re: who to blame

[bird <birdwl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: "Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Now that it looks as if Rogers is a goner you can blame Gaston for being
> tight-fisted (I won't argue the point) but I agreed with McChesney than 
> and
> I think he's still correct - a LOT of the blame has to go on Wallace's
> shoulders.
>
> Wallace knew better than any of us the constraints he was working under. 
> He
> knew the trade could very well end up as two 1 rounders for Tony Delk of 
> all
> people - a player who is not as good as Strickland and without the 
> possible
> 'upside' of Forte. A bad draft made worse by a bad trade that could well
> spell mediocrity for years to come (how long is Delk's contract?).
OK, this is crazy.  You're blaming Wallace for Gaston's mistakes.  Given a 
reasonable owner, the trade nets the Celtics some good players.  Because 
the owner appears to be a tight-fisted moron, he will not pay those guys, 
even though the team has their rights, even for one year, even though he's 
worth more than what he'd pay by tenfold? twentyfold?  much more?  I don't 
know, and I don't care.  You're suggesting that Wallace be blamed because 
he knew Gaston was like this and so he could have done ... what, exactly?  
Get cheaper players?  What would that have accomplished?  Any team that 
*insist* on staying under the cap will not win the NBA.  This is almost 
worse than Donald Sterling, because with Sterling you know it's not even 
about winning.  I think Gaston wants to "piss on our leg and tell us it's 
raining" by saying it's about "winning" when it's really just about 
running a business for him.  Well, fine, go run some other kind of 
business, and sell the team to someone who wants to win.

As far as I can see, Wallace has done a reasonable decent job of it, 
though in hindsight, one might have preferred more out of the 
"three-picks-in-the-first-round" draft.  He made the best of it with the 
trade, and it's not his fault Gaston won't pay.  Possibly Wallace thought 
he could change Gaston's mind by getting players that can play and then, 
by the force of the team's performance, "force" Gaston to pony up the 
dough for the talent.  It was a good plan, if so.  I guess you could blame 
him for not realizing Gaston was as stupid as he clearly is, but that's a 
far cry from giving Wallace a "LOT of the blame".

Agreed about McChesney, though: you either agree with him or you don't, 
usually violently either way.

Bird