Re: Eagle Tribune: Time For Larry Legend

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Very mysterious indeed.
Ray

Celtic4Hire@aol.com wrote:

> Ray,
> I think you have said almost exactly every point this guy has said in
> the last couple of weeks. And only you think Simmons is actually a
> somebody worth quoting. You sure you aren't Mr. Tomase?....<g>
>
> DJessen33
>
>
>
>> <Lawrence Eagle Tribune
>>
>> Sunday, January 5, 2003
>> Time for Larry Legend's return
>> John Tomase
>> Staff writer
>>
>> Celtics ownership mercifully changed hands this week. The first
>> order of
>> business for Wycliffe Grousbeck and Co. should be simple:
>>
>> Clean out Chris Wallace's office and make room for Larry Bird.
>>
>> The former Celtics legend is a man without a team after getting shut
>> out
>> of the Charlotte expansion sweepstakes. The current Celtics GM is a
>> nice
>> guy who has inexplicably received a free pass in the media and with
>> the
>> fans despite mauling the 2001 draft and Vin Baker trade.
>>
>> Bird's already a Hall of Fame player. He was on his way to being a
>> Hall
>> of Fame coach. Does anyone doubt he'd make like Jerry West in the
>> front
>> office?
>>
>> If that means Wallace must go, so be it. Were he GM of the Red Sox,
>> he
>> would have been fired long before he had time to hamstring the
>> organization with Baker's monstrosity of a contract. That baby's
>> going
>> to be leaking carcinogens into the front lawn for the next four
>> years.
>>
>> The evidence against Wallace is damning. And that's even if he's let
>> off
>> the hook for the entire Rick Pitino Era, when Wallace held the title
>> of
>> GM, but Pitino called the shots.
>>
>> That means we won't hold the GM accountable for the Travis Knight
>> signing, the Chauncey Billups-Ron Mercer 1997 draft, the failure to
>> select Tracy McGrady in the 1997 NBA draft, the subsequent trade of
>> Billups for Kenny Anderson, the botched Danny Fortson trade, the
>> ludicrous Walter McCarty, Vitaly Potapenko and Tony Battie contract
>> extensions, or the Jerome Moiso draft pick, to name a few. That's a
>> lot
>> to ignore.
>>
>> When you get right down to it, Wallace has had almost nothing to do
>> with
>> the Celtics' semi-return to prominence. It takes two stars to win in
>> the
>> watered down NBA, and Wallace deserves credit for neither of
>> Boston's.
>>
>> Antoine Walker is an M.L. Carr draft pick, and a lemur could have
>> selected Paul Pierce at No. 10 in 1998. Who else were the Celtics
>> going
>> to pick? Bonzi Wells? Nazr Mohammed?
>>
>> Wallace has done more harm than good since Pitino stepped down on
>> Jan.
>> 8, 2001. And Bird has merely turned around franchises as a player
>> and
>> coach. Executive is next on his list.
>>
>> It's doubtful Bird would have overseen the colossal failure that was
>>
>> Boston's 2001 draft. The Celtics owned the 10th and 21st picks and
>> also
>> had the option of taking Denver's first rounder, thanks to the 1999
>> trade that sent Ron Mercer to the Nuggets for Danny Fortson and Eric
>>
>> Williams.
>>
>> Denver's pick was lottery protected. The Celtics couldn't take it if
>> it
>> was in the top five in 2001, top three in 2002, or No. 1 overall in
>> 2003. They had to use it by 2004, when there were no restrictions.
>>
>> The Celtics, inexplicably, took the pick in 2001, with the Nuggets
>> slated to pick 11th. The Nuggets are to the NBA Lottery what ... the
>>
>> Nuggets are to the NBA Lottery. They're the standard for this kind
>> of
>> incompetence. Their crapulence can't be overstated.
>>
>> It seemed a safe bet the Nuggets wouldn't choose worse than 11th in
>> the
>> next three years. But that didn't stop Wallace. He took the pick,
>> then
>> convinced junior college player Kedrick Brown not to work out for
>> other
>> teams so Boston could select him 11th.
>>
>> Only problem is, the Celtics didn't foresee Arkansas forward Joe
>> Johnson
>> slipping to the 10th pick. Instead of taking a badly needed big man
>> like
>> Vladimir Radmanovich or Troy Murphy at 10, as they had originally
>> planned, they took Johnson.
>>
>> Brown and Johnson play the same position, but neither plays it as
>> well
>> as budding All-Star Richard Jefferson, whom the Celtics bypassed
>> twice
>> in a row, allowing him to slip to the Nets.
>>
>> So the draft was already a mess when the 21st pick arrived. The
>> Celtics
>> passed on French point guard Tony Parker and assist machine Jamaal
>> Tinsley to take North Carolina guard Joe Forte.
>>
>> Forte wore a Lakers jersey at a Celtics practice and a Mickey Mouse
>> shirt on the bench. He was the definition of useless, a mediocre
>> shooting guard in a point guard's body.
>>
>> Parker, conversely, stepped in at age 19 to start at point guard for
>> the
>> Spurs, one of the best teams in the West.
>>
>> Wallace then had the audacity to label Forte, "Red's pick," in
>> reference
>> to octogenarian Red Auerbach, instead of shouldering the blame
>> himself.
>>
>> Ugh. And for the record, the Nuggets currently own the worst record
>> in
>> basketball. The Celtics could have been looking at the second pick
>> in
>> the draft. Sigh.
>>
>> That brings us to the oft-panned Vin Baker deal. Kenny Anderson's $9
>>
>> million salary, an albatross for so many years, finally had value.
>>
>> The Celtics could keep Anderson on the books for the final year of
>> his
>> deal and use the slot to woo a free agent like Darius Miles this
>> off-season, or they could deal Anderson to a team hoping to open cap
>>
>> space to make a run at Tim Duncan or Jason Kidd.
>>
>> About the only way they could screw it up would be to bring in a
>> contract worse than Anderson's that still had three or four years
>> left.
>> But how many of those guys were out there? Vin Baker, Anfernee
>> Hardaway,
>> Damon Stoudamire. That was about it.
>>
>> But the Celtics looked at Baker's four years and $56 million,
>> realized
>> they would leave themselves zero flexibility during Pierce and
>> Walker's
>> prime, and pulled the trigger anyway.
>>
>> Baker has been a bust so far, a poor fit for Jim O'Brien's system
>> and a
>> shell of the player who was an automatic 20-10 five years ago.
>>
>> Wallace defends this deal by noting Shammond Williams came aboard as
>>
>> well and has proven productive. That's great. But Williams becomes a
>>
>> free agent after the season. And thanks to Baker, the better
>> Williams
>> plays, the less likely Boston will be able to keep him.
>>
>> Wallace's two best deals would be trading Knight to the Lakers for
>> Tony
>> Battie in 1999, as well as netting Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk at
>> the
>> trading deadline last year for Joe Johnson and filler.
>>
>> But even this aren't exactly highlighting material for the resume.
>> Battie is what he is -- a maddeningly inconsistent big man who has
>> outperformed the maxed-out Baker.
>>
>> While the other deal helped the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference
>>
>> finals, it wouldn't have been necessary had the Celtics drafted
>> someone
>> who could have cracked their rotation. Someone like Jefferson.
>>
>> The jury's still out on Brown thanks to injuries, but with Rogers
>> departing via free agency, all the Celtics have to show for what
>> could
>> have been the No. 1 pick in next year's draft is Delk, a backup
>> point
>> guard.
>>
>> ESPN's Bill Simmons, one of Wallace's most outspoken critics, thinks
>>
>> he's the worst GM in the NBA. His moves don't do much to dispel that
>>
>> notion.
>>
>> Bird's stated goal is to run a team. The only thing keeping him out
>> of
>> Boston in the past was the presence of owner Paul Gaston. That's no
>> longer an issue.
>>
>> The Celtics' new owners say they're committed to Wallace, who
>> received a
>> contract extension last year. Here's hoping they come to their
>> senses.
>>
>> Wallace had his chance. He failed. It's time to bring back a
>> legend.>