Say it Ain't So

September 7, 1985

SAY IT AIN'T SO: BILL WALTON IS FINALLY A CELTIC

So it's done. With only slightly less fanfare than the Allies received when they liberated Paris, Bill Walton has finally become a Celtic.

Presumably, this is Part One of a two-part Celtic master plan. Getting Walton is (pick one) wonderful, phantasmagorical, exhilarating, totally awesome. However, the question remains: Who's gonna guard Bernard King?



If the Celtics went to war today, the only person on the roster even remotely resembling an NBA small forward would be Scott Wedman. As valuable a reserve as Wedman has become, no one is seriously suggesting he is any longer a first-rate NBA forward. He is a useful 33-year-old guy who needs to be spotted carefully.

The party line is one of concern, not panic. "If you think about it," pointed out general manager Jan Volk, "we haven't played with a John Havlicek-type small forward in years."

He's right. The last one was M.L. Carr in 1979-80. When Larry Bird was a rookie he guarded the rival small forward when he and Cedric Maxwell were paired up. Then Maxwell improved sufficiently on defense to switch assignments with Bird the following year. Max was never a classic small forward - most of whom have a shooting range longer than a foot and a half - but he did run the floor and could guard the small guys.

With Maxwell injured, the Celtics operated the final two months, plus the entire play-offs, without a small forward. Had Bird been healthy, they might have successfully defended their championship, regardless. An argument can therefore be made that it isn't necessary for the Celtics to have a small forward, not with a front line of Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Walton and Wedman. The hell with matching up to the others. Let the others match up to the Celtics.

Perhaps. But as it stands now Bird will wind up guarding the Ervings, Kings, Wilkinses, Kelloggs and Tripuckas, and it would be nice if he could be spared that constant duty. Logic dictates that the Celtics should be looking around for a small forward who could lend at least occasional defensive relief to the team's best player.

As for Walton vs. Maxwell, fans should remind themselves frequently that one way not to judge the trade next year will be to cite any injuries to Walton. The question isn't Walton vs. Maxwell, it's Walton vs. Greg Kite. Why? Because Maxwell didn't want to be here. In the end, the Celtics felt they had to trade him. Getting Bill Walton in exchange is a large bonus.

Cedric Maxwell wasn't happy here. He had walked through two of the last three seasons, and even after receiving an outstanding new contract he appeared to be distracted. By the middle of last year his teammates were openly questioning his attitude. He let them down by not getting ready to perform in the play-offs and he infuriated management by his negative attitude when asked (not without good reason) to demonstrate his rehabilitation progress by coming to rookie camp. Cedric Maxwell traded himself out of a dream professional situation. And only he knows why.

In Walton the Celtics are getting the greatest short-term center in the history of basketball. In the first 60 games of the 1977-78 season his play more fully encompassed the possibilities of the center position than that of any man who has ever played the game. He knows how to play, and it can be assumed that he will react positively to the oft-electrifying atmosphere of Boston Garden, as well as to the challenge of wearing the green and white in enemy arenas. He says he wants to play in big games again, and when you're a Celtic you get a megadose of those experiences.

Can he still play? Last season he was the league's leading rebounder, per minutes played. He can pass, he can defend. The Celtics having Walton and Bird on the same team is like the South Shore Music Circus signing up Sinatra and Bennett for the '86 season.

The Celtics have plenty of time to find that elusive small forward. But Walton is here now. Let the dreaming begin.