Larry Bird hasn’t played golf this summer.
The Pacers general manager has been too busy attempting to halt his team’s free fall.
“If I had Kevin Garnett, then I could play golf,” Bird quipped Monday, with former teammate Danny Ainge in the crosshairs of his laconic wit.
It’s also been a restless summer for Baron Davis, who is dissatisfied with Golden State’s sluggish approach to a contract extension. When he looks east, again at the Celtics [team stats] and good friend Paul Pierce [stats], the Warriors point guard believes he sees an example of the right way to do business.
“He’s a kid in a candy store,” Davis said of the C’s captain last week during a visit to Reebok’s Canton headquarters. “They’ve got a lot of weapons now, and the good thing is that this organization has always believed in him. He was waiting to see what they were going to do, and to their credit, they made it happen.”
Even one year ago, when Ainge’s plan - defined as many different things by many different people - was the subject of routine deconstruction and withering criticism, these comments would have been unthinkable.
The Celtics director of basketball operations was the envy of no one. His team somehow was getting younger and more injury-prone, all at once. The Antoine Walker lobby still hadn’t forgiven him. The Ricky Davis experiment was a failure. If medical bills counted against the salary cap, the MRI charges for Raef LaFrentz and Wally Szczerbiak alone would have created a luxury-tax problem.
But when the Celtics begin training camp tomorrow with media day, the embattled Ainge still will be on his feet.
Two years ago, nobody took his seriously when he said he was acquiring pieces with the hope of making a major, team-changing trade. When he came close to landing Allen Iverson [stats] during draft week in 2006, the attempt drew only mild curiosity. Most viewed his bid as a pipe dream.
But now that he has added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to Pierce, and grouted in around his starry trio with a proven supporting cast that includes James Posey, Eddie House and Scot Pollard, even the Red Sox [team stats] seem to have more non-believers.
Celtics ownership, which has stood behind Ainge through every dilemma - often to public derision - also has an opportunity to crow right now.
“We’ve been looking at Banner 17 all these years, and suddenly the future seems at hand,” managing partner Robert Epstein said during yesterday’s media luncheon, a comment that should put everyone on notice if it hasn’t happened already.
Now that the plan finally has taken shape, they better make it work.
source : bostonherald.com
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