Red's Mistakes

[tenn_smoothie]

one big mistake Red made was letting Paul Silas sign with another team after the 1976 title .......... Red felt like holding the line against this free-agency nonsense would let other players know in the future where Red stood on this.

that 70's group could have won another title with Paul Silas. losing him hurt the team and took the wind out of Dave Cowens the next season.

[amenhotep04]

Historically one of the decisions most criticized in his otherwise stellar career, was Red's loyalty to the big 3 near the end of their careers.  Danny Ainge has said before that when he was a player he tried to convince Red to trade one or all of the big 3 in order to receive some young talent to rejuvenate the team for the future.  Who knows what would have happened if Red had indeed traded Bird or any of the big three, but it is often considered that his decision to stick with them through their respective declines left the franchise in a position where they were without talented young players or any leverage in trades.  This was of course compounded by the deaths of Len Bias (and Reggie Lewis a few years later.)

It was followed by over twenty years of futility and frustration.  I'm not saying that any of this is indeed true, because there are a lot of hypotheticals involved, but if you want to know about historical mistakes made by Red, this one is often considered one of the biggest.

Red was pretty good at trading an average player who had a really good run when their value was over inflated.  Regarding the trading of any of the big three.  The plan was that Bias was going to be a bigger version of MJ.  So once Bias was on board, Red was going to trade McHale which would have brought us back a ton.  Bias's death turned everything.

But I think if you look at the draft picks of the 1980s, he made a lot of mistakes.

In the 70s, I think either letting Westphal go, or trading him, I don't remember, marked a turning point. As mentioned, the McAdoo thing stunk as well as the signings of Wicks and Rowe.

[hardlyyardley]

The McAdoo trade was not by Red but by John Y Brown who owned the Celtics at the time.....McAdoo was then traded to Detroit (I believe) for three #1s.....the C's then used one of those picks as compensation for ML Carr and took their pick and one of the #1s from McAdoo and traded them for Parish and another pick which was McHale

I remember in the 60s Red drafted a player (Ben Swain? or Bill Green?) who had a phoebia about flying and never worked out

[slamtheking]

in my time following the team (since Bird's rookie year), the biggest 3 would be:
1. Consenting to bringing in Pitino.
2. drafting Michael Smith
3. not insisting on having Len Bias pass a drug screen process or having someone babysit him until training camp.  Bias may have been a great kid but during the 80's, it would have been the prudent move considering the widespread drug use that turned a lot of big name prospects into washouts and the fact he was the #2 pick and future franchise player. 

#3 may be debatable as hindsight being 100% accurate but when the news of Bias' death came out, I couldn't help wonder what were the C's thinking not having this kid watched/guided until he was signed and in camp.

[2short]

First I doubt Red had any say in Pitino I believe it was forced on him.  Second I feel Danny for eddie (good solid pf) and Kleine (good solid c) was a good trade.  No way Ainge could have taken minutes away from reggie and shaw.  Shaw was a good athlete like danny but not the player, reggie could have been something really special. 
This isn't to say that danny wasn't a good ball player by the way, a great great athlete who worked his ass off to develop a very good outside shot. 
And third the len bias draft would have capped the most amazing group of movements ever in any prof. sport.  He didn't put the crack pipe to bias' mouth.  I believe (not counting work levels etc) that Bias would have been better than MJ (who is not the best ever by the way)
OK, as some have stated red made no mistakes.
but boo boos would be:
the mess of free agency back in the 70's, sidney wicks
paul silas leaving, boston could  have done more with him and that group
paul westphal charlie scott
So actually all 3 were 70's things

[Lucky17]

Leaving us before we beat the Lakers for Banner 17.

[Roy Hobbs]

Somebody mentioned this on the front page, I think, but picking Mel Counts over Willis Reed in the draft in 1964 was a big mistake.

[2short]

Somebody mentioned this on the front page, I think, but picking Mel Counts over Willis Reed in the draft in 1964 was a big mistake.

good memory! but would we have drafted Cowens (my all time fav) if we had Reed?
also another side note:
a whiny sg tells the greatest gm ever that he should trade the older all stars to get young blood to team?  maybe that is why red traded ainge

[celts60]

In the 70's Red passed up Gus Williams (who developed into an All Star) in the draft and instead took Tom Boswell.  Also, during the Big Three era, I wished that Red had taken a chance on signing McAdoo (a few years after trading McAdoo to Detroit).  Jerry West signed McAdoo instead.  While no longer a superstar, McAdoo did provide the Lakers with an offensive lift off the bench.

[Jay G]

Somebody mentioned this on the front page, I think, but picking Mel Counts over Willis Reed in the draft in 1964 was a big mistake.

good memory! but would we have drafted Cowens (my all time fav) if we had Reed?
also another side note:
a whiny sg tells the greatest gm ever that he should trade the older all stars to get young blood to team?  maybe that is why red traded ainge

haha amen to that. tp

[ms12]

drafted paul westphal (10th overall) over julius erving (12th) in 1972?
norm cook? over alex english in 76? (both SFs)
daron tillis over mark eaton in 82? (both C's)

i mean hindsights 20/20 but thats the same argument as someone picking forte over parker...

[Roy Hobbs]

i mean hindsights 20/20 but thats the same argument as someone picking forte over parker...

I disagree, if only because *everyone* had us linked to either Parker, Tinsley, or Arenas that year.  To pick Forte was not only a huge shock, but a huge mistake, as well.