Re: Other side of the Wallace argument

["Donald Liles" <dliles@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Folks,

The bottom line is that we have not had anyone making consistent 
wise basketball decisions for over a decade. Len Bias and Reggie 
Lewis were good draft picks certainly, Brian Shaw was as well. But 
look at those teams after the Big 3 retired, we were totally 
unprepared for moving on. Michael Smith (you know, the next Larry 
Bird), Jon Barry, Acie Earl? Montross? The drafting problems 
existed long before Moiso was drafted. 

Back when we had the big 3, we had the flexibility of being able to 
bomb out in the draft, we had players wanting to come to Boston. 
Or, we would pay the free agents or make some good trade to pick 
up a player here or there. 

Sure I was delusional back then thinking that Xman, Nique, Dee, 
Reggie, Dino, Derek Strong and others would keep us competitive. 
Sure Wesley, Fox and others were fun to cheer on, but they 
weren't decisions that worked. 

I know some are still ticked at the Pitino fire sale, trust me, I am 
still mad that they traded Danny for Pinckney and Lohaus. 
Pinckney was ok, but Brad had issues. Mind you, this is through 
the eyes of a big Danny Ainge fan.

But, then who would be a good choice? Financially the team is 
strapped, so even with a smart draft wise GM, we are essentially 
like an NCAA team on probation, we will not get out of our mess for 
a number of years. Sure, I would love to have Jerry West, or 
someone like that, but they probably would have to be acquainted 
with this year's 7th graders to be a good GM.

anyway, I am rambling...








Date sent:      	Tue, 07 Jan 2003 14:46:15 -0500
From:           	"Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
Subject:        	Re: Other side of the Wallace argument
To:             	"'celtics@igtc.com'" <celtics@igtc.com>

If you're going to go back to the Pitino days, then you also have to give
Wallce credit (blame) for the Potapenko and Anderson deals, the 1997 draft
disaster (Billups and Mercer, no McGrady), Travis Knight, Chris Mills for
McCarty/Jones, etc., etc., etc. If you believe Pitino's tenure was marked by
disastrous decisions, which it was, but are willing to give Wallace credit
for some of the moves (or rumored moves) that worked, then you have to give
him blame for those that didn't. Either way-whether you credit/blame Wallace
for all the bad moves when Pitino was here, or if you only count his track
record since Pitino left-he doesn't measure up well. The negatives far
outweigh the positives.

The truth is Antoine, Pierce, Battie, Eric Williams and McCarty all were
here when Pitino left. Wallace hasn't done much to add to that core. He
benefited from their maturation-a function of timing-while at the same time
he wasted the opportunity to add to the team and stripped some of the talent
already on the team.

My point is, any way you measure it, Wallace was a failure.

Mark

P.S. I just have to say something. Most of the long-timers know I live in
Columbus, Ohio. I'm an Ohio State grad, OSU football season-ticket holder
and huge fan-the Buckeyes and Celtics are my two sporting passions. I'm just
giddy right now. I was at the Fiesta Bowl Friday night and I'm still riding
high. This is why I'm so passionate about the Celtics. It is that kind of
moment that I'm waiting for. That's the reason I remained a fan through the
miserable 1990s. That's the reason I get frustrated and yet still fork over
the $150 every year for the NBA League Pass. Because I know that someday the
Celtics are going to have that same kind of season and give me that same
kind of feeling. I haven't stopped smiling since Friday. I'm sure it's how
you Patriots fans felt last year, although the passion for OSU football
around here should be more closely compared to Boston's passion for the Red
Sox. Imagine if the Sox won the Series... that's how I'm feeling. That's
what I want to feel about the Celts.


--- --- ---

Roy wrote, in response to Egg:

I disagree.  You could argue that every player from last years wildly
successful team (except Antoine) was aquired by Chris Wallace and that
he's not a coward/fraud of a GM.  Now that the team is on a losing
streak, he's getting insults that I definitely didn't hear last May.

My point is, He probably wants the Celts to succeed desperately, just
like us.

But he's fought through financial constraints, a coach/playingstyle that
wants specialist role players rather than some of the all around players
Wallace picked up at first.  His attempts at Pippin(in the beginning),
Jermaine Oneal, Nowitzki, Brown/Mashburn, Mercer, Rodgers,
Crawford/Robinson, were good ideas from a talent upgrade point of view.

If you're going to list all the bad moves (which I mostly agree with),
then also point out that our rotation of 7 defensive stoppers from last
year, and our decent defensive starters from this year were Wallace
guys.
Also, Bowen, Blount, Griffin and a bunch of successful players from his
Miami days, were other examples of good finds.