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Auerbach: Where's the loyalty?
Special to Page 2Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach, who has had a hand in all 16 of the franchise's NBA titles, talked with ESPN.com's Greg Garber about how basketball has changed in the modern age:
|  | | Red Auerbach has been at the center of all the Celtics' success. |
In a lot of ways, the actual act of coaching is basically the same. It's the approach that has changed.
For example, when I coached there were no such things as assistants. Some teams might have had a guy helping out, but there was no formal assistant coach. We didn't have scouts, or films to break down, either. We didn't have that kind of money. I had to do it all. Today, you see the computers and the video tapes. There are at least four assistants with each team and scouts, too.
To me, a lot of them get in each other's way. Guys keeping track of fouls, another guy tracking timeouts. It's ridiculous. It's a game with five guys. Let 'em go out there and play.
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The Auerbach file |
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Arnold "Red" Auerbach began his coaching career in 1946, the NBA's inaugural season, steering the Washington Capitols to a league-best 49-11 record. Three years later, he landed with the Celtics, and a tradition was born. Auerbach had a hand in all 16 of Boston's NBA titles.
In 20 NBA seasons, Auerbach's teams won 938 games, fourth on the NBA's all-time list. The Celtics won eight straight titles between 1958-66, a league record. As team president in the 1970s and 1980s, Auerbach continually reinvented the Celtics. To this day, Auerbach, 83, remains involved in team's operations. |
The one thing I hear a lot is how much bigger, faster and stronger today's athlete is. Well, they're not. Go back a ways to Chamberlain, Russell, Thurman, Pettit. Those were all pretty big guys. Shaq is a monster, but Chamberlain played bigger. Oscar Robertson, Cousy and Havlicek all had the size and the skills to play today.
I think one thing that has changed dramatically is the concept of what a team is. See, free agency has changed the loyalty of players to their teams. With all the money we see in free agency, guys want to get numbers so they can appeal to other teams.
When I coached, I based salaries on the contributions each player made, whether it be scoring, passing, playing defense, rebounding. Today, the free-agency system doesn't reward a guy who plays good, hard defense. That's why defenders are so hard to find.
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