Re: Bird

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

    Anyway, I'm excited about it. I'd love to see the line of former Celtics
    restored in some manner. That ended with Pitino, and there isn't a strong
    Celtic presence in the management team now. Red is a figurehead. It would be
    nice to have someone involved in building the team who understands what has
    made the Celtics successful over the years.>>Mark Berry

Don't we all.  I think Obie deserves respect for pulling these guys together after the
Pitino whirlwind, but he's also part of the culture the followed Gaston--including
M.L. Carr's charade and then the hype over RP and his many coaches, facilities and
perks.  The team has lost it's Celtic ties, and Obie's tainted with the idea that he's
not an accomplished coach, so his style of management is by making deals with the
players and bringing in veterans that realize that their career depends on playing the
coach's game, not demanding and pouting for exposure.

Obie inherently has those two things going against him--dealmaking with the players,
and inability to develop rookies.  Does anybody think JJ and Forte will be busts?  I'm
sure they'll be serviceable players and contribute to their teams.  With two draft
picks in the first round coming in we fans should expect some yield from the crop, but
have been conditioned to think that we'll dump the guys rather than see value.  It's
hard to believe that the new owners aren't pretty familiar with the last five years of
Wallace's work, and the inability of Obie to get something out of the rookies.

Whether they are basketball-savvy or not, the owners have to see improvement on all
fronts, not just wins and playoff games.  This team has been stocked with talent and
money has been spent, so the wins, the development and the attitude all have to be
working much better than just last year's showing for the coach and GM to keep their
jobs.