Re: Last night

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

> ---------- Initial message -----------
> Date    : Wed, 16 Oct 2002 19:42:15 -0400
> Subject : Re: Last night
> 
> Wallace is a con artist and part of the management 
problem.
> 
> DanF 


Hi Dan:

FWIW I was talking about this very subject with Josh O. 
on the PATH train back to lower Manhattan after the game.

We mentioned some of the names off Chris Wallace's junk 
pile like Bruce Bowen, Adrian Griffin, Shammond Williams 
not to mention guys he liked and/or tried to bring in 
like Michael Curry, Alvin Williams and even Jermaine 
O'Neil and Ben Wallace (who Pitino cut in favor of the 7-
footer Eric Riley). There's also Tony Battie (when he 
was "El Busto") and the long-term interest in Rodney 
Rogers prior to the Joe Johnson trade. 

There is sufficient talent and draft picks on NBA rosters 
for many teams to conceivably win, but most of the low-
rent guys listed above have become starters on teams that 
actually won last season, and/or overachieved.

Josh said that CW would be the ideal GM on a small 
market, low budget team. I agree with that. Not every guy 
gets the chance to be GM for a Cuban or Paul Allen. You 
can't hold EVERYTHING against him.

But now Chris Wallace has kind of broken the pattern and 
picked up a max-contract player: one that the coach 
initially didn't want. The My Cousin Vinnie situation 
alone is what will make or break CW's career as Celtics 
GM. Its not like Vin has a contract that Wallace can turn 
around and trade. So let's make him happy, starting 
tonight.

My next comment is purely speculation, but considering 
that 1) secret negotiations were reportedly underway for 
several months on the Celts sale; and 2) that even Pond 
Scum (so he claims) tried to convince Gaston at the last 
minute to raise the bid for Rodney Rogers; and 3) that CW 
made it clear in our conversation and to the media that 
Boston won't be spending 1 million on a veteran 12th man 
to fill in for Kedrick, I can't help wondering if the new 
owners didn't make luxury tax avoidance a condition of 
sale. 

After all, these guys just aren't that wealthy. With the 
exception of the dad, these guys are young partners in 
investment firms. I'm amazed they can even write a 360 
million dollar check without taking out big loans.

Next year, our dusty "veteran's exception" (or whatever 
its called) is expected to rise to 5 million. 

That's enough to attract a starting point guard or elite 
sixth man, particularly if Boston seems like a team on 
the verge of something special. 

But do you think the new owners will spend the money in a 
quest for the 17th banner? I want to be hopeful, of 
course.

After the Baker trade, Boston actually had even more room 
to sign Rogers and slide in below a loose interpretation 
of the luxury cap. But they were under firm instructions 
not to do so. Why? It wasn't going to be Gaston's payroll 
anymore.

I can understand why the bidders would want to block 
Gaston from going on a spending spree prior to the sale, 
but all that Air Wyc and Il Pagliaci needed to do was 
pick up the newspaper to see what a piddling amount we 
were offering Rodney Rogers, and which side Boston media 
and public sentiment came down on the issue.

My hope is that (if the option isn't closed yet) the 
Wycless and Il Pagliaci will still reach out to the Bird 
and his sugar daddy. 

Larry Bird is too competitive to care more about the 
bottom line than the Celtics franchise and the city of 
Boston. We'll always know he is trying his hardest, even 
within financial constraints.

And I'm sure Bird has the "business sense" that past 
owners have failed to grasp...namely that when it comes 
to one particular "small market" sports franchise 
town, "if you build it (a winning team) we will come". 
That's how you make money in Boston. We're freaking 
obsessed with sports. These teams are part of my civic 
identity. My sister and I lived in Cambridge, MA, with 
all kinds of people who normally could not possibly care 
about "jocks" and sports, yet they followed the 80s 
Celtics and Red Sox just as we did. That's just how it is 
up there.

Joe H.


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