New Comments from Boston Sports Guy

[Sean Giovanello <sgiovanello@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Again, from SonsofSamHorn

Okay, I've calmed down. Somewhat.

I can't believe that Ainge's performance is even being debated. What did 
we win, 48 games last year? We're headed for 28 this year. There was 
only one move: Stay the course, hope to get lucky in a crap conference 
again, then gear everything towards the summer of 2004 with Williams 
coming off the cap (and hope Charlotte claimed Walker). If that didn't 
happen, you head into the following season knowing that you can easily 
trade Walker in the final year of his contract, knowing Battie was 
coming off, and knowing you have a nucleus of Pierce, Banks, Baker the 
albatross and cap space.

Here's what you couldn't do: Saddle the team with more long-term deals 
for guys that aren't All-Stars. Jesus, look at Denver, look at Utah, 
look at what Detroit was able to do. Flexibility is EVERYTHING. And this 
team is now screwed until 2006. The owners also haven't given us any 
indication that they're definitely in this to win and not just to make 
money - note how they didn't sign any free agents last summer, and note 
the cash in the Atkins deal, or the money from Dallas, or the insurance 
they got from Mills's contract.

The Walker trade was absolutely unbelievable. Danny ripped Twan on TNT, 
Twan called him on it when they met last summer, and Danny decided that 
he wasn't comfortable having him around in his first season in charge. 
His ego got in the way. Now we're stuck with a guy who has a bum knee 
(that they knew about!!!!!) and one of the 10 worst contracts in the 
league for a guy who could have been gone in either 4 months or 16.

DA has shown no understanding of A) the importance of cap space, and B) 
how useless the draft has become after the first 12 picks. You have 
about a 12-15% chance of landing someone good with that Detroit pick. 
Maybe even less. And those picks are untradeable because nobody wants to 
pay the guaranteed contracts - Chris Wallace made the same mistake when 
he idiotically used the Denver pick, then realize afterwards how much 
money those 3 picks (all playing the same position) counted against the cap.

I don't mind the thought of blowing things up because the team - as 
built last summer -- wasn't winning a title. But DA made a decent 
situation terrible, and they raised ticket prices to boot.

The funny thing is, I like the new owners. I met Wyc last weekend - he's 
a great guy. He hates losing. He's DYING right now. I think he's in 
disbelief that this is happening. And I think he believes in Danny, but 
the fact remains, they gave Danny complete control to run the team, and 
the results have been mixed, to say the least. And now we're screwed 
through the summer of 2005, unless one of those lottery balls come up, 
or unless Charlotte is dumb enough to take LaFrentz for a couple of 
meaningless draft picks.

I'm so upset. In the summer of 2001, I never imagined that in 3 years, 
we would be back at the point where I was rooting for the Celts to lose, 
just so we could get a good pick. So discouraging. And somehow this team 
always gets a free pass from everyone in the local media, which is the 
truly amazing thing. I don't think casual Celtics fans even realize what 
is happening here.