Why do elite players NOT want to play for the Celtics?

[apc]

I think this is a popularity issue.
The thing with the Celtics is, if you are not a fan, you probably hate the Celtics.
Some athletes may have problem playing for a team they used to hate. And if you are a star who can pick between the Lakers (and you probably Loved Magic cause he is so cool, and had his posters all over your room) or Celtics (you used to Hate Bird, the most un-athletic NBA star ever) guess who you want to play for?

[PierceMVP08]

Today's stars aren't the generation that watched Bird and Magic, they're the Jordan era.  That's why Lebron wore 23 not 32.

[dtrader]

Today's stars aren't the generation that watched Bird and Magic, they're the Jordan era.  That's why Lebron wore 23 not 32.

Exactly.  The players today know almost nothing about the 80's celtics/lakers, and absolutely NOTHING about the celtics prior to that.  They know Bill Russell has the most rings, and he was a celtic.  There is NO connection beyond that.  They had posters of Kobe, KG, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, and Tracy McGrady.  Thats why our team history is insignificant (or a negative).  While the current NBA stars were watching the NBA, the celtics just stunk.  They didnt really like (or hate) the celtics.  The celtics werent even a thought.  We were like the Bucks to them.  They either hated or loved the Lakers, cuz the Kobe/Shaq Lakers is one of the big things they remember.

[CeltsAcumen]

As a former New Englander and current So Cal resident I will tell you but you will not like the answer.

1) Weather - OMG New England winters/summers are HORRIBLE compared to LA, Miami, SF or even Denver IMO (but some may believe different).  When I moved to LA for law school it took me exactly one night in Malibu to promise myself I would never, ever go back.  Life is just a whole lot easier when its 70 and sunny ever freaking day...  Granted this is not a reason to choose NYC.

2) Boston is a racist city.  Sorry its reputation is terrible around the US.  Are there worse places to live, in terms of race relations... of course.  But Boston has a BAD reputation and some look at the way certain players have been treated over the years and stay away.  Whether Boston is really racist matters little, its perceived as racist so unfortunately it is.  

3) NO entertainment industry at all.  Its not coincidental both Paul and Howard wanted NYC or LA.  Boston has no connection to the Entertainment industry outside of sports and ESPN is not enough.  Its parent company and offices, ABC/Disney are all located in LA and NYC and the rumor around Hollywood is ESPN is going to move for good to Beverly Hills.  Endorsements are better in those cities and the perks are way better.  Having a house on the Cape is really nice, but so is Santa Barbara and the Hamptons.  LA, Miami and NYC night life is insane compared to Boston and young players know this.  LA, Miami and NYC are leaders in the music industry, film and television, reality shows, fashion and modeling and of course ****.

4) Generational - The NBA is an image league and right now the Celtics are the guys in the black hats and the Lakers are the good guys(I don't agree but what can you do).  This changed around the late 80s and not having an African American star player to succeed Bird (cough Len Bias) killed their popularity in the Michael Jordan decade.

5)  Have you seen the women in Boston?  Come on, LA, Miami and NYC are amazing in terms of the ladies.  Boston? Does every woman in Boston have a belly, use too much hairspray and have nothing but sweatshirts in their wardrobe?  

#5 was just my reason for staying in LA. =)

5(a) LA only - Las Vegas.  Sorry but when you can drive 4 hours and potentially have the weekend of you life, Mohican Sun just does not cut it.  Sorry that was dig on my former New Englanders.

PS - why did you remove the word "****" from my post? How can you justify censoring a word that describes a 5 billion dollar industry. Explain please how "****" is considered offensive or vulgar enough to earn a ban from normal, non-sexual, descriptive statements?

[Eja117]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is a well documented phenomena that when kids are choosing to play for colleges they usually stay pretty close to home.  This is why USC, Texas, and Florida usually do very well in recruiting.  So does Ohio St.  They have huge states to pick from.  So these states have many many good college teams. USC, Cal, UCLA, UT, Tex AM, Houston, TCU, UF, FSU, Miami, South Florida, etc, etc, etc.   Amazingly NYC has almost none by some strange quirk, unless you count Rutgers and Syracuse. Philly has none by some strange quirk unless you count Temple and Nova.  Boston has BC, and then you got UConn.  The mid west and rust belt schools like Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Cincinnati, Pitt, Louisville, and even PSU are finding it harder and harder to compete, with the exceptions of Ohio St (located in a deceptively huge city actually) and maybe Michigan. Also some schools in the area have become more competitive such as Mich St, Northwestern, Wisconsin.   The days where a small midwest school could just get a kid from the farms and steel mills of French Lick and compete with big boys is over. Those schools have shifted to places like Baylor, the occasional Appalachian St in North Carolina, the occasional Florida school that comes out of nowhere like South Florida, TCU, Texas Tech, etc.

(Don't even think of saying "Butler!".  Coincidence caused by early NBA defections. Not the same thing at all)

In the same vein pro sports have shifted somewhat too.  It is very hard to get kids from CA, FL, TX, or North Carolina to want to go to Boston or New Jersey (there are reasons they're going to Brooklyn) or Washington or Seattle, or even Philly. Do you hear people talking about wanting to go to Philly? They have history.  

The only northern exceptions are NYC and Chicago. The biggest and third biggest cities in America, one of which is where Jordan played. If Jordan had played for us it might be different.

In a maner of speaking trying to get players to us is a little like getting players to Anchorage Alaska.  Or Minneapolis. Or Milwaukee. Players don't care about what happened in the 80s. Just like I don't care what happened in the 50s or 60s. Or even 70s that much. I do not care that Lew Alcindor may have won a ring in Milwaukee. Don't care. I think I'd hate LA and even I would pick LA over Milwaukee. I think. I'd have to visit.

[Eja117]

I need someone to just educate me.

Why on Earth is Boston considered so racist. TODAY.  In the year 2011 why is Boston considered so racist? 

I mean if I'm black which of the following words register as most racist and why? Boston, LA, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami

I mean those are some loaded words. I don't see why Boston should be the "winner".

One of those cities has a notorious police department (you know what I mean), but everyone wants to play there. One city had serious problems during a certain hurricane where supposedly minorities were targeted for extinction. Several of those cities are in former confederate/slave/Jim Crow states.  Two of those cities are white as Russian snow, yet don't really get the word "racist" applied to it. One city treated its superstar like crud when he left town.

I am just not getting how Boston can be considered the clear cut racist city for basketball. We had the first black NBA player. Multiple black coaches. We are in the bluest state in America. We put out the first all black regiment. We have a black governor. 

Why Boston?  Do players just need some history lessons or present lessons or do I need the lessons, cause I am just not getting this. 

[Moreover]

Players don't even think about the stuff being discussed here. Elite players especially know they're going to be idolized and venerated wherever they go. And they have money to have fun anywhere on earth.

If the money is equal, then chances of winning - teammates, coach - is the deciding factor.

People talk a lot about New York, but the only "elite" free-agent the Knicks ever signed was Amare Stoudemire - a guy who said that for the same money he'd have stayed in Phoenix, Arizona. And Tyson Chandler too, I guess, but again: they offered him more money than anyone else.   

[MF Doom]

I need someone to just educate me.

Why on Earth is Boston considered so racist. TODAY.  In the year 2011 why is Boston considered so racist? 

I mean if I'm black which of the following words register as most racist and why? Boston, LA, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami

I mean those are some loaded words. I don't see why Boston should be the "winner".

One of those cities has a notorious police department (you know what I mean), but everyone wants to play there. One city had serious problems during a certain hurricane where supposedly minorities were targeted for extinction. Several of those cities are in former confederate/slave/Jim Crow states.  Two of those cities are white as Russian snow, yet don't really get the word "racist" applied to it. One city treated its superstar like crud when he left town.

I am just not getting how Boston can be considered the clear cut racist city for basketball. We had the first black NBA player. Multiple black coaches. We are in the bluest state in America. We put out the first all black regiment. We have a black governor. 

Why Boston?  Do players just need some history lessons or present lessons or do I need the lessons, cause I am just not getting this. 

Boston, the city, has had a racist history. The school bus desegregation, Dee Brown incident, Bill Russell being treated like Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline., etc. I think alot of people from Boston like to deny this city's history and it's annoying.

[timepiece33]

Combination of taxes, weather, and affordability.

[PierceMVP08]

I need someone to just educate me.

Why on Earth is Boston considered so racist. TODAY.  In the year 2011 why is Boston considered so racist? 

I mean if I'm black which of the following words register as most racist and why? Boston, LA, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami

I mean those are some loaded words. I don't see why Boston should be the "winner".

One of those cities has a notorious police department (you know what I mean), but everyone wants to play there. One city had serious problems during a certain hurricane where supposedly minorities were targeted for extinction. Several of those cities are in former confederate/slave/Jim Crow states.  Two of those cities are white as Russian snow, yet don't really get the word "racist" applied to it. One city treated its superstar like crud when he left town.

I am just not getting how Boston can be considered the clear cut racist city for basketball. We had the first black NBA player. Multiple black coaches. We are in the bluest state in America. We put out the first all black regiment. We have a black governor. 

Why Boston?  Do players just need some history lessons or present lessons or do I need the lessons, cause I am just not getting this. 

Boston, the city, has had a racist history. The school bus desegregation, Dee Brown incident, Bill Russell being treated like ****, etc. I think alot of people from Boston like to deny this city's history and it's annoying.

Nobody can deny the past (although i don't recall the Dee Brown incident. what was that?).  It happened but not only in Boston and sometimes worse elsewhere.  What about Rodney King?  What What about lynchings in texas?  What about immigrant beatings in New York, New Jersey, Arizona? 

To simply say Boston is a racist city and that's that is a cop out.  As a lifelong minority resident, I invite anyone to show me this, this day in age.  Prove to me it occurs more in Boston than anywhere else.  You can't and therefore we need to move on from this perception and stop highlighting boston as the only city or region that has had a racist past.  It's uneducated and lazy.

[Roy H.]

(although i don't recall the Dee Brown incident. what was that?).

Dee Brown was in downtown Wellesley, I believe.  Apparently, somebody who worked at a nearby bank called the cops, saying that Brown matched the description of a bank robber who had held up the bank the week before.  Brown was surrounded by cops, and I believe was held at gun point until he proved his identity.

I know a lot of people accused the cops of racism, but when they get a call from an employee from the same bank that was robbed, saying the robber is once again outside their bank, I understand why cops would swoop in.  Unfortunately, it didn't do anything to repair the perception of the Boston area as racist.

[nickagneta]

I need someone to just educate me.

Why on Earth is Boston considered so racist. TODAY.  In the year 2011 why is Boston considered so racist? 

I mean if I'm black which of the following words register as most racist and why? Boston, LA, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Miami

I mean those are some loaded words. I don't see why Boston should be the "winner".

One of those cities has a notorious police department (you know what I mean), but everyone wants to play there. One city had serious problems during a certain hurricane where supposedly minorities were targeted for extinction. Several of those cities are in former confederate/slave/Jim Crow states.  Two of those cities are white as Russian snow, yet don't really get the word "racist" applied to it. One city treated its superstar like crud when he left town.

I am just not getting how Boston can be considered the clear cut racist city for basketball. We had the first black NBA player. Multiple black coaches. We are in the bluest state in America. We put out the first all black regiment. We have a black governor. 

Why Boston?  Do players just need some history lessons or present lessons or do I need the lessons, cause I am just not getting this. 

Boston, the city, has had a racist history. The school bus desegregation, Dee Brown incident, Bill Russell being treated like ****, etc. I think alot of people from Boston like to deny this city's history and it's annoying.

Nobody can deny the past (although i don't recall the Dee Brown incident. what was that?).  It happened but not only in Boston and sometimes worse elsewhere.  What about Rodney King?  What What about lynchings in texas?  What about immigrant beatings in New York, New Jersey, Arizona? 

To simply say Boston is a racist city and that's that is a cop out.  As a lifelong minority resident, I invite anyone to show me this, this day in age.  Prove to me it occurs more in Boston than anywhere else.  You can't and therefore we need to move on from this perception and stop highlighting boston as the only city or region that has had a racist past.  It's uneducated and lazy.

Unfortunately people's perceptions of things and the realities of the situation can often be very, very different.

I agree, I don't think Boston is any more or less racist than any other major city in America and I seldom see overt racism occurring in this city anymore. But it did. And it was greatly publicized and people have long memories and learn from people with long memories.

And that is really too bad. Sometimes it can take many generations before such horrible perceptions and awful history can forgotten. Its just probably a wee bit too soon for this perception of Boston to be over and done with.

[GreenShooter]

Someone needs to take away a TP from CeltsAcumen for his comment #5. Seriously, where are you looking for women in Boston, a nursing home? There are hotties everywhere, even though most of them are stuck up prudish snobs. That is the only reason to hate on Boston area women.

[Onslaught]

I don't think anyone would thinks the Celtics organization is racist. It's had a long history of things to show that's not true. But I do know that some people outside Boston feel that some of the fans are. Didn't Larry and Kevin get more "love" then Robert? Didn't Robert feel that even Bill Walton was liked/appreciated more then him in 86? I can't recall them all but I know I've seen some players say things like this about Boston.

I'm not saying I feel this way. And my hope is that the modern day Celtics can kill this reputation.
But there's nothing you can do about your sucky weather.

[cman88]

am I the only one who thinks the whole deciding where you play because of "weather" is one of the most rediculous things ive ever heard?? if you are a player who wants a championship and wants to win you should play for whoever gives you the best shot to win.

its like this crop of new superstars generally really dont care that much about winning and would rather hang out with their buddies in warm weather and going clubbing than win a championship....theres no other reason to explain why CP3 had golden state as a higher option than Boston