Re: Dave Cowens?

[Rich Davies <rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I *thought* something was up with Cowens' presence Wednesday night. I just
thought it was O'Brien who should worry, not Wallace. Either way, it would
be great to have an old-time Celtic in an important, decision-making
position.

So would this mean the new owners really understand what the Boston Celtics
are (or used to be) all about? Or would it be a PR move to make fans happy?

Rich D.

> From: "Berry, Mark  S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
> Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:09:31 -0500
> To: "'celtics@igtc.com'" <celtics@igtc.com>
> Subject: Dave Cowens?
> 
> This is from the Lowell Sun. Just speculation, but thought everyone would
> find it interesting.
> 
> Mark
> 
> P.S. Did anyone else notice that Vin Baker is no longer even included on the
> team roster on the Celtics' official Web site?
> 
> Celtics GM may be looking over shoulder
> 
> By ROB BRADFORD
> Sun Staff 
> www.lowellsun.com/Stories...5,00.html#
> <http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105%257E4767%257E1225315,00.html>
> 
> Thursday, March 06, 2003 - BOSTON Chris Wallace, this is your professional
> life.
> 
> The Boston Celtics general manager was not in attendance for his team's
> eighth straight win over the New York Knicks last night at the FleetCenter,
> but he should have been. The 97-95 victory helped tell the tale of Wallace's
> current plight, and how he got to this point.
> 
> Dave Cowens, Tony Battie and Travis Knight. They were all there and, for
> better or worse, could be linked to the potentially shortening Wallace era.
> 
> Of the trio, Cowens's presence was the most unforeseen, and potentially most
> damaging, for the Wallace camp. A coach of three separate NBA teams, the big
> redhead may have, as he insisted, just been visiting. But simply by sitting
> front and center next to owner Steve Pagliuca in what has been a most
> turbulent stretch for the Celts GM is enough to raise eyebrows.
> 
> Cowens is currently enjoying an NBA-free life in Cincinnati after being let
> go by the Golden State Warriors last season. His wife, however, still works
> in Boston and he has obviously gotten over being snubbed by M.L. Carr during
> the team's head coaching search in 1995.
> 
> "(Pagliuca) is bringing a lot of guys back, and Jo Jo (White) asked me to
> come up and see a game. I hadn't seen one in a while," said Cowens. "Right
> now I'm just learning how to play golf. It's a full-time job."
> 
> Innocent enough, right? But then came this tidbit from Cowens: "Really, when
> you haven't done something like work in the front office you kind of think
> maybe that's something you might want to try."
> 
> Cowens's first appearance at the FleetCenter in a year and a half is most
> likely nothing more than the return of another old Celtic. But it does
> warrant a double-take.
> 
> "(Cowens) is just in town to watch the game. We're only six weeks into
> this," said Pagliuca, whose ownership group did believe it was the right
> time last week to let go of four Celtics employees. One of the layoffs
> included Stephen Riley, who had been with the franchise longer than anyone
> except Red Auerbach.
> 
> To Wallace's credit, it was Battie, perhaps the GMs biggest coup, who played
> the hero this time around. With the Celtics leading by two and the final
> seconds ticking off the clock, the Celtics center had the presence of mind
> to adjust to a Latrell Sprewell air-ball and block Clarence Weatherspoon's
> potential game-tying jump hook as time ran out.
> 
> Sad as it may seem, Battie represents perhaps the Wallace/Rick Pitino
> regime's best trade. The Celtics traded Knight to the Los Angeles Lakers on
> Jan. 21, 1999 for a player who has become one of Boston's most irreplaceable
> parts. Knight, on the other hand, has averaged less than seven minutes per
> game in three seasons with the Knicks, although he did win a championship
> with the Lakers in 2000.
> 
> "Things turned out pretty well," said Battie. "Except he has my ring."
> 
> But, as Bill Belichick explained before watching the game courtside, "You
> win some and you lose some." The New England Patriots coach may have been
> talking about his organization's free agency exploits, but it might as well
> have been concerning Wallace's tenure.
> 
> Unfortunately for the Boston GM, Knight represents the list of what has
> become too many losses. Including the albatross, Vin Baker.
> 
> Wallace joined Pitino in making one of his first, and worst, transactions.
> It was back on July 7, 1997 that the Celtics renounced the rights to the
> likes of Rick Fox and David Wesley so that Knight could come aboard with a
> whopping seven-year contract. It is a deal which will pay the seldom-used
> forward $4 million this season and $4.5 next year.
> 
> "I wanted to go back to the Lakers, but they could only offer me the minimum
> so I went for the years and the money," admitted Knight. "We had a pretty
> good group of guys (in Boston) before they started trading everyone away.
> Then it was just a bunch of 23-year-olds who didn't know what was going on."
> 
> The bottom line last night was that the Celtics won and are now just four
> games out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Their stars, Antoine
> Walker (34 points) and Paul Pierce (24), continue to play well and Boston
> seems in good shape to make a run at playoff time.
> 
> But will Wallace be around? Should he be around? Somewhere down the road,
> fans may be able to view last night as the the GM's Professional Perfect
> Storm. Maybe by then we will know if he survived it.