Every year in the NBA as a new crop of first-year players take the floor, veteran players can’t wait to test them. Can they handle themselves on the block? How do they react to the pick and roll? If there’s a weakness in their game it will be exploited over and over again.

It’s no different in politics, especially here where campaigns are treated like blood sport and the old Massachusetts maxim holds true: Our three obsessions are sports, politics and revenge.

So, it wasn’t particularly surprising that veteran political operatives kept returning to the same theme when asked about Celtics general partner Steve Pagliuca’s decision to run for Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat.

“He’s a progressive Democrat,” said one, approaching Stan Van Gundy levels of sarcasm, “who gave money to George W. Bush.”

“He's going to be a one-man experiment,” another suggested. “Can having more money than God erase the public's knowledge that the guy who's running to replace Ted Kennedy donated money to conservatives?”

You get the idea. The political pros smell blood, and they’re going after it like Paul Pierce goes after an isolation set at the top of the key.

As has been reported everywhere, Pagliuca gave money to Bush, Bill Weld, the Massachusetts state GOP and his former Bain Capital partner Mitt Romney in his Senate race against Kennedy in 1994. Pagliuca countered that in the case of Romney he was helping a friend and that he has given far more to Democratic candidates and causes. (You can check the list for yourself at sites such as Open Secrets.

Still, Pagliuca can expect that criticism to be repeated ad nauseum as he makes his way to the special Democratic primary on Dec. 8. That’s the opening salvo, and as any experienced operative will tell you, there’s more than one shot in any campaign.

He may be a political novice, but Pagliuca has assembled an impressive team that includes Doug Rubin, who helped direct Deval Patrick’s successful run for governor, and Washington-based heavyweight strategist Tad Devine. (As Howie Carr pointed out yesterday, Devine is aligned with Lt. Gov. Tim Cahill, which ought to make things interesting when Cahill makes his expected independent run for the corner office. See how much fun big-time politics are, sports fans?) 

Pagliuca will need to tap into his team’s expertise, as well as his considerable financial resources, as he tries to maneuver the conversation toward his issues. Health care, the environment and his business acumen were the main themes at his introductory press conference announcing his run Thursday at the TD Garden.

He also must carve out a political niche in a field with an established front-runner in Martha Coakley and an experienced Kennedy-style pol in Mike Capuano, the former mayor of Somerville and current U.S. congressman. Alan Khazei, a progressive activist and philanthropist who could steal some of Pagliuca’s outsider appeal, also is expected to run.

In a recent Suffolk University/Channel 7 poll, 76 of the 78 respondents either had never heard of Pagliuca or were undecided in their opinion. (The caveat is that the poll was done before he had entered the race and just as speculation was heating up.)

So, he’s got some work to do, and the expectation is that Pagliuca will blanket the airwaves with advertisements in an attempt to boost his profile.

“Here’s how it’s going to go,” said an expert handicapper. “He’ll put up a ton of dough and move up about 10-12 points. Then he’ll freeze. He’ll realize that he can’t get to the left of Capuano. He’ll realize that he can’t get the center from Martha. He’ll move to the right of center, which is where they should have started him in the first place.” 

Welcome to the arena, Steve. Bring your 'A' game.