Red Auerbach - RIP (1 Viewer)

[Steve...O]

Red Auerbach was an incredible coach and an ambassador for the NBA. He has passed at 89.

RIP.

Steve (who was actually a Philly fan and hated the Celtics)

 

[Chris]

He will be missed. One of the greatest coaches ever in the game, he managed talent and did more then most people can remember. Red was a driving force in propelling a black man (Russell) to become the first African-American coach in the NBA. Red stood behind him when other league members asked him to oppose.

Red also managed to change the way they scouted the league, and his style of coaching changed the way coaches in all sports handled Ego - and many coaches since him have credited Red with being one of the first to take that issue on.

He will be missed.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm old enough to have seen Red coaching the Celtics to championships and even though I was a Knicks fan and hated the Celtics, I recognized his importance to the NBA. He was one of the main reasons why that league survived after some very rough years. May he R.I.P.





Crawdaddy

 

[Ray Chuang]

He's passed away? :frowning:

Auerbach was one of the greatest personalities of the NBA, not only as coach of the Celtics teams that won all those championships during the late 1950's and 1960's but later as a team President that presided over the great years of the Celtics during the 1980's.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Not only was Red a great coach, but he was one of the best GM's ever in any professional sport. I'll always remember the way he robbed Dick Vitale blind in a deal when Dicky V was the Pistons coach/GM. The word legend gets overused sometimes, but this man was truly one. RIP.

 

[ZacharyTait]

What was the deal?

He was responsible for the two moves that brought Boston their world titles in the 80's: Drafting Larry Bird out of Indiana State in 1978 despite the fact that he wouldn't be playing until the following season and trading the #1 and #13 pick (Anyone know how they managed to get 2 picks in that draft?) to the Golden State Warriors in 1980 for Robert Parrish and the #3 pick, which ended up being Kevin McHale. I think the Celtics should rename the arena the Red Auerbach Center.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Boston signed M.L. Carr as a free agent. NBA rules at that time required that Boston compensate Detroit for the signing. Auerbach offered Cedric Maxwell or Tiny Archebald as compensation, but Vitale insisted on Bob McAdoo (who Auerbach couldn't give away at the time). Red put up an act that McAdoo was too much (while secretly hoping he could unload him on Detroit). The case went to an arbitrator, and Detroit had to throw in a first round draft pick. Auerbach turned that pick into Kevin McHale, if I recall properly.

So, basically, Detroit traded Kevin McHale, Cedric Maxwell, and M.L. Carr for Bob McAdoo.

Dick Vitale was clearly in over his head in attempting to match wits with the master. The only good thing he did in Detroit was make the team so bad that they eventually ended up with a high enough draft pick to take Isiah Thomas (after Dicky V had left for ESPN, of course).

 

[Jan H]

I'm not going to mince words. I hated that old man, and I don't care who knows. That old man made me cry in 1984 as a 16-year-old Laker fan. Yes, I'm a wuss, yes, it's just a game, and yes, he was only doing his job. But I hated you, Red.

Which means, as any Celtic fan knows, Red completed his mission.

Rest in peace, Mr. Auerbach.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

The Celtics do not own the arena, the Bruins (i.e. Jeremy Jacobs and Delaware North Concessions) do. The Celtics have always paid rent to the Bruins for use of the Garden/New Garden. Besides, the TD BankNorth Garden (what a lousy name) has never seen a Celtics championship. The old Garden saw 16. RIP to the man who built a record (16 championships in 60 years), the likes of which will never be seen again.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Dick Vitale was on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike show this morning talking about Red Auerbach. He also talked about the lopsided deal I outlined above. Well, it was even worse than I stated -- Detroit gave up two first round draft picks in the compensation deal to get McAdoo. One ended up being McHale, and the other was Robert Parrish.

So, in effect Vitale traded M.L. Carr, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish and Cedric Maxwell for Bob McAdoo. This may be the most lopsided deal in NBA history, and was critical to the building of Celtic championships in the '80's. Of course, had Detroit kept the two first round picks, I'm sure that Vitale would have drafted two more University of Detroit players instead of McHale and Parrish.

 

[ZacharyTait]

I think Dickie V. is smoking something. Robert Parrish was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1976 (#8).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

My memory is a little foggy on this, but I believe that the Celtics ended up dealing that Detroit first round pick to Golden State for Parrish. So, the Pistons certainly couldn't have drafted Parrish, but they did give up two first round picks (one of which was used to draft McHale) and M.L. Carr for McAdoo (and passed on getting Cedric Maxwell).

 

[Haggai]

The Celtics traded the #1 and #13 picks in the 1980 draft (I guess those were the ones they had gotten from the Pistons) to Golden State in exchange for Parish and the #3 pick, which they used to draft McHale.