Does 6 pts game = $3.3 million?

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ainge, Celtics up offer to McCarty

by Steve Bulpett
Friday, July 18, 2003







Someone pull Tommy Heinsohn in from the ledge. Walter may not be lost just
yet.




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The Celtics have decided to raise their offer to multitasking free agent
Walter McCarty. The original plan had Walter slotted at the veteran minimum,
but yesterday the club proposed a three-year deal totaling roughly $3.5
million. The third year is the player's option.

``We met with Walter today,'' said head of basketball operations Danny Ainge.
``Jim (O'Brien) and I met with him and I think we had a good meeting. We made
an offer, but I don't want to get into it.

``Nothing happened on it. We don't know anything. We probably won't know
anything until next week. But we felt good about it. We just met in Jim's
office and went over some things, and we all came away feeling a lot better
about the situation.''

While McCarty does feel better after believing the club wasn't going to move
off its minimum offer for a player of seven years' experience ($876,000, of
which the Celts would have to pay just $688,679 with the rest picked up by the
league), he sees room for improvement and is not ready to jump at the deal.

``I wish it was more, but it was good to see them make some movement,'' said
McCarty. ``They're trying to make things work, and I can't ask for anything
more than that. I'm just going to wait a couple of days and see what happens.
I'm not going to make any quick decisions. I'm going to talk with Danny a
little more and talk with some other teams a little more.''

Other clubs are still in the picture for McCarty, and it looked like he was a
good bet to land in Orlando before the Magic were denied salary cap relief for
Grant Hill's ankle injury. But while the Orlando situation still could come
back into play, it is fair to assume that the most comfortable spot for
McCarty is in Boston. In addition to his strong position in the community, he
would continue to play for a coach who has worked with him since college and
who doesn't hesitate to use him in important situations.

``Me and Obie have been together a long time, and he knows what I can do,''
McCarty said. ``And I think Danny's been great through this whole process. I
think he's going to be really great for the team. Those are the pluses. Boston
is a great place to play. But I have to take a little time and see if there's
anything better out there for me.''

Asked if it was a relief that the option of returning to the Celtics was now
more prominent for him, McCarty replied, ``I don't know if it's a relief. I'm
still not completely happy with the offer. But I know they're in a tough
situation. I know they really can't do anything better than this unless
something changes with their salary cap. It's the situation. It's just
business.''

While sources say the Celtics were fairly well set on offering just the
minimum, Ainge said he was just negotiating (even though McCarty could have
been gone Wednesday had the right offer come along from another club).

Ainge explained the change in his offer by saying, ``Because we don't
negotiate in the papers and I don't throw out my best offer the day that you
ask me how much I'm going to offer somebody. Never believe what's on the
surface.''

The Celtics are also still talking to John Wallace. The free agent forward had
lunch with Ainge and O'Brien and toured the team's practice facility
yesterday.

``That's an option we have,'' said Ainge.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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