Still Blowing Smoke

At 86, the body is frail. The man who led the Boston Celtics to the top of the basketball world time and again over a span of nearly three decades requires a cane -- a Celtic-green cane, of course -- to walk.

The mind, however, is still sharp. Arnold “Red” Auerbach, architect of his sport’s greatest dynasty, remains an avid observer, fascinating historian and honest critic of the NBA, and a fierce defender of his legacy. Yes, the Lakers may be dribbling within range of some of Auerbach’s most hallowed marks, but don’t expect him to fade meekly into history without taking a few shots.

If the Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, it will be the 10th NBA title won by Coach Phil Jackson, breaking the mark he shares with Auerbach.

“It wouldn’t bother me,” Auerbach said last week as he sat in his office, surrounded by memorabilia, speaking from behind a plume of smoke from his ever-present cigar. “The record I have is that I’ve been directly affiliated in some capacity with 16 championships, whether I made the deal for the guys or whatever.

“How he did it is a lot easier than how I did it, to be brutally frank. He has nothing to do with the organization of his ballclub. I had to do all my own scouting. I didn’t have videotapes and four or five assistant coaches.

“And we didn’t have the money to compete.”

To be sure, there are differences. Jackson has served only in a coaching capacity in leading Chicago Bull teams blessed with the presence of Michael Jordan to six titles and the Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to three championships.

Auerbach coached the Celtics to nine championships, including a record eight in a row, before turning center Bill Russell into a player/coach. But as general manager, Auerbach also pulled off the deal that brought Russell to Boston in 1956 to launch the Celtic dynasty, and later drafted Larry Bird and traded for Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to complete the team’s record run to 16 titles.

“You had to do it yourself in those days while still sitting on the bench,” Auerbach said of his early success. “But I would still get out a lot. For example, if we had a game on a Wednesday and another game on a Friday, I’d have practice on Thursday morning. Then, I’d get on a plane and go to a college doubleheader in New York or Philly or wherever the games were. I’d see as many games as I could. And then on top of that, I would have my former players -- we had a family, an alumni -- steer me on which players to see and which to not bother seeing. I would save a lot of time that way.

“It was also tougher when I did it because you had the concentration of talent on fewer teams. The travel was a lot tougher. And it was tougher to win on the road in those days because of the officials. They were insecure, couldn’t be independent the way they are today now that they have a union.”

All that said, should the favored Lakers go on to win this season’s championship, will Auerbach send his congratulations to Jackson?

“I don’t know,” Auerbach said. “I’ll think about it. I’m not very friendly with him, and I’m not a hypocrite. If I feel like it at the time, I’ll do it.

“When Lenny Wilkens broke my record for the most wins, even though it took him three more years than it took me, I talked to him on the phone and sent him a wire because he was a hell of a guy.

“Phil gets the idea I’m an old guy who’s over the hill with my philosophy and everything. Naturally, I resent that because I don’t believe it’s so. He’s got that Zen philosophy, and I just don’t buy into that stuff.”

Does he buy into Jackson’s famed triangle offense?

“Way before Phil was coaching,” Auerbach said, “the Celtics were playing a game and this announcer -- not our announcer -- said, ‘Look at Red Auerbach’s triangle offense.’ What triangle offense? You put a guy in a high post and they throw the ball in to him, and the other players cut and they cross and they call that the triangle offense. Big deal. It works if you have good players.

“But in spite of all that, Phil’s a good coach. He’s in control, his players do what he tells them to do and his substitutions are good. But that doesn’t mean I’ll invite him to dinner.”

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Red the Critic

Nothing seems to invigorate Auerbach as much as a discussion about his archrivals, the Lakers.

* On Bryant’s juggling act between basketball and his court appearances on felony sexual assault charges:

“People say, he comes from Colorado and gets there just before the game. It’s like a miracle. What does he do? He’s got a private jet and he’s got a limo that takes him to the game. It’s the same thing as a player who drives in from the outskirts of Los Angeles. If he gets caught up in traffic, it might take him two hours to get to the game.

“I know Kobe’s got this trial on his mind. I understand that. You can’t really comment on what he’s going through unless you have experienced it, but I will say this. He has played ball all his life. So when he gets between the four lines, he’s in his own world. He’s king of the hill. He has the ability to blot his problems out temporarily. And he’s an unbelievable player.”

* On the Lakers’ off-season acquisition of two more potential Hall of Famers: “What would have happened if Karl Malone and Gary Payton had decided to go to San Antonio? Why did they choose L.A.? San Antonio won the championship last season. It’s that Tinseltown thing, the chance they may get in the movies, or are apt to get commercials.”

* On Derek Fisher’s game-winning shot with four-tenths of a second remaining against the Spurs in a crucial game of the conference semifinals: “He never did it in time. The clock wasn’t started quick enough. He caught the ball, moved it across his body and then he shot it. The game had to be over by then.”

* On O’Neal’s struggles at the free-throw line: “It would be like a person with normal-sized hands trying to shoot free throws with a softball. Because it’s so small in their hand, they couldn’t get any backspin. Without backspin, the ball either goes in or it goes out. With great shooters, you’ll notice, even when they miss, it might hit the rim, roll around and still go in. The backspin holds it up.

“So I don’t blame Shaq too much because he has to put those big hands of his around the ball. [Wilt] Chamberlain and Russell had similar problems because they also had big hands.

“Still, in this day and age, it really makes me laugh. A guy has trouble making free throws. They have a coach and four or five assistants. Then, they hire a special guy to come in and teach the player how to shoot free throws. Isn’t that ludicrous? They got the best guy in the world in [Bill] Sharman to teach Shaq about free throws. If Sharman can’t do it, nobody can.”

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Red the Teacher

Sharman, one of the most successful free-throw shooters in NBA history and a Hall of Fame guard for the Celtics, will be inducted a second time this fall as a coach. He led teams to championships in three leagues, including the 1971-72 Lakers, winners of the franchise’s first championship in Los Angeles. McHale is general manager of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had the best record in the Western Conference this season and took the Lakers to six games before losing the conference finals. They are just two of the many players, including Russell and Tommy Heinsohn, Bird and Don Nelson, who went on to lead clubs of their own, a testament to Auerbach’s teaching skills.

“I learned so much from him,” said Sharman, who played for Boston from 1951-52 through 1960-61. “He would do so many things to break up the monotony of practice. When I first got there, he would be out there with us shooting. We would play one-on-one. He would match the biggest guys on the team in scrimmages against the smallest. And the losers would have to run laps, do pushups or buy lunch.

“In those days, there was no limit on the number of exhibition games you could play. We would have 18 to 20 because Red always said it was easier to maybe steal a few games in the first month of the regular season than it was at the end when teams were in better shape. We would always be ready to go in the first game of the regular season, in top physical shape because of all those exhibition games.”

From Auerbach, McHale learned the concept of assembling a team rather than just a collection of skilled players.

“He was really enamored with putting players together to form a team,” McHale said. “He would say, ‘Wouldn’t you rather play with a guy who knows how to play and will play with you than a guy who is more talented, but selfish?’ ”

Despite all his other accomplishments in basketball, it is his skill as a teacher that gives Auerbach the most satisfaction. And that should not be surprising. He began his professional life as a high-school teacher in Washington. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Auerbach attended George Washington University and stayed in the area to become a physical education instructor and history teacher.

His first basketball coaching assignment at the pro level was in the Washington area. With the Redskins. In the late 1940s, the NFL had an off-season basketball league and Auerbach coached the Washington players.

Enjoying the experience, he turned his back on the teaching profession to take the job of head coach of a real pro basketball club, the Washington Capitols. After three seasons there and one as coach of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Auerbach joined the Boston Celtics for the 1950-51 season at $10,000 a season.

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Red the Wheeler-Dealer

“Red had an unbelievable passion for winning,” McHale said. “Second place to him was like 28th place. It made no difference. One year, we had a lot of injuries. We made it to the Finals, but we lost. At a little dinner we had after the season, Red told us, ‘People said what a good year we had. We had a lousy year. We didn’t win a championship. I don’t want to hear about any of that other stuff.’ We had just left our hearts on the floor, and all Red could say was, ‘You either win or lose. And I’m not interested in losing.’

“There’s a rough man right there.”

Never rougher than when there was a deal to be made. In 1956, Auerbach desperately wanted Russell, a star at the University of San Francisco and on the Olympic team, but the Rochester Royals had the No. 1 pick.

Celtic owner Walter Brown owned the Ice Capades, which, in those days, was usually a bigger draw than an NBA game. So Auerbach had Brown offer Lester Harrison, the Royals’ owner, some Ice Capades shows at his arena in exchange for a promise to pass on Russell.

Auerbach then sent Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley to the St. Louis Hawks for the No. 2 pick, which Boston used to get Russell. Russell led Boston to 11 titles in 13 seasons.

Several years after that run was exhausted, Auerbach rebuilt with moves like drafting Bird and trading draft picks to the Golden State Warriors for Parish and the rights to McHale.

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Red Today

Nobody ever described Auerbach as a charmer. Missy Cousy, wife of Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy, once said of Auerbach, “He would flick his ashes on your shoulder if he liked you.”

But time and tribulation have mellowed him. Dorothy, his wife of 59 years, died several years ago. Auerbach remains in Washington, where he has always lived. He never moved to Boston, because of the damp climate, which affected one of his two daughters, Randy, who suffered from asthma. So Auerbach stayed in a Boston hotel through all of his years with the Celtics.

Today, he dutifully comes in to his office, next to American University, for a couple of hours each day, smokes his trademark cigars -- he’s down to three Hoyo de Montereys from a peak of 10 cigars a day during his coaching career -- and stays in touch with the Celtic organization mostly by telephone. In the afternoons, he can be found at nearby Woodmont Country Club, playing gin with old friends.

He spends time with his two daughters, a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren, and is looking forward to the publication of his sixth book in the fall, a collection of old stories done with author John Feinstein.

But if the Lakers win the championship and Auerbach’s schedule permits, he just might find the time to make a congratulatory call to Jackson.

Dinner, however, would be out of the question.