Bucher: What did Chris Wallace to in previous life to deserve Memphis?

He became GM of the Celtics in 2000. In 2001 he drafted Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte. He made a promise to Brown and drafted him over Richard Jefferson, he passed over Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas for Forte. Joe Johnson was a great pick, who he quickly dealt for Tony Delk and Rodney Rodgers. Later, he dealt for Vin Baker, a max contract player with alcohol and weight problems.

His Celtics teams had some success, making the conference finals in the weak Eastern conference. When he was replaced by Ainge, the team was in terrible shape, Paul Pierce was the only asset they had. One season they had to play with J.R. Strickland as the lead guard.

In his tenure as Celtics GM, he mainly worked with Paul Gaston, a terrible owner that looked out for the bottom line and tried to sell the team for as much profit as possible. He fell on the sword for some of Gaston's decisions and kept his mouth shut. I'm guessing that's what caught Michael Heisley's eye and got him another job.

 

It's so convenient to write stuff like this. Newsflash: every single other GM in the league passed up on them.

 

Every single GM in the league wasn't looking for a PG. Wallace had Parker in for multiple workouts and was looking for a PG with the #21 pick. Parker's camp thought they were headed for the Celts but it was Forte instead.

The Celtics were looking for a backup/eventual replacement to Kenny Anderson. They were going to make that pick with the #21 because they knew lots of PGs would be available down there. They chose to pick Joe Forte and try to convert him to PG, passing over the likes of Gilbert Arenas, Tony Parker, and Jamaal Tinsley. They considered all those guys with #21, but picked Joe Forte instead. I don't think every GM in the league had a similar situation.

 

I could see Wallace overpaying Lee tremendously. Also, all you need to know about Wallace is he wanted to actually acquire Zach Randolph and his horrendous contract in exchange for Darko Milicic, who, mind you, is not nearly as talented, but is not the headcase and does not have the financial burden Randolph does.

Still can't believe the Clips didn't pull the trigger on that. Imbeciles.

 

Don't forget the Gasol trade. At least in the Garnett trade, Minny got a player with all star potential in AL Jefferson, plus their lottery draft pick back. All the Grizz got was Marc Gasol and cap relief, and that cap relief was sacrificed in order to get OJ Mayo.

 

Until the Griz get sold, I highly doubt Wallace gets the greenlight to sign anyone to something other than the LLE, vet min, or a rookie contract.

Multiyear contract = debt. Debt load reduces the franchise value.

 

Absolutely. The sooner the Grizz get sold, the better.

 

Bingo, especially the last paragraph. Chris Wallace has talent and experience as a scout (going back to his days with Portland when they were an elite team), but his niche in the NBA has been as a shill for owners. The Vin Baker trade, his biggest disaster in Boston, wasn't his idea--it was Gaston's, who through Baker grossed an extra $20 million (Seattle paid his salary for the first year, even as it counted against Boston's salary cap) when he sold the team. The Joe Forte pick made sense at the time, because A) he fell to the late first round after a monster freshman year, B) many observers thought he could play point-guard in the NBA and C) I supported it wholeheartedly .

And it was Eric Strickland, though he was never the "lead guard." Strickland was a good pickup: tough SOB. That 01-02 team he was on had Tony Delk and Kenny Anderson (who had the best season of his career that year).

 

BTW I think the Forte pick was made on Red Auerbach's input. Wallace was high on Parker.

 

Thank you, posters, for pointing out that the Baker deal was a Gaston move. Saved him something like 600k in the eventual selling of the team. Seriously.

We were hearing about how broke and in debt Heisley was nine years ago. I kept with it for years. It took until 2007 for it finally to come out.