The Rich Man's Game
I hope that Wyc and the other owners of the Celtics are watching these NBA Conference Finals because they help show how winning the the league is very much connected to how much you're willing to spend. I hope they would have learned this at watching the backups of the Celtics struggle and the squad falling just short to last year's success (which came with a heftier price tag).
One thing that all four teams have in common is that they didn't shy away from the big deal because of salary implications. The Nuggets knew they needed to make a chance and they didn't let their previous mistakes (like K-Mart's huge deal) prevent them from trading Allen Iverson's cap saving expiring contract. They gladly brought in Chauncey Billups's longer deal. The Lakers did the same when they dumped Kwame Brown's expiring contract for Pau Gasol and the Cavs didn't think twice about adding Mo Williams' salary.
The squad that hits closer to home, though, is the one that closed out the Celtics at home. The Orlando Magic had a big payroll and one of their key players (Hedo Turkoglu) will be a free agent this coming off-season but they still went out and spent the MLE on Mickeal Pietrus. I don't know if I'd go so far to call him the difference to the entire series but I have to think that if the tables were turned and the Celtics had re-signed James Posey and the Magic pinched pennies and didn't add Pietrus, that the series probably would have add a different feel to it.
Standing pat or only going after veteran minimum type players just isn't going to cut it. The Celtics need to revamp their bench and that's going to cost money. If the owners aren't willing to spend that type of cash, I'm afraid that we'll watch our veterans get run down yet again and even our younger guys like Rondo complain about tired legs.
The salary cap might save the NBA from becoming as lopsided as Major League Baseball in terms of the power of the dollar but it doesn't mean that the bottom line isn't completely disconnected from the financial bottom line. Winning costs money; will the Celtics be willing to spend enough of it this offseason to get back on top?
