Re: [Celtics' Stuff -"...there are really no people out there...to sign as free agents...."

[JB <jimmetz@xxxxxxx>]

> http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists/buly09282002.htm
>
> New owners: Staff safe
>
> by Steve Bulpett
> Saturday, September 28, 2002
>
	(excerpts from the above article)

>

> Grousbeck:

> ``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:
> ``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.''
>
>
> Pond:
> ``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.''
>
  Wallace
> ``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.''
>
> 		**********************
	
	All the cliches, all the  same crap. We have new owners, but just like 
George Orwell's  book; "Animal  Farm," will we  have trouble telling 
the pigs from the farmers?
	It was either myself or Lance, who first surmised that the odd 
financial structuring of the Baker deal, getting under the tax cap this 
season, but killing the franchise, financially, for the next four 
years,  seemed like a move, made on the eve of a sale. Dress up the 
daughter for the wedding; with "falsies," a wig, and lots of make-up, 
because when the groom sees the real goods, during the honeymoon, it 
will be too  late to back out.
	Could Wallace have made his statements, that there are no helpful free 
agents left, without checking with the new boys? If he did, he is 
stupider than I thought. If he was reflecting on their philosophy on 
the luxury tax, than we are in for the same old crap.
	Mark Jackson, Greg Anthony and Rod Strickland would  all make this 
team better, in an instant. So would Charles Oakley (now  that Gary 
Trent is gone); to address Michael Marlowe's concern about adding 
toughness.
	If I really wanted to win, I'd grab Strickland  and Oakley. I'd offer 
them a few hundred thousand over the minimum(which is more than they've 
been offered to date,) give them four hours to say yes or no, and look 
New jersey right in the eye!

	

		JB

	Unchain My Heart !