Re: Sore points, Jackie - how about deep lacerations and no points?

["James A. Hill" <jahill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It sounds to me that OB and Wallace sabotaged the T. Best negotiations not
Gaston.

1. Signing Waltah/comparable for more then they needed too.

2. This statement alone by OB would be enough reason to not sign even if
Boston had offered more $.

>Best said O'Brien told him he was comfortable going with the three guards
he
>had if Best didn't join them. "I said, `Fine,' but that's not very
appetizing in my eyes," said Best.

Sure, OB really wanted him with a comment like that.  "We want you, but
don't care if you come or not because we don't really need you and you may
not play much"?

I have faced the facts that this is OB and Wallace's "system", IMO, and they
have brought in the guys they want.  They are just blaming their
unconventional team structure on the "Salary Cap" so if they fail with this
system they can avoid the heat.  If they succeed then they have succeeded in
spite of the salary cap so they appear (maybe rightfully) brilliant.

It has been stated that Wallace submitted a 5 year plan.  I think that this
is it folks.  With the comeuppance of the current NBA style in the World
Games, it *may* be the right one for the times.

<Jim


''Antoine is young. He's in remarkable shape. He might have to find
ways to rest on the court. When we try to fast break, and he advances the
ball, he might have to take a blow coming back.


< Best said it was ''nip and tuck'' between Boston and Miami, but in the end
he took the $1.4 million and
a chance to play for Pat Riley, instead of the veteran minimum (a little
less
than $900,000), which was all
the handcuffed Wallace could offer. > - MacMullan

A mere $500,000 difference ... a difference which could have been addressed
by signing
another $349,458 min player like Wolkowyski instead of Walter at $762,435.

< ''But these guys will take more charges, and play better defense, and I
like the fact they can absolutely
drill the ball from the perimeter.'' > -  MacMullan

SWill is known more for being a team distraction and for being beaten out by
rookie
Earl Watson than for taking charges or putting out on D.  Delkbs defense
seems only
existent against short guards, and who knows about Bremer?
As for drilling the ball ... see below.

< ''Jim likes his guys to be able to shoot at that position,'' Wallace said.
''His mind-set is if you don't
shoot it, then nobody will defend you, and they'll double Pierce and Walker.
That eliminates a lot of
exceptional playmakers [like Rod] who would not put shooting at the top of
their lists of strengths.'' >
 - MacMullan

Career  FG%     3P%:
SWill   .414        .391
Delk    .405        .317
RStrick .457        .285
KA      .420        .346

As for Bremer, well he wasnbt even drafted in this yearbs second round.
But
our
BT had inside information on him ... the same annoying little inner voice
that
directed them to draft Kedrick and whispered that Sundov was a 3-point
threat.

Career  FG%     3P%:
Sundov  .420        .000  (0-5 in four NBA seasons)

< Best said O'Brien told him he was comfortable going with the three guards
he had if Best didn't
join them.
''I said, `Fine,' but that's not very appetizing in my eyes,'' said Best.
The flaw in it all was that Gaston was doing the tasting, and setting the
table for a profitable exit. >
- MacMullan

Were the latest flawed groceries that Wallace bought Gastonbs last gasp of
revenge knowing
he was selling the team,  or were they more a compilation of
Wallace/Obie/Papilebs best ideas
for 2002 after they had traded their best bargaining chip for the Baker
$$$$$
paralyzing contract?

Neggy
--------------------------------------------
Gaston's big score leaves a sore point
By Jackie MacMullan, Globe Columnist, 10/3/2002
I'm trying to think of something good to say about Paul Gaston. OK, here it
is: He sure can keep a secret. If word ever leaked out he was about to sell
the Celtics, the Commonwealth may have declared last Friday a state holiday.

As Gaston makes his hasty retreat, stuffing his already overflowing pockets
with piles of money, he leaves his basketball team with a lovely parting
gift: a backcourt that will play point guard by committee.

What a crime the Celtics were forced to tear apart a roster that got them
all
the way to the Eastern Conference finals last season. Do you know how hard
it
is to mesh personalities, abilities, and goals in today's NBA? Maybe if
Gaston ever went to a game, he would have understood that.

Then again, it wouldn't have mattered. He cares about one thing - making
money - so he casually shattered the momentum his young team had worked so
hard to build, all in the interest of the bottom line.

Instead of re-signing Rodney Rogers and adding veteran guard Travis Best,
which would have meant paying a luxury tax for only one season until Kenny
Anderson's deal was up, Gaston decreed Rogers must go and Best was an
unnecessary expense.

Rogers went to New Jersey, Best went to Miami, and the best-laid plans of
coach Jim O'Brien and general manager Chris Wallace went kaput. New Jersey,
which beat Boston in the conference finals, improved its depth, compliments
of the Celtics. Boston, meanwhile, is a question mark all over again.

Best, reached in Palm Beach, Fla., where the Heat are training, would have
every right to bemoan his bad timing. Shortly after he signed with Miami,
the
team announced Alonzo Mourning was out for the season with a kidney ailment.
Had he known, maybe he would have landed with the Celtics after all.

Best said it was ''nip and tuck'' between Boston and Miami, but in the end
he
took the $1.4 million and a chance to play for Pat Riley, instead of the
veteran minimum (a little less than $900,000), which was all the handcuffed
Wallace could offer.

''I thought I would have been a great fit there,'' Best said. ''But they
wouldn't budge. They just wouldn't budge.''
What choice do the Celtics have now but to put their best face on and insist
the lack of a proven veteran at the point is not an issue? O'Brien has
already said Antoine Walker will function as a ''point forward'' in the
offense, but considering he is already their best low-post threat, top
rebounder, and one of their most prolific scorers, isn't that asking a bit
too much?

''I guess I'm always concerned about wearing any player out,'' O'Brien
answered. ''Antoine is young. He's in remarkable shape. He might have to
find
ways to rest on the court. When we try to fast break, and he advances the
ball, he might have to take a blow coming back. But there's no doubt in my
mind he's up to the task.''

Understand one thing about Jim O'Brien. He doesn't waste time discussing
what
he doesn't have. He is only interested in looking forward, and so far his
point committee of Shammond Williams, J.R. Bremer, and Tony Delk has
impressed him.

''I don't think the point is the dilemma it's being made out to be,''
O'Brien
said. ''You look at our point guards, and you say, `Will they be able to run
the pick and roll as well as Kenny Anderson?' The answer is no, but there
aren't five guys in the league who run the pick and roll as well as Kenny.

''But these guys will take more charges, and play better defense, and I like
the fact they can absolutely drill the ball from the perimeter.''

The two leaders of this team, Walker and Paul Pierce, have also been
satisfied with what they've seen, but it's only been four days, so forgive
them if they are a little wistful about what might have been. While he was
in
Indianapolis for the world championships, Pierce talked daily with Best but
couldn't convince him to come to Boston for short money.

''In a perfect world, we'd have him,'' said Pierce. ''But he wanted to get
the best contract he could.
''There wasn't much I could say other than, `Play out this year with Miami,
and let's see what we can do next year.'''

Truthfully, the Celtics would be starting over a year from now at the point
anyway, when Anderson became a free agent. But it's too bad that process has
been moved up a year. The growing pains of the point by committee must now
be
absorbed by a team that thought its nucleus was intact for one more year.

''Right now, it's hard to say,'' Walker acknowledged. ''I`m going to take
the
high road and say these guys are going to get the job done. I believe it
after three practices, because those three guys have been shooting the ball
really well. But over the long haul, we'll have to wait and see.''

Veteran Rod Strickland remains in limbo, and his agent, Leon Rose, said his
client ''would keep an open mind'' to joining the Celtics if they were so
inclined. Wallace said that's unlikely.

''Jim likes his guys to be able to shoot at that position,'' Wallace said.
''His mind-set is if you don't shoot it, then nobody will defend you, and
they'll double Pierce and Walker. That eliminates a lot of exceptional
playmakers
[like Rod] who would not put shooting at the top of their lists of
strengths.''

So who is the leader in the point-by-committee clubhouse? While Walker
reports Delk ''is so much more relaxed'' this season, the player that has
the
coaching staff tittering is Williams, who came aboard from Seattle in the
Vin
Baker trade.
Williams is used to proving naysayers wrong. He came out of high school with
only one scholarship offer, from the University of Georgia - for band.
Apparently, at that time Williams played the drums better than the point.

Undaunted, he went to Fork Union Military Academy, earned a scholarship to
North Carolina, then joined cousin Kevin Garnett in the NBA when Atlanta
drafted him in the second round of the 1998 draft.

In four uneventful NBA seasons, Williams has averaged 14.4 minutes, 5.6
points, and 2.1 assists a game.
''I don't think I`m a question mark,'' said Williams. ''Maybe some people
do,
but they don't follow basketball.
''This is a great opportunity for me to show people what I am capable of
doing.''

Best said O'Brien told him he was comfortable going with the three guards he
had if Best didn't join them.
''I said, `Fine,' but that's not very appetizing in my eyes,'' said Best.
The flaw in it all was that Gaston was doing the tasting, and setting the
table for a profitable exit.

The Celtics are now left behind to serve the meal, and clean up after their
old boss - by committee, of course.
Jackie MacMullan's column appears every Thursday. Her e-mail address is
macmullan@globe.com.