C's secrecy yields draft success: Green work behind scenes to grab Banks, Perkins

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

C's secrecy yields draft success: Green work behind scenes to grab Banks,
Perkins

The NBA/by Steve Bulpett
Friday, June 27, 2003







There are people in NBA front offices who are unhappy with the Celtics today,
which is why Red Auerbach was smiling as he left The Sports Authority Center
in Waltham last night.




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The Celtics' draft was, in short, an inside job.

UNLV point guard Marcus Banks and Texas high school big man Kendrick Perkins
both had promises from the Celts that they would do all in their power to get
them.

The fact neither worked out for another team after their sessions with the C's
was disturbing to other clubs.

To be sure to get Banks, the Celtics realized they'd have to get to 13th
position. So director of player personnel Leo Papile spent the last week on
the phone with Memphis leader Jerry West setting up the move of 16 and 20 for
13 and 27. The Celts picked BC's Troy Bell and Duke's Dahntay Jones for the
Grizzlies.

When Perkins was still on the board at 27, Papile breathed a sigh of relief.

After the moves were announced, Papile was engaged in a private conversation
in a hallway when Danny Ainge walked by.

``Star of the night right there,'' Ainge said.

Whether Banks and Perkins prove in the coming years to be as good as the
Celtics believe they'll be, the club did the requisite dirty work to get their
men.

``We took both guys off the market and everybody started buzzing around,''
Papile said. `` `Why aren't they visiting? Why aren't they traveling? Here
they go again.' ''

Before Ainge came aboard as director of basketball operations, the Celts had
already identified Banks as their top point guard (ahead of T.J. Ford, Luke
Ridnour and Reece Gaines).

Once Ainge was on board with him, Papile and GM Chris Wallace told Ainge how
they'd gotten Kedrick Brown two years ago, and he agreed to make the
commitment.

``When we brought Marcus in for a workout early in the process, we knew right
then and there that if he went and worked out for every team in the NBA there
was not a chance we would get him at 16,'' Ainge said. ``Not a chance.''

With help from Wallace's connections at player rep firm SFX, Banks pulled out
of the audition process.

The C's also had good reports from private SFX workouts between Banks and
Ford.

``We committed to Perkins (another SFX guy) a long time ago,'' said Papile.
``We put that in the ice box, too. But Danny's the boss. He had to agree. I
thought he had a lot of (guts) and I applaud him for doing it.''

So the Celtics had decided on a point guard who could push the offense out of
its rut and a young 6-foot-10 (barefoot) post player.

Then they had to get in position to draft them.

As the draft neared, they came to believe Orlando would snap Banks up at 15.
Then there was concern, too, about Seattle at 14. The Sonics wanted a point
guard, and Luke Ridnour was dropping. Seattle eventually took him at that
spot, with Banks gone a pick earlier.

``Orlando was the biggest risk, but we weren't sure about Seattle either,''
said Ainge. ``Memphis was the perfect one for us because they knew we could
get them the guys they wanted. They knew Dahntay wasn't going to be there at
27, and Leo really worked that with Jerry West.''

The phone line between Memphis and Waltham got warm.

``We were working on it four days,'' Papile said. ``We shared secrets. We
didn't even let it go beyond anyone else in our organizations. We couldn't do
it.

``Then Jerry called me at 6 this morning - he's an early riser - and we shook
hands on it over the phone around 9.''

There was a strange measure of closure in the Banks acquisition. More than two
years earlier, Papile was called on his cell phone by a reporter with the news
that Rick Pitino was about to resign from the Celts.

At that moment, Papile was in St. George, Utah, scouting the Dixie College
point guard in a juco game against Southern Idaho. He interrupted the talk on
Pitino to say how much he liked this Marcus Banks kid.

Last night, after some cloak and dagger stuff, Banks completed the trip to the
Celtics.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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