at poorer teams to create favorable
> trades. Just add $3M each time you want to upgrade your 9th-12th man and
> soon you have a nice, deep team of overpaid players. And you can take on
> other team's mistakes too, like Shawn Kemp. The third is that free agents,
> your own and others, see you as an attractive destination, because you'll
> overpay, lavish them each with their own coach, fly them on a dream plane,
> etc. So while spending your way to victory is not exactly the proudest way
> to win, it's probably the surest.
>
> But with or without the billionaire, Bird is the best option. His
legendary
> status would give him a huge reprieve from the vicious Boston media and
the
> boobirds. He'd have the ability to take a long term view on the team,
which
> is what I think we need at this point. He's shown that he's willing to
> delegate to other capable people also. Donnie Walsh seemed to imply that
he
> would come to Boston to work for Bird, and he's certainly done an
excellent
> job building for the long term with Indiana.
>
> That's the dream scenario. But let's say that can't happen because of the
> friction between Bird and Gaston. You have to start with a new president
> before you decide on a new coach. Danny Ainge practically volunteered for
> the job, and he's not a bad choice in my mind. He talked about exploring
> the option of dealing Walker and I'm in agreement with him there (more on
> that later). As for the new coach, my first thought is John Thompson. Yes,
> he was a college coach. But he also played in the NBA, for the Celtics. I
> think that may give him some credibility with NBA players that Pitino may
> have lacked. In addition, he's produced some All-Star centers in Mutombo,
> Mourning, and Ewing. Acquiring and developing a quality center, probably
> through the draft, is where I'd start.
>
> I've been thinking about the structural problems with this team and I'm
now
> in agreement that a major overhaul is necessary, especially with new
> management coming in. I've argued for Walker as the best player in the
> "Walker vs Pierce" debates. But if you're blowing up the team, I think you
> keep Pierce. Walker is multitalented and has great potential but creates a
> structural problem with your team because of his defense and his ambiguous
> position in the same way that Iverson does. As a result you have to build
> in a certain way around him if you want to succeed. If you're going to
> rebuild the team almost from scratch, you have more flexibility with
Pierce
> than with Walker.
>
> If this draft is as big as everyone is predicting, then the future of the
> franchise for the next 10 years could depend on it. I hate to be thinking
> about draft position less than halfway into the season. But it's starting
> to look like we could be drafting quite high, with 9 more road games than
> home games left and most of the games against the West still remaining to
> be played. Getting a dominant big man would change everything.
>
> Alex
>
>