After deal, there's a lot to be done

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After deal, there's a lot to be done


By Peter May, Globe Columnist, 5/10/2003

ood luck, Danny. You're going to need it. Those early days with Bill Fitch
spitting bullets at you at Hellenic College are going to seem like a Caribbean
vacation when you review the balance sheets and contracts of the team you just
agreed to serve.



You're dead right. It will be a challenge. Make that plural, because there are
any number of challenges that lie ahead. It is, exactly as you said, ''a tough
road.''

You've got new owners who, when they're not delusional about winning an NBA
title, still think it's Christmas. You have a coach whose future needs to be
addressed immediately. You have a group of assistant coaches still waiting for
anything more than a verbal promise of future security. You have a general
manager getting sniffs from other teams. You have a playoff roster of perhaps
two really marketable players.

And we haven't even gotten to Vin Baker.

''That's what we got Danny for,'' team patriarch Red Auerbach was saying after
Ainge's formal introduction yesterday as the Celtics' new hoop el jefe. ''To
straighten those things out.''

Auerbach was referring to Baker. He could have been referring to almost
anything else.

There's no denying Ainge's aptitude, enthusiasm, and willingness to take on
the job. In that respect, yesterday's announcement has to be seen as a
positive, even if it was horribly timed. (Why didn't they just schedule
another team picture after the press conference?) As a player, Ainge was
always one of the more thoughtful and honest guys in the locker room. As an
executive, he's going to have to learn how to, well, run a lot of verbal
misdirection when Kevin McHale or someone else calls to inquire about Player
A.

But his major challenges are internal.

To wit: the ownership. Please, please, please guys, let Ainge do his job and
stay out of his way. Ainge said he's known Steve Pagliuca for a while. We can
assume he's been told about Pagliuca's freshman basketball experiences at
Duke. Everyone else has. We can assume Ainge has been told that Pagliuca
wanted more playing time for Kedrick Brown and that he's told the coaching
staff how eager he is to break down film on prospective draftees. We can
assume Ainge knows that Pagliuca and Wyc Grousbeck both called in coach Jim
O'Brien for an ill-timed chat about the team and its playing style -- during a
losing streak. We can assume Ainge knows they like to hang out at practice and
in the locker room.

If there isn't an autonomy clause in Ainge's contract, he needs to get one.
When McHale was quoted in yesterday's Globe calling Pagliuca ''a basketball
junkie,'' the words reverberated all the way to John Y. Brown's living room.

The coaches: Ainge praised O'Brien yesterday, but also said he was going into
evaluation mode and wouldn't go any further. O'Brien has done a remarkable job
getting blood out of a stone in Boston. There's no other way to describe it.
But here's the rub -- if Ainge brings in someone else to coach this particular
team, it will go Cleveland on him in a hurry. This is a group of players
intensely loyal to O'Brien; heck, even Bruno Sundov wants to come back here
and he never played. O'Brien understands the dynamics that make this group
tick and he has made it work. He's loyal. He's dedicated. No one is going to
throw a towel in his face.

Ainge yesterday repeated what he said on TNT during Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics
series: He believes the Celtics have overachieved the last two years. On the
broadcast, he called O'Brien ''a fantastic coach.'' But this team as presently
constituted works because of O'Brien -- and, we should add, because of the
guys under O'Brien.

One of Ainge's first orders of business should be to put some meat on the
empty promise from ownership to extend the assistant coaches' contracts.
O'Brien was told five months ago it would happen. The coaches were told 10
days ago it would happen. They've heard nothing since and, more to the point,
they have seen nothing since. Some of these guys' deals expire June 1 and, as
an ex-coach, surely Ainge has to understand their anxiety. Unless he plans to
blow up the coaching staff -- and be prepared for a player rebellion if he
does -- then get these guys signed and sealed at least through 2004.

General manager/player personnel: As for the ''overachieving'' stuff, that is
an observation about the roster Chris Wallace and Leo Papile put together.
You'd be surprised how they are seen around the league; more like guys who've
assembled two playoff teams out of Rick Pitino's mess. That may explain why
Portland and Washington have called to at least inquire about Wallace. If
Ainge goes back over the 2001 draft, he may have a coronary. Joe Johnson,
Brown, and Joseph Forte were chosen at a time when the Celtics had a crying
need for a point guard (Tony Parker) and had a pick they really didn't need
(Brown, taken with a Denver choice that could have been rolled over). Brown
still has not proven he's anything more than a human pogo stick.

The Baker trade was a killer. There's no way to sugarcoat that one, despite
all the math the Celtics throw out that shows Baker's deal isn't that much
more onerous when viewed against those of the players that left. Here's a news
bulletin: The guys who left played and contributed. Baker did neither. And
he's on the books for three more years at maximum money. Unless Baker has a
remarkable transformation, this deal will be a millstone.

Ainge will be in control of the draft. He said he is planning to go to Europe,
even though Wallace has been there twice in the last month for about 18 days.
But where the Celtics pick could mean at least one Euro in the draft, so Ainge
needs to see as many players as he can. By the way, the Celtics still could
use a point guard.

Which brings us to the roster. Ainge said there were three ways to improve the
team -- draft, deals, and development. You'll notice there's no free agency in
there.

The Celtics' recent draft picks have been so useless that Ainge can't help but
improve on that if he simply throws a dart at the Available Players Board. But
he and ownership both made it clear yesterday they will be extremely reluctant
to use the midlevel exception -- basically the only way to acquire a free
agent -- because of the luxury-tax ramifications.

''If it were my money, I'd do the same thing,'' Ainge said.

There are deals out there; Eric Williams is going into the last year of his
contract and teams always like guys like that. But Williams also is an O'Brien
favorite and is one of the few tough guys on the team. A more obvious choice
would be Antoine Walker, but the Celtics have a much higher appreciation of
Walker than most everyone else. And Walker makes a ton of money; he also is
eligible for an extension. O'Brien would not want this deal to go down,
either. But how else can you improve the team?

Wallace did pluck J.R. Bremer out of the summer league, but Bremer is what he
is. The idea that Bremer could be on the All-Rookie second team speaks either
to the lunacy of the draft (he went undrafted) or to the unremarkable rookie
class. Everyone else is available, or should be.

So there you have it, Danny. There's a lot of work to be done. And, as always,
we're here to help.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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