ML Carr's Career may be Near the Final Crossroads

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Record: 4-1
11/8/1983

I want to know why I'm being overworked!"- M. L. Carr

Throughout his tenure as a Celtic, veteran M. L. Carr has been known for two things - his sense of humor, and his uncanny ability to come off the bench and play superb defense. It has been that way for Carr ever since he signed with Boston as a free agent in August 1979, and won the hearts of the Celtic faithful with his ability to function at forward or guard. And it made little difference to him if he was a spot starter or the sixth, seventh or eighth man.

But five games into the 1983 season, it is clear that Carr's career has reached that final crossroads, and his role under new coach K. C. Jones will be quite different than anything he has experienced in the past. Carr has appeared in only one game, for a total of three minutes, and there is no promise that things will change tonight when the Celtics play the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.

No one understands this better than Carr, who through good and bad years has remained one of the club's more popular players. At 32, he knows that his playing time at forward will be limited, given the presence of of Larry Bird, Cedric Maxwell, Kevin McHale and Scott Wedman.

Former coach Bill Fitch liked to throw Carr in the gap occasionally as a "stopper" on defense and usually at guard, where his 6-foot-6 frame can be intimidating. But with the arrival of Dennis Johnson, the need for such a guard has diminished, and in fact, the Celtics defensive heir apparent is not Carr but rookie Carlos Clark, who also hasn't had much of a chance to show his stuff since the exhibition season.

None of this bothered Carr last summer when he signed his second free agent contract with the Celtics. None of this bothers him now. "That's bacause I knew exactly what was happening this summer," he said. " I had other options. I could have gone to Cleveland and played 30 minutes a game. I talked it over with K. C. and Red (Auerbach) and it was made clear that my role with the club would be limited.

"But we also talked about some specific times when a guy is going very well, or one of our guys is not having a good night, I might come in to cool somebody down. My role is to be the glue. Red reminded me, as one of the old- timers on the team, it's my job to be one of the leaders in terms of the intangibles.

"I went through training camp playing all forward," he said. "The first time I went into a game, it was at guard. K. C. didn't tell me to expect the unexpected. I have no problem with that. It's like it was in the past (under Fitch). I've got to swing. Do I have a preference? Yes. It's up front because I know big guys just aren't going to run with me consistently. That's my forte, running."

Carr feels that if this is truly his final season, he wants to end his career as a Celtic. Due to his TV experience on Channel 4 on the "Ask M. L. Show", he has credibility in New England, which would be hard to quickly establish elsewhere. "It's all about doing it one more time before I take my final bows," he said with his usual wide grin. "I wanted to be here. I wanted to finish up here because I want to live here eventually. To go away and come back would present a problem.

"It wasn't an easy decision. In fact, I had to go away to make it. Everybody in the street was trying to make a decision for me. I kept hearing, You'd be a fool to leave', Don't leave' . . . things like that. After talking to K. C., I knew exactly where he was coming from, and that helped make up my mind."

Jones says he expects to see more of Indiana's passing game tonight, as it was very successful in the second half Friday night. He also expects rookie center Steve Stipanovich to shoot more. "It's something to see a guy 7 feet tall getting a pick 18 feet away from the basket and shooting," he said. "It reminds me of Ralph Sampson and Rudy Tomjanovich. Steve has a nice touch."