Bulpett: Rich Geeks Say Management Is Safe

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, the present management has done a fantastic job, LOL.
Thanks to Jaims for an apt term describing these yahoos.
Someone better tell these clueless guys you can't run a sports teams
like a
regular business. You've got to Cubanize (Rich Crazy Owner + Quality GM)

for the most success....

And no, they're not bringing in a PG.

New owners: Staff safe

by Steve Bulpett
Saturday, September 28, 2002


In the midst of the press conference introducing the Celtics' new
owners, incoming co-managing partner Stephen Pagliuca pointed from the
gym floor to the balcony, where some extremely interested observers
leaned on a railing.

Head coach Jim O'Brien, assistants John Carroll and Lester Conner,
general manager Chris Wallace and personnel director Leo Papile came to
work yesterday completely unaware of what was afoot. Pagliuca said the
new group was very pleased to be inheriting the hoop staff.

``Great job, guys. We're looking forward to an even better job next
year,'' he said at The Sports Authority Center in Waltham, removing any
specter of major changes just four days before the start of training
camp.

That was the only nod to the future by Pagliuca and Wycliffe Grousbeck
that came with specificity. The other pressing issue for Celtics fans -
whether the new owners will be willing to spend over the luxury tax
threshold for talent - (e.g. would they have paid to keep Rodney
Rogers?) - was answered in generalities.

``We're going to compete and win,'' said Grousbeck when presented with
the tax query. ``We have run businesses in the past and we are
investment professionals, but we are here to compete and win.

``We're going to do what's required to have the team long-term
competitive. As the Red Sox have shown with Fenway, you can't go crazy.
You need to have a financial footing. But we are here to win.''

Pagliuca was almost Gaston-like in his response.

``We're going to try to put the best team possible on the field,'' he
said. ``I think most of the strong franchises that you've seen are
actually franchises that are well-run, so I don't think those things are
antithetical. I think you can have a well-run, fiscally sound team and
also put a great product on the court - and that's what we're going to
do here.''

Current chief operating officer Rich Pond, who may have negotiated
himself out of a job in aiding the sale, doesn't believe the basketball
product is in for alteration.

``I don't think they'll change anything,'' Pond said. ``The reason that
I think they're interested in this team is because it's so well-run on
both sides of the equation. The business is run well and, obviously, the
basketball team has been run well.

``I wouldn't expect dramatic changes from what you've seen in the past.
You've got to run this with a sense of the bottom line. You can see that
across the league. Almost every team now pays attention to the bottom
line. I expect they'll continue that.''

According to Wallace, there's not much a new group can do to change the
sneakered scenery at this point.

``It's business as usual right now on the basketball operations side of
the Celtics,'' he said. ``We're preparing for training camp on Tuesday,
trying to get another big man in for camp, intent on getting off to a
good start in camp and getting five newcomers fully integrated in our
team.

``The team is as it is, going forward. We've got our 12 guys under
contract, and we're bringing some players in to participate in camp. The
only thing you can do to change up the team from this point on is to
make trades. I mean, there are really no people out there of consequence
to sign as free agents. This is basically your team, as it is with
everybody else in the NBA.''

The no-surprises notion took a hit when the secret kept even from the
basketball staff crept into their offices yesterday afternoon.

``We came in (yesterday) and we heard something was going to occur,''
said Wallace. ``Hey, I've been in this business a long time. Change is
the nature of the beast in the NBA, and I've been through this on three
other occasions.''