WALTHAM -- There were six microphones set up on the dais, which seemed an extraordinarily large amount for an introductory press conference for one player, even one as important as Rasheed Wallace.
So, as the time crept past the scheduled 4 p.m. start time, the question was: Who would be joining Rasheed? The mystery was soon solved as one by one, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and yes, Kevin Garnett, joined Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge on the podium with Wallace.
This was no small gesture. You’re more likely to see Lucky the Leprechaun make his triumphant return then you are to catch KG hanging around during the summer. But this was a statement and the message was simple: Let everyone else add superstar pieces like some out of control fantasy hoops league. The Celtics were adding to their team.
“It’s not an OK fit,” Garnett said. “It’s not an a’ight fit. It’s a perfect fit.”
Maybe Shaquille O’Neal will put LeBron James over the top. Even though James has never played with a true back to the basket center before. Maybe Vince Carter will elevate the Magic over that final hurdle. Even though he came at a cost of Courtney Lee and re-signing Hedo Turkoglu. Maybe Ron Artest will provide that extra bit of muscle to the Lakers. Even if it means letting Trevor Ariza walk and possibly Lamar Odom. Maybe.
But with Wallace, the Celtics won’t need to adjust the way they play and there won’t be much of a learning curve for their newest addition.
“One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Rasheed is his competitiveness and his intelligence,” Ainge said. “He’ll be able to pick up the defense after two practices.”
It was startling to see that collection of basketball talent up there together. Between them they have 52 years of experience, 28 All-Star selections, 380 playoff games and four championship rings.
“It almost feels like AAU basketball all over again,” Garnett said, bouncing in his seat.
But while they have all experienced the highest of highs they have also all known the misery of playing out the string on a team that is realistically going nowhere. They have all known the darkness of a dreary NBA season, and they knew that what they were offering Wallace wasn’t points or rebounds, or even money necessarily, but salvation.
During the regular season, Garnett reached out to Wallace to make sure he was OK handling the Pistons downfall. That was something, as Garnett said, he doesn’t do with opposing players all that often. Wallace’s situation with the Pistons was not lost on the other Celtics, either. They had it in their minds that adding Wallace was the move of the summer.
“When we lose, Paul, Kevin and myself, we talk about the things that we could do better,” Allen said. “When the season ended we talked about the things that we needed to get better. Rasheed was at the top of the list for all of us. We did everything we could to get him here.”
Their visit to Detroit to woo Wallace, along with Rivers, Ainge and owner Wyc Grousbeck, has been well documented, and it was important because Wallace had options. Dallas, San Antonio, Cleveland and Orlando were all in pursuit. It’s probably going too far to say that the Celtics college-style recruitment was the deciding factor (Wallace mentioned he wasn’t entirely happy with some of the moves the Spurs had made), but if it helped seal the deal they were more than happy to play their part.
But their decision to leave their far-flung summer homes show up on a random Thursday in July spoke volumes about where the Celtics view themselves as a team.
“I just want to thank all these guys sitting up here,” Wallace said in his opening remarks. “They didn’t have to come up here today.”
There was one important, and potentially tricky, basketball question to be asked and Wallace handed it deftly. Does he care about starting?
“I’m just here to back these guys up,” Wallace said. “If Doc wants me to start, then I’ll start. If Doc wants me to come off the bench, then I’ll come off the bench. Two minutes, 30 minutes, whatever. As long as I’m contributing to the team and we get a W, that’s my whole bottom line.” With that Wallace had won the press conference as they say in political circles. Everything else was for sound bites.
The whole notion of whether Wallace or Kendrick Perkins gets his name called by Ernie Palladino in the pre-game introduction is really secondary anyway.
In terms of establishing a rotation it makes sense for Wallace to come off the bench and play behind Garnett and Perkins since he can handle both roles. In realistic terms, the chances of both Garnett and Perkins playing and starting all 82 games is probably remote since Garnett has missed 36 games the last two seasons and Perkins has battled his own injury problems (although he has missed only eight games the last two years).
The only place it matters is in ego terms, and the Celtics veterans have made it clear over the past two years that when it comes to basketball decisions the egos are checked at the door, while Wallace for all of his eruptions, has long proven himself to be the ultimate assimilator.
And what of that famous Wallace temper?
“Yes, I do go off sometimes,” he said. “I will admit that. But overall, I’d say I’ve been a pretty good teammate.”
Along those lines, the camaraderie was free and natural between the four superstars.
“The one difference between Kevin and myself,” Wallace said. “Is that he’s a better rebounder, but I’m a better jump shooter.”
That line got some laughs and an arched eyebrow from KG. So did this one when he was asked who was more intense; he or Garnett?
“Be honest,” Garnett admonished.
“I’d have to say I am,” Wallace said. “Because he can control his emotions.”
It’s all somewhat crazy to think that Garnett now has competition in the emotion department (or passion as he preferred it to be called) or that Garnett may actually be the sane one. But it all fits.
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