Re: The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com

["Greg Odegaard" <grodeg@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Because Josh is either too stupid or too stubborn, or both, to post this
directly, instead of continuing to wear his hypocrisy badge of honor with
such indifferent pride.  Here are the goods for those who don't have email
programs that allow links or worse don't have direct net access (imagine
Josh someone not so empowered as yourself).

Clearly Josh doesn't care about all of those that are so impacted.

I ask again Josh, why go to the trouble of running down WWR when you are
doing the same thing?

Enjoy...

SPORTS

Forget management credentials, Celtics new boss Danny Ainge is ready to . .
. Run the show

By MIKE FINE
The Patriot Ledger

Danny Ainge was a successful high school athlete, a star collegian and a
champion with the Boston Celtics. He went on to be a successful coach and
broadcaster, too.

But when it came time to pick a new director of basketball operations, what
were Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and the other Celtics owners thinking
when they went out and hired an inexperienced Ainge to run their basketball
operations?

Well, Ainge would like you to chew on this:

''Let me ask you a question,'' he said. ''What are management credentials? I
look at every single person that ever started in this job. What did they do?
I mean, what did Carroll Dawson do in Houston? What did Jerry West do? What
did Red Auerbach do? I know his success as a coach, but when I was coaching
in Phoenix I was in the mix. I was with two guys that I think have been very
successful in Brian Colangelo and Jerry Colangelo, and Dick Van Arsdale had
been in that business for a long time and I was right in there with them and
all the decision-making process and all the numbers. I learned a lot from
those guys.

''Quite honestly, I don't know what the credentials are. There are some
people who can do it better than others and I don't know what those things
are but, quite honestly, like so many sports fans, I've been a fantasy
general manager from the time I was about 8.''

There you have it. Ainge was a fantasy general manager. Really, though, the
Celtics new director of basketball operations has had a knack for sports
since he was a youngster, and not only because he managed to break in as a
Toronto Blue Jays infielder before moving on to the Celtics. Wherever he's
been he's been absorbing basketball knowledge. He had virtually no
experience as a coach - eight games as an assistant - before being named
head coach of the Phoenix Suns in 1996. He led the team to a 40-34 record
through the end of that season and finished his coaching career at 136-90
before stepping down on Dec. 13, 1999 to be with his family.

Ainge went into broadcasting, where he also excelled for TNT, and was
intrigued at the thought of joining the Celtics. He really stepped into it,
too, taking over a team that will be at least $10 million over the salary
cap next season - before signing rookies and free agents - and needs a good
revamping to achieve its goal of stepping up a level.

''In three-and-a-half years of coaching the most enjoyable time for me was
thinking about the roster and trying to put a team together,'' Ainge said.
''It's a lot more complicated today than five or six years ago and much more
complicated than when I was a player in the NBA just because of the luxury
tax and salary tax restrictions and base-year compensations.

''I know that the average person has no comprehension of what it entails,
and so many fans still look upon every transaction simply as who got the
better player (and don't factor in) the financial elements, the business,
the future implications and the future opportunities that may come from a
transaction that might not look very good today. Those kind of things
complicate matters from what I fantasized about being a general manager, but
I think that I'm looking forward to the challenge.''

Ainge immediately got to work when he accepted the job three weeks ago and
has spent significant time pondering significant changes. No player is
immune from his scrutiny. Not even the coaching staff has escaped.

''I think we can improve our roster,'' he said. ''We can improve our
coaching. We can improve our development and improve through the draft with
deals. So I think we can improve everything.''

But, improve Jim O'Brien and his staff?

''I mean do things better. Hey, this is not a knock on our coaching. I think
that's the same thing when I coached every year I could get better the next
year. I thought there were things I could do better. I talked to Jim O'Brien
in great detail and I think he feels the same way. I think that he feels
like they can do better. The main thing is no matter how well you coach you
have to have talent.''

Which is where Ainge comes in.

''I would say that it's mine and ownership's job,'' he said. ''You can't
have talent with certain restrictions, so you have to pay. Everybody knows
the Clippers have been unwilling to pay in the past and they've had a tough
time accumulating talent, but it's a fine line. It's ownership's money and
it's my job to pick the right guys. Within the budget right now I think we
can find some guys that can upgrade our talent level through the draft and
through free agency.''

Ainge says he doesn't plan to exercise the team's mid-level exception
option, which would cost $4.5 million at the outset, but because of luxury
tax considerations would actually cost more than four times that amount.

''If I use the four-and-a-half million-dollar exception for this year,''
Ainge said, ''the bottom line is $17 million out-of-pocket money, and so
that's just irresponsible. I know the fans don't care to hear about things
like that, but even George Steinbrenner wouldn't do it. He wouldn't pay
Roger Clemens $10 million a year if it meant it was going to be $40 million
out of pocket. (NBA commissioner) David Stern did a masterful job of trying
to give the owners protection against themselves and trying to cut back
payroll.''

So he's going to have to be creative, which is why he's been in the office
from eight every morning to 11 every night, at the same time ''trying to
figure out who needs what and what they may be drafting and trying to move
my family from Phoenix to Boston and I'm trying to set up a new cell phone
and banking circumstances and sell my car back in Phoenix and buy a car
here. That kind of stuff.''

Trades are a possibility. Free agent pickups are a possibility. And,
certainly, the draft will be critical to his success. Then there's the Vin
Baker horror show, a thorn in the side of GM Chris Wallace, who with player
personnel director Leo Papile continues to work with Ainge every day. Baker
remains a member of the team despite leaving the club midway through last
season. Ainge will have to deal with him.

''I'm working very well with Chris and Leo right now,'' Ainge said.

''I don't know which is more important. I think the draft, deals and
development are the three things you have to do to build a team and you
can't just build a team with two of them and you can't build a team with one
of them,'' Ainge said. ''The team is suffering right now because of bad
drafts. We've let guys go that could have helped us, so it's important that
we draft well.''

It's funny how Ainge seems to have come full circle, back to the town that
made him. Once, when he was traded to Sacramento in 1989, he claimed that he
would always feel like a Celtic. But that feeling quickly left him.

''When I was playing basketball in Portland and Phoenix and when I was
coaching Phoenix I never felt like a Celtic,'' he said. ''I felt like a
Phoenix Sun and I felt like Portland Trail Blazer, although when I retired,
even though I lived in Phoenix it was amazing to me as I traveled around the
world how everybody associated me with the Celtics. It's amazing to me how
often that occurred. I still have some of my Celtic memorabilia, but I'm not
tied to logos.

''Through my experience of traveling and even playing on different teams and
playing different sports, as I look back on my career I don't think of the
great Boston Celtics logo. I think of the people. To me, this business and
this profession is about people and not about logos. That's just my
opinion.''

Now that he's the boss, Ainge could even indulge himself. He could, after
all, retire his own number, a prospect that makes him cringe.

''Definitely not!'' he said. ''I know I could but I won't. The way I feel is
if my number deserves to be retired it would have been by now, so that will
not be a consideration as long as I'm in this position.''

Mike Fine may be reached at mikefine@ledger.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Ozersky" <jozersky1@nyc.rr.com>
To: "celtics list" <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 11:01 AM
Subject: The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com


> Hoping this isn't blank (an URL should be below)
>
> josh
>
>  http://www.ledger.southofboston.com/display/inn_sports/sports01.txt
>
> [demime 1.01b removed an attachment of type application/octet-stream which
had a name of The Patriot Ledger at SouthofBoston.com.url]