Gaston & signifying nothing

[bird <birdwl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Perhaps the revisionists who want to absolve Paul Gaston of all blame 
in regards to hampering the Celtics in recent years in the holy name of 
"fiscal sanity" might want to give at least as much weight to Travis 
Best's actual statements as they do to Obie's "we really don't need 
you" jab.  Best said the biggest reason he went to Miami is because 
they offered more money -- the C's "wouldn't budge" on upping their 
offer.  And why was that?  Because former Sun King Gaston was all about 
avoiding the (possible) luxury tax, plain and simple.

The only real argument I've heard so far is that Wallace and Co. could 
have chosen not to give Wallah his money and used it to up the offer to 
Best.  That has some merit, but they know what they're getting with 
Wallah, a guy who they can plug into 3 or even 4 positions in case of 
injury, a guy the other guys really like.  And I'm not sure if this is 
correct, but doesn't only a portion of Wallah's salary count towards 
the cap because he's a veteran?  Again, not positive about that, so I'm 
not sure if it applies.

(On an unrelated note, I'm sick and tired of all the jealous ranting 
about Paul Pierce, and the doom-and-gloom sturm und drang around here.  
It's a whole lot of sound and fury, to my mind.  I'm taking a few weeks 
off, perhaps I'll just lurk until the start of real games, when 
hopefully more of the folks who contribute posts of actual substance 
return from their offseason slumber.  The one good thing all you 
"sky-is-falling"-types always do for me each summer is make me feel 
more optimistic about the upcoming season, which goes against character 
for me.  But right about now I'm about as optimistic as possible, and 
I'm starting to get grumpy.  Time for a Celts list siesta.)

Bird