If I owned the Celtics....

[Mark Piotrowski <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's what I would do if I owned the Celtics this summer:

1.  Fire Chris Wallace -- I agree with Joe H. that you can't whine 
about the past (and also don't think that by saying that he was in 
any way giving the BDT a free pass).  Wallace's tenure hasn't been 
completely bad but the 2001 draft and the Baker trade I think are 
mistakes, plain and simple.  He's shown more bad than good in my book.

2.  Go full throttle after Larry Bird as GM -- this isn't blind 
adoration. Bird -- as we all know -- is as good a basketball mind as 
there is.  I think from a business standpoint its a good move too for 
the new owners -- but I don't know if Larry is interested in being a 
employee (as opposed to part-owner) of the C's.  But i would try.

2a.  If you can't get Bird, go after another ex-player, maybe even 
someone who hasn't been GM before.  Look at the jobs Dumars, McHale, 
I. Thomas (who was also doing a good job in Toronto before being 
forced out), heck even Vandeweghe are doing.  And don't forget that 
Jordan was doing IMO a good rebuilding/retooling job with a pretty 
sad Wizards team before coming back.  And then you have Jerry West.

I think there is something to be said for the talent-evaluation 
skills of people who could play NBA basketball and play it well -- as 
opposed to scrubs like Randy Whitman & ML Carr (although I've always 
thought he got a little bit of an unfair rep.  I think he was 
purposely taking one for the team.  I mean you have to give him 
credit, he got us Antoine Walker for Eric Montross and a pick that 
begot Samaki Walker (IIRC)).  I'd like to think that the Elgin 
Baylors of the world are the exception to this rule.  Of course 
people like Wallace or Greg Popovich have been working at this all 
long enough to spot talent.  But I think its an uneven ability. 
Ex-players like Bird, McHale, Dumars, Thomas (Hell, why not just hire 
anyone from the 86-88 Eastern conference finals) see things that 
others can't see because they've been there, done that.

Being a GM doesn't require the same motivational skills that being a 
coach does.  Which is why Magic might have been a good GM, but 
couldn't coach.  And why scrubs who might be bad GMs -- like Rick 
Carlise and Doc Rivers (who I guess you couldn't call a scrub, but 
wasn't even in Vandeweghe's class as a player), are good coaches.

Tomorrow:  What I would do if I was Larry Bird or the Celtics GM 
(like anyone cares... ;-)