Heisler, Rightfully So, Blasts The Celtics

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'jm sure this will give the Pom Pom boys and gals a conniption,
but the truth is always frightening for those without a clue.....

LA Times
Mark Heisler:
The NBA
The Green Is Wearing Thin in Boston

Talk about karma: One day you're blowing cigar smoke in the world's face
and 40 years later, you're still inhaling it.

These are weird days for the Boston Celtics, who have what is supposed
to be a promising young team, with new ownership -- thankfully -- on its
way in.

Of course, it's taking a while for the new owners, venture capitalists
Wycliffe Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, to round up the $360 million, so
for another month or two, it's still Paul Gaston's team, and he's
running it on a shoestring budget.

The scouting staff has been pared down. NBA teams customarily stash
extra players on the injured list -- even the Clippers have three spares
for a total of 15 -- but the Celtics alone have 12. When Kedrick Brown
was out the first five weeks, they had 11.

In an irony anyone outside Boston would enjoy, the Celtics, who were
once a model of organization, not to mention braggadocio, are a muddle.
The operation Red Auerbach once ran with an iron hand, that took such
pride in its purity of purpose and "mystique," now steams aimlessly in
circles.

Gaston's one real initiative in 10 years of uninterested, absentee
tenure after his father, Don, handed him the team, was to hire Rick
Pitino, which seemed like a good idea at the time but turned into a
disaster.

Pitino made his many, frantic moves according to the dictates of his
pressing-style Ricky Ball, which meant he didn't need a big center, only
a mobile one like ... Travis Knight ... he thought.

On the bright side, after 3 1/2 seasons of looking more and more like
the crew in "The Caine Mutiny," with everyone knowing the captain was
unbalanced but unsure what to do about it, they were finally rid of
Pitino.

His successor was his assistant Jim O'Brien, who was personable, low-key
and didn't flaunt his ego, which was a welcome change. Unfortunately for
them, he was a Pitino disciple and, having gone so far down that road,
saw no choice but to keep going.

Worse, the Celtics had an amorphous, committee-style setup in which
O'Brien seemed to have as much say in trades and drafting as the people
in the front office, who were supposed to be in charge of the big
picture.

Still needing size, with three No. 1 picks in their first post-Pitino
draft of 2001, they used No. 10 for Joe Johnson, a wing player, which
was Paul Pierce's position ... No. 11 for another wing player, Brown ...
and No. 21 for a third, Joe Forte.

Then, during last season's swoop back to the top of the (lame) East,
they traded Johnson to Phoenix for Rodney Rogers, an impending free
agent, reportedly without a commitment from Gaston that he'd re-sign
him.

Of course, around that time, Gaston began talking to people who wanted
to buy the team.

Sure enough, come summer, the Celtics offered only $1 million a year and
Rogers went to archrival New Jersey for a modest three-year, $8-million
deal.

Then came their coup, sending Kenny Anderson, who had one year left on
his oversized contract, to Seattle for Vin Baker, who had four at an
average of $14 million.

An official on another team says that was a Gaston move, which he sold
to his basketball people, to trim $1 million from his payroll
immediately and increase the sale price, which would be set by a
formula, which multiplied projected revenues.

To the surprise of no one who'd seen Baker mope for the last three
seasons, Vin soon found a new home on the Celtic bench, which he now
leaves for 18 minutes a game, in which time he averages 5.4 points and
4.4 rebounds.

"We heard all the spin when the Celtics made the trade," the Boston
Herald's Gerry Callahan wrote, "and some of us, regrettably, swallowed
it whole: THIS, the Celts assured us, was not going to be the same
slacker who wore out of his welcome in Seattle. This Vinny was going to
be different from that Vinny, they said, and on that count, they were
right: This Vinny is worse....

"Thank you, Paul Gaston, you greedy, gutless, money-grubbing slug. Have
a nice life. Hope your new yacht sinks.

"Give Vinny this: At least he has to show his face to get his millions.
Gaston just sends his lawyers to collect his ill-gotten gains. If you're
a loyal Celtic fan and you would like to hear an explanation of the
Baker trade from His Highness, you're going to have to travel to Aspen
and try to find him in a lift line."

The Celtics remain contenders, but even if the new owners actually care,
they will have no cap room for years, low draft picks, no players anyone
wants, unless they break up their big two of Pierce and Antoine Walker.

On the bright side for Celtic fans, just as soon as Gaston finishes
selling off the parquet floor, the leprechaun, the retired jerseys and
the championship banners, they can have their franchise back.