Greener pastures? Never

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ON BASKETBALL

Greener pastures? Never


By Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff, 5/7/2003

AST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - There was a time, Byron Scott reluctantly admits, when
he actually contemplated going coast to coast - in the job market. In the fall
of 1993, his first tour with the Los Angeles Lakers had come to an end. He was
32, he still felt he could play, and, for the first time in his career, he was
forced to look elsewhere. One of those ''elsewheres'' was Boston, a team for
which he had (and still has) an undisguised animus.



''You have to understand,'' he said yesterday before the Nets hit the practice
floor, ''I grew up in purple and gold. I grew up a Lakers fan. All those
years, seeing them beaten by the Celtics, as a young guy, that gives you a
certain dislike. We were always taught, so to speak, to hate the green and
white because it was such a fierce rivalry.''

Scott was a free agent in the fall of 1993 and ended up signing with Indiana.
But he acknowledged that he had interest in the Celtics that year, saying, at
the time, ''I know a lot of people here [in Los Angeles] say not to do that,
but you look at the organization and the people who run it and it's the next
best thing to purple and gold.''

The Celtics never really made a serious run at Scott. Former general manager
Jan Volk said yesterday that he couldn't recall a single conversation about
signing Scott. And Volk forgets nothing. Former CEO Dave Gavitt could not be
reached yesterday and player agent Tom McLaughlin, who worked out of agent Bob
Woolf's office, confirmed that the Celtics never made an offer. Asked at the
time what he would say to Gavitt if Gavitt called, Scott said, ''I'd tell him
I'd feel honored and I'd definitely want to give them a serious, hard look.''

That could well be the words of a desperate free agent wondering whether his
career had come to a premature conclusion. In fact, Scott went on to play for
Indiana, Vancouver, and Panathinaikos in Greece before returning for one final
farewell with the Lakers in 1996-97. But he will always be remembered as Magic
Johnson's running mate on three NBA champions (1985, 1987, 1988) and as
someone who appeared in 183 playoff games, sixth-most in league history.

Asked yesterday how close he got to coming to Boston, Scott said, ''I did
consider it. I really did. My agent at the time was from Boston and he thought
it would be something fantastic, an ex-Laker coming to the Celtics. He kept
pushing that. And I'd keep saying, `Bob [Woolf], I don't think so.'''

Woolf also could have been using the Celtics as leverage in his efforts to get
Scott to Indiana. The Pacers had lost two playoff series to the Celtics in the
early 1990s.

Johnson, who attended Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics series, was asked about
Scott's consideration of Boston in 1993.

''I just couldn't imagine that,'' Magic said. ''He probably didn't tell me
because he knows I wouldn't have talked to him.''

Scott may have hated the Celtics back then - actually, he still does - in the
abstract, of course. ''I just don't like green and white,'' he said, ''except
when it's money.'' But he also misses what many of us miss: the intense
passion and competition that his Lakers teams and the Celtics teams of the
1980s brought to their games. Those days are gone.

''Those were the best rivalries in basketball,'' he said. ''I would love to
have those type of rivalries back. But with free agency and the way these guys
are so unloyal to their organizations and teams, it's never going to happen
like that again.

''I have nothing but respect for the Boston Celtics. That organization has won
so many championships. That's the reason we hated them so much. They were what
we were. They wanted the same thing we wanted. Sometimes you despise people
that you always wanted to be like. That was basketball. That was true
basketball.''

Hmm. What do you think his players think about that?

Prior to the start of this series, Scott said, ''It's just the fact that
they've got green and white and they're the Celtics. I don't like green and
white. I wouldn't say it's dislike. I think it's mutual respect.''

Call it what you will, Scott said his anti-Boston sentiments have cooled
somewhat since he retired. One of his best friends is Celtics assistant Lester
Conner. He said in the past few years he has sat and talked about the glory
days with Cedric Maxwell, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge.

''Now we're friends,'' he said. ''But back in those days, we couldn't stand
each other. That's why there was a fight almost every game. You look back on
it now, and those were great times for basketball and great times for the
NBA.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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