quotes from Wyc Grousbeck during game

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ok, here are some highlights of what Grousbeck said during the second 
quarter of the game.  I replayed the tape, and quoted verbatim:

On being an owner of the Celtics:
"From the very beginning, I thought how we'd feel if we were in the 
playoffs, how we'd feel right before we went into them, and it's more 
exciting than I thought."

On the Celtics style of play:
"I love seeing people around the basket."

On Kedrick Brown:
"It seems like, when he got injured in the Fall, that would be the time to 
work someone in with easy plays...It seems to me, it's crunch time after 
January 1st, and it was tough to really work him into the system then."

On first round matchups:
"I like matching up against Philly or Indiana."

On taping ankles, Tommy's pet peeve:
"I've heard you mention that...they practice with their shoes untied."

On the playoff atmosphere and regular season games:
"I felt like we've had some playoff games this Spring, as we've been really 
fighting, cause we were teetering for a while...it's been pretty intense 
for the last month and a half."

On the most frustrating thing about the Celtics:
"You can't control it.  Well, you say, 'We've gotta pound it inyo the 
basket, but do we have the personnel to pound it in?'; you can't control 
the three-pointers, we go hot, we go cold..."

On the NBA as a business:
"It's run like a business, it is a partnership among the owners, but 
there's a lot of competition and friendly ribbing in the 
hallways.  Everybody's in it to win."

On international expansion overseas (paraphrased):
He said that the physical size and condition of the arenas made this 
extremely unlikely in the next several years.  There's been talk of an 
international division of five-six teams, but that's a long ways off.  He 
qualified his comments, but indicated that the NBA was pursuing Europe and 
China more than Mexico.

On the officials and physical play:
"They've (opposing players) been hacking Pierce all year."
"Corrine (Wyc's wife) e-mails Stu Jackson"

On his favorite games:
"We beat New York away, we beat Philly away, we beat Golden State away.  It 
was a great feeling--not that we're competitive or anything." (laughs)

On the draft:
"I see this as potentially the "Walker and Pierce era, and if we find the 
third major piece, we can go a long way."

"We've added four scouts since January, and two administrative people...we 
just added two scouts in Europe."

"Now, we've got two picks.  I wouldn't mind personally thinking about 
adding them together and trading up, but I'm not the guy to make...I'm 
trying to figure out who should make the call.  I know it's not me.  Steve 
Padliuca is doing a lot of the basketball stuff with the ownership."

He mentioned Milicic and "Baby Shaq", but does not consider himself a 
qualified scout.

He was also paying attention to the schedule, rattling off not only ours, 
but Philly's,  New Jersey's, and Indiana's.

At 10:32 AM 4/17/03 -0400, Kestutis Kveraga wrote:
>--- You wrote:
>Well then, this tells us two or three things:
>A) Wallace is gonzo.
>B) C's are trying to trade up.
>C) Ownership is clueless. What NBA/Basketball-based credentials
>does Steve Pagliuca possess to accurately evaluate personnel?
>
>These guys better get a real GM pronto before the draft.
>Ray
>
>"Belanger, Roger" wrote:
>
> > I watched the game and he did indeed make the statement. Struck me as
> > curious though, if Steve Pagliuca is making all the personnel decisions,
> > what the heck is Chris Wallace doing.
>--- end of quote ---
>
>I thought that statement was a good sign - the fact that Wyc did NOT say 
>it was
>Chris Wallace's decision to make. And, since Pagliuca has to be about a 100
>times smarter than Walrus and, unlike our GM, has actually played competitive
>basketball and finished college, it has to better. I'm not saying he's 
>great as
>a de facto GM. it's just that Wallace proved beyond any reasonable doubt that
>he is a horrible GM, and Pagliuca is still an unknown. It's better to have a
>guy with no credentials than one with  terrrible credentials.
>
>And yes, if Grousbeck said  last night that they're trying to trade up - which
>he did - then it would mean that....the Celtics are trying to trade up. In any
>case, it's another good sign. A third good sign is that he effortlessly 
>rattled
>off the names of the top *foreign* draft prospects, namely Milicic and
>Shortsianitis, which shows that he's at least paying attention. Do you think
>Thanksdad ever had any idea who the top draft prospects were (unless it was in
>polo)?
>
>Can anyone who listened to the entire conversation supply any other 
>interesting
>tidibits? The noise level in the house was a little too high at times for 
>me to
>hear all that Grousbeck had to say :)
>Kestas

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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