It Promises to Be a Different Season for Celtics

Last season Dee Brown flew, but Larry Bird could barely run and the Boston Celtics fell.

This season promises to be different.

His feet on the ground after becoming an instant celebrity, Brown wants to be known for more than his dunking. His back in place after playing in pain, Bird should be agony again for opponents.

And the Celtics, despite a mediocre exhibition season marred by the absence of key players, are confident they can rise after losing in the second round of the playoffs.

“There’s a half dozen teams that can win the NBA championship, and I think we’re one of them,” said Dave Gavitt, the Celtics senior executive vice president.

Bird and Brown are symbolic of Gavitt’s attempt to keep the team strong while making the transition from age to youth.

Bird is 34 and entering his 13th NBA season. He is part of an enduring frontcourt trio with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Brown is 22 and starting his second season. His ego didn’t soar nearly as high as he did in winning the slam-dunk contest at the NBA all-star game.

“The only thing that changes is my game, my confidence level in my game,” he said.

When Gavitt joined the Celtics before last season, “we appeared to be on a bit of a down tick the three previous seasons,” he said. “There was some conventional wisdom out there that would state the Big Three was our problem.

“I didn’t view it that way. We needed more speed,” he added. “The key was to keep them playing as long as we could keep them playing at maximum effectiveness.

“If we could do that and bring along young players to take some pressure off (Bird, McHale and Parish) in the short term we could compete for the whole works.”

With Brown and Brian Shaw running the show at point guard, coach Chris Ford installed an uptempo game. Reggie Lewis and starting small forward Kevin Gamble, a benchwarmer his two previous seasons, both thrived at that pace.

There is plenty for Gavitt to be excited about -- the development of those four young players, the addition of impressive draft choice Rick Fox, the promising exhibition play of frontcourt substitutes Ed Pinckney and Stoyko Vrankovic, McHale’s likely early-season return from ankle surgery and Bird’s good health.

Last season, the Celtics’ 56-26 record was the fourth best in the NBA,but they barely survived the first playoff round against Indiana before losing to Detroit.

“We have a chance to improve greatly,” Gavitt said.

Bird, whose game suffered because of back problems, had major surgery June 7 and is playing and practicing at full speed.

“Larry looked good,” Magic Johnson said after the Los Angeles Lakers beat Boston 121-105 last Tuesday night. “It’s the best he’s moved in three years.”

“You can’t win the NBA playoffs unless you’ve got all your guys playing when April, May and June come,” Gavitt said.

November is another story. Three of Boston’s top six players may not be in uniform on the first day of the month for the season opener against Charlotte.

McHale missed all eight exhibition games while recovering from his July 17 operation. A contract squabble kept Gamble out of camp. Shaw, who had foot problems late last season, has been slowed by a sprained right knee, two sprained fingers and a pulled hamstring.

Without them, Ford hasn’t been able to fine-tune the offense.

“Our defense, night in and night out, has been pretty consistent,” he said. “But we really still have to work on our offense.”

“It’s been tough for Chris because of the injuries,” Gavitt said. “With a team that is a fairly veteran team like ours, many times (training camp) is designed to polish and refine.”

That hasn’t happened to Ford’s satisfaction.

Fortunately for the Celtics, they’ll have a healthy Bird and a seasoned Brown.

In the 22 games Bird missed last season, the Celtics were 10-12. They were 46-14 with him. His 45.4 shooting percentage was a career low, and his 19.4 scoring average was the second lowest.

In 1988-89, Bird had surgery on both heels and played only six games. Boston was 42-40. Last season, the Celtics were 26-5 when Bird first was sidelined. They were 33-12 by the time he returned.

“At the end of the season, when none of us were healthy, we went down pretty fast,” Bird said. “If you get guys with a broken foot or guys with real bad ankles it’s just hard to compete every night.”

Slam-dunk champion Brown has weathered a summer storm of promotions well.

“People want to play golf” with him, he said. “I don’t play golf. I never will. Those things don’t change Dee Brown.

“I’m not a showman. That’s not my style of game,” he added. “I don’t try to force the issue but I want to make things happen.”

For the first time since 1985, the Celtics didn’t have a winning exhibition record. And, because of a training camp in which missing persons were as troublesome as missing shots, they may not get off to a strong regular-season start.

But Bird is older and healthier, Brown is older and wiser, and the early kinks should be smoothed out in plenty of time for the playoffs.

“If we had stayed healthy last year, I think we had a shot” at the NBA title, Gavitt said. “If we stay healthy this year, we should have another shot.”