The Green Is Wearing Thin in Boston

Talk about karma: One day you’re blowing cigar smoke in the world’s face and 40 years later, you’re still inhaling it.

These are weird days for the Boston Celtics, who have what is supposed to be a promising young team, with new ownership -- thankfully -- on its way in.

Of course, it’s taking a while for the new owners, venture capitalists Wycliffe Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca, to round up the $360 million, so for another month or two, it’s still Paul Gaston’s team, and he’s running it on a shoestring budget.

The scouting staff has been pared down. NBA teams customarily stash extra players on the injured list -- even the Clippers have three spares for a total of 15 -- but the Celtics alone have 12. When Kedrick Brown was out the first five weeks, they had 11.

In an irony anyone outside Boston would enjoy, the Celtics, who were once a model of organization, not to mention braggadocio, are a muddle. The operation Red Auerbach once ran with an iron hand, that took such pride in its purity of purpose and “mystique,” now steams aimlessly in circles.

Gaston’s one real initiative in 10 years of uninterested, absentee tenure after his father, Don, handed him the team, was to hire Rick Pitino, which seemed like a good idea at the time but turned into a disaster.

Pitino made his many, frantic moves according to the dictates of his pressing-style Ricky Ball, which meant he didn’t need a big center, only a mobile one like ... Travis Knight ... he thought.

On the bright side, after 3 1/2 seasons of looking more and more like the crew in “The Caine Mutiny,” with everyone knowing the captain was unbalanced but unsure what to do about it, they were finally rid of Pitino.

His successor was his assistant Jim O’Brien, who was personable, low-key and didn’t flaunt his ego, which was a welcome change. Unfortunately for them, he was a Pitino disciple and, having gone so far down that road, saw no choice but to keep going.

Worse, the Celtics had an amorphous, committee-style setup in which O’Brien seemed to have as much say in trades and drafting as the people in the front office, who were supposed to be in charge of the big picture.

Still needing size, with three No. 1 picks in their first post-Pitino draft of 2001, they used No. 10 for Joe Johnson, a wing player, which was Paul Pierce’s position ... No. 11 for another wing player, Brown ... and No. 21 for a third, Joe Forte.

Then, during last season’s swoop back to the top of the (lame) East, they traded Johnson to Phoenix for Rodney Rogers, an impending free agent, reportedly without a commitment from Gaston that he’d re-sign him.

Of course, around that time, Gaston began talking to people who wanted to buy the team.

Sure enough, come summer, the Celtics offered only $1 million a year and Rogers went to archrival New Jersey for a modest three-year, $8-million deal.

Then came their coup, sending Kenny Anderson, who had one year left on his oversized contract, to Seattle for Vin Baker, who had four at an average of $14 million.

An official on another team says that was a Gaston move, which he sold to his basketball people, to trim $1 million from his payroll immediately and increase the sale price, which would be set by a formula, which multiplied projected revenues.

To the surprise of no one who’d seen Baker mope for the last three seasons, Vin soon found a new home on the Celtic bench, which he now leaves for 18 minutes a game, in which time he averages 5.4 points and 4.4 rebounds.

“We heard all the spin when the Celtics made the trade,” the Boston Herald’s Gerry Callahan wrote, “and some of us, regrettably, swallowed it whole: THIS, the Celts assured us, was not going to be the same slacker who wore out of his welcome in Seattle. This Vinny was going to be different from that Vinny, they said, and on that count, they were right: This Vinny is worse....

“Thank you, Paul Gaston, you greedy, gutless, money-grubbing slug. Have a nice life. Hope your new yacht sinks.

“Give Vinny this: At least he has to show his face to get his millions. Gaston just sends his lawyers to collect his ill-gotten gains. If you’re a loyal Celtic fan and you would like to hear an explanation of the Baker trade from His Highness, you’re going to have to travel to Aspen and try to find him in a lift line.”

The Celtics remain contenders, but even if the new owners actually care, they will have no cap room for years, low draft picks, no players anyone wants, unless they break up their big two of Pierce and Antoine Walker.

On the bright side for Celtic fans, just as soon as Gaston finishes selling off the parquet floor, the leprechaun, the retired jerseys and the championship banners, they can have their franchise back.

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Faces and Figures

The mess in Washington: The Wizards, rebuilding, developing young players and trying to win while Michael Jordan is there, benched 20-year-old Kwame Brown, who started well but faded. “I don’t know how to take it,” Brown said. “Like it’s my fault we were losing. [Coach Doug Collins] said he’s trying to get my confidence back, but putting me from first to third string isn’t what I would call a confidence helper.”

Said Collins, “What we’re trying to do is win games. At the same time we’ve got to get our younger players better. Throughout the league, teams playing a lot of young players struggle. We can’t do that. It’s a balancing act and right now we’re playing some of the older players.”

Another guy who’d like to get his hands on Gaston’s neck: Dallas owner Mark Cuban, who’ll pay $20 million in luxury tax, is incensed that it will be divided among teams that don’t trigger the tax -- or the way he sees it, don’t spend money because they don’t compete. Said Cuban on a recent visit to Boston: “Nothing [ticks] me off more than having some of that money go here. I’ve got to pay the luxury tax and it goes to someone that’s not even investing in their organization.”

Oh, bad news: The Boston Globe’s Peter May reports that with bonus clauses, the Celtics will wind up triggering the tax, after all. Of course, by then, the sale will be final and Gaston will be long gone.

San Antonio’s Steve Smith, after Houston’s Yao Ming hit the Spurs for 27 points and 18 rebounds: “He’s for real. He did that against three 7-footers -- three 7-footers who can play. David Robinson. Kevin Willis. Tim Duncan. Those aren’t three stiffs.”

What a guy: Ricky Davis signed a Minnesota offer sheet, was incensed when Cleveland matched and now, apparently, aims to make the Cavaliers pay. To date, he has been suspended by Coach John Lucas and had screaming arguments with teammates Tyrone Hill, Bimbo Coles, Jumaine Jones and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Said Hill, “I’ve tried to call him, but he’s not talking to anyone right now. I don’t know what sparked him but he’s still our teammate.”

Gary Payton, on speculation he’ll be replaced in Seattle by New Jersey’s Jason Kidd, a close friend: “It’s his choice and he’s going to make up his own mind, but I don’t think he’ll do that.... Things are going good for him right now and he’d be crazy to leave that. They are one of the better teams in their conference and that’s all that you can ask for. That’s all anybody wants, to win games and compete for a championship.”

Indiana Coach Isiah Thomas, on the return of Reggie Miller: “He’s Shaq [O’Neal] of the little guys. Shaq comes back and all of a sudden everybody gets open shots. Reggie comes back and it creates spacing and opportunities for everyone else. I’m surprised we’ve been able to get by as well as we’ve gotten by, pounding the ball inside and being a power team. But you’ve got to have an inside-outside game. It’s like in football, you have to have a running game and a passing game; you can’t just have one.”

Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, on Utah’s Karl Malone and John Stockton: “They ain’t lost nothin’. If anything, man, you can’t get rid of your mind. They play the game mentally. As much as it is physical, it’s all mental when it comes to those two. And I don’t see either one of them catching Alzheimer’s any time soon. They’re great and that’s why they are who they are.”