![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ML_Carr2.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0 Michael D. McClellan\u00a0<\/strong>|\u00a0To a generation of Boston Celtics fans, M.L. Carr was the towel-waving agitator best remembered\u00a0for antagonizing Lakers players and fans alike during that epic 1984 NBA Finals.\u00a0 To another generation of fans, Carr was the Celtics\u2019 coach and general manager during some of the darkest days in franchise history, overseeing one of the team\u2019s worst seasons in a failed attempt to land Wake Forest star Tim Duncan.\u00a0 Either way, Carr\u2019s mark on the Boston Celtics is indelible.\u00a0 He is a member of the \u201981 and \u201984 Celtic championship teams that overcame long odds to hang banners in the old Boston Garden, and he\u00a0remains fiercely proud of his connection to one of the NBA’s greatest franchises.<\/p>\n Yes, M.L. Carr still bleeds green.<\/p>\n “There’s not another organization in sports that matches it,” he says quickly.\u00a0 “The Boston Celtics epitomize greatness and tradition.\u00a0 The Lakers are close, but they’re still looking up at us.\u00a0 Just the way I like it.”<\/p>\n Carr’s road to basketball success started at tiny Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina.\u00a0 Picked by the Kansas City Kings in the fifth round of the 1973 NBA Draft, Carr also found himself selected by the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels.\u00a0 However, the Wallace, North Carolina native quickly learned that the path to the pros wouldn\u2019t be easy; cut by both the Kings and Colonels, Carr balled for the Hamilton Pat Pavers and the Scranton Apollos of the Eastern Basketball Association before playing for\u00a0Israel Sabras in the European Pro Basketball league.<\/p>\n The year in Israel allowed Carr to hone his skills and grow as a player \u2013 he led Israel Sabras to a league title, topping the league in scoring and finishing second in rebounding en route to being named Most Valuable Player \u2013 before signing a one-year contract with the Spirits of St. Louis, a year before the league folded.<\/p>\n Carr\u2019s brief ABA career earned him a spot on the league\u2019s All-Rookie team.\u00a0 It was enough to catch the eye of the Detroit Pistons, and Carr wasted little time signing his first NBA contract.\u00a0 He would play three seasons in a Detroit uniform before signing a free agent contract with the Celtics, his arrival coinciding with the arrival of Indiana State forward Larry Bird and head coach Bill Fitch, returning Boston its familiar place among the NBA’s elite.<\/p>\n Winners of 29 games a season earlier, the Celtics would finish 61-21 during the 1979-80 regular season, reaching the 1980 Eastern Conference Finals.\u00a0 Down 3-1 to the Philadelphia 76ers in the ’81 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics rallied to win the series and advance to the 1981 NBA Finals against the Houston Rockets.\u00a0 Six games later, the Celtics were champions and Carr was on top of the basketball world.<\/p>\n “Best feeling in the world,” he says quickly.<\/p>\n The Celtics would win another championship in 1984, defeating the hated Lakers in seven games.\u00a0 It was a classic series, and remains one of the highest-rated NBA Finals in league history.\u00a0 For Celtics fans of a certain age, the lasting image of Carr waving his trademark towel still reverberates.<\/p>\n “Fans identified with M.L. Carr and the towel,” says Bill Walton with a laugh.\u00a0 “They lived vicariously through him, and they loved watching him get under the Lakers’ skin.”<\/p>\n Carr\u2019s NBA career would end 47 games into the 1984-85 regular season, but his work with the Celtics was far from done.\u00a0 He remained connected with team ownership, and in 1994 was named general manager.\u00a0 He also coached the team for two seasons \u2013 1995-96, and 1996-97.\u00a0 It was a dark period in team history \u2013 Bird, McHale and Parish were long gone, and the team had lost budding star Reggie Lewis to a heart attack during the summer of \u201993.\u00a0 Still, Carr worked hard to restore glory to the once-proud franchise as GM.<\/p>\n “I have no regrets,” he says, settling in for the interview.\u00a0 “I had a good run.\u00a0 I have\u00a0two NBA championship rings and a lifetime of memories to show for it.”<\/p>\n Please tell me a little about your childhood, and some of the things that led you to the basketball court.<\/strong><\/p>\n I grew up in the\u00a0segregated South, in the small town of Wallace, North Carolina.\u00a0 It was an agricultural town.\u00a0 I was twelve years old when I went out to the local golf course to get a job as a caddie.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know anything about caddying, but I met a man there who would go on to have an incredible impact on my life.\u00a0 His name is Davis Lee.\u00a0 He took me under his wing that day and predicted that, with my attitude and his wallet, we\u2019d make a great partnership.\u00a0 We\u2019ve remained close for 50 years \u2013 and he and I are now in business together in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n Not only did he hire me as a caddie that day, he also convinced me that I should help integrate the local high school.\u00a0 There were people on both sides who didn\u2019t think it was a good idea for me to go to a white high school, but it turned out to be a great decision.\u00a0 He was also the one who convinced me to go out for basketball.\u00a0 I told him that I didn\u2019t like basketball, but he was persistent and really stayed after me.\u00a0 When I told him that I wasn\u2019t a very good player, he countered by paying my way to a basketball camp.\u00a0 It was held at Kimble College \u2013 Kimble University now \u2013 and it was one of the oldest and largest camps in the country.\u00a0 He said that I\u2019d come back and make the high school basketball team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did it turn out?<\/strong><\/p>\n That camp was a life-changing experience for me.\u00a0 There were two reasons it was such a big deal for me \u2013 the legendary John Wooden was there, and so was \u2018Pistol\u2019 Pete Maravich.\u00a0 It was an unbelievable experience.\u00a0 Pete pulled me aside and let me hang out with him at the camp \u2013 it would be like LeBron James doing that one of the kids at his camp today, or a Larry Bird asking a kid to hang out with him for the week.\u00a0 So that really got me excited about the game.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You played your college ball at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.<\/strong><\/p>\n Guilford is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Wallace, close enough to home but still far enough away to fully experience life on a college campus.\u00a0\u00a0My freshman year we placed fourth in the 1970 NAIA Tournament.\u00a0 As a senior we finished with a 29-5 record and defeated the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in the NAIA championship game.\u00a0 I played forward for Coach [Jack] Jensen, and I learned so much from him.\u00a0 Our team went 101-25 those four years.\u00a0 I averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds my senior year and was name NAIA First Team All-American, but the thing I was most proud of was graduating from Guilford with academic honors and a history degree.\u00a0\u00a0The decision to go to Guilford was one of the best decisions I ever made.\u00a0 I\u2019m still involved in the school today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You took a circuitous route to the Celtics.\u00a0 Please take me back to this period on your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n I spent three years trying to figure out how to get into either the NBA or the ABA.\u00a0 I was cut from three teams.\u00a0 I ended playing in the old Eastern League, and that\u2019s where Red [Auerbach] discovered me.\u00a0 He thought I could eventually play at the NBA level,\u00a0so he pulled some strings with a European League team called the Israel Sabras.\u00a0 I experienced success and ended up getting noticed by scouts in both leagues.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How long were you in Israel?<\/strong><\/p>\n I played one season there.\u00a0 When I came back I decided to play for the ABA\u2019s Spirits of St. Louis under a one-year deal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was your time like with the Spirits of St. Louis?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a great group of players, a very talented group, but we really weren\u2019t a real good team.\u00a0 We had great individual stars.\u00a0 On paper it was one of the most talented collection of players ever.\u00a0 Moses Malone, Marvin Barnes, Caldwell Jones, Don Chaney, Mike D\u2019Antoni.\u00a0 Joe Mullaney started that season as the head coach, and Rod Thorn finished it.\u00a0 It was a great learning experience for me because both of those men really knew their basketball.\u00a0 It helped to transition me from the ABA to the NBA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did you end up playing for the Pistons?<\/strong><\/p>\n The ABA folded in 1976, and the two leagues merged.\u00a0 I was considered a free agent because I\u2019d only signed for one year, and Detroit was offering me the best deal at the time \u2013 it was for three years, so I couldn\u2019t turn that down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Detroit you played for Dick Vitale.<\/strong><\/p>\n Dick Vitale was a very animated coach.\u00a0 He came to the Pistons after coaching the\u00a0University of Detroit.\u00a0 It was his first pro coaching opportunity.\u00a0 For anyone who\u2019s seen him as an announcer, he was the same way as a coach.\u00a0 He was so intense.\u00a0 The one thing I\u2019ll always remember him for \u2013 and thank him for \u2013 is that he let me play the third most minutes in the NBA during my free agent year, and that gave me the opportunity to become one of those high-paid athletes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A year later you join the Celtics.\u00a0 Things weren\u2019t exactly rosy in Boston at the point in time.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Celtics were in a rebuilding mode and were coming off a lot of turmoil.\u00a0 Dave Cowens was making a real effort to be a part of the rebuild.\u00a0 Tiny Archibald was coming back from an off year.\u00a0 Gerald Henderson and Cedric Maxwell were also a part of that team.\u00a0 We also had this young kid from French Lick that was supposed to be a pretty good player [laughs].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Red wasted little time getting the Celtics back on track.<\/strong><\/p>\n Red had assembled a good nucleus to build around, and then he started getting rid of the players who were causing all of the problems.\u00a0 He was willing to sacrifice talent but he wasn\u2019t going to sacrifice character.\u00a0 We had a very good year, winning 61 games and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.\u00a0 Even though we didn’t win it all, that year was crucial because it put us back on track and we became a championship caliber team.\u00a0 The other good thing about season was that it gave me a chance to play with my mentor, Pete Maravich.\u00a0 It was an unbelievable thrill to be on the same team with him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk \u201981 Eastern Conference Finals.\u00a0 The Celtics were down 3-1 to the heavily favored 76ers.\u00a0 What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n Red explained that we had a great opportunity.\u00a0 He told us not to look at it being down 3-1, that we needed to approach it a game at a time.\u00a0 It\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but it was exactly what we were up against.\u00a0 They had to beat us one more time.\u00a0 So Red just kept reinforcing that fact.\u00a0 He just kept saying, \u2018Don\u2019t let them beat you.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0I remember being in Game 5 of that series, and getting a rebound and getting fouled by Dr. J.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to the line and the Sixers call timeout to ice me, and Cedric Maxwell comes over and says, \u2018Don\u2019t worry about these foul shots – you make them both and we keep playing.\u00a0 You miss and we get to go on summer vacation.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0It was an incredible comeback, that\u2019s the reality of it, and we knew that once we beat the Sixers that it was pretty much anticlimactic.\u00a0 We knew we were going to beat the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There wasn\u2019t any doubt?<\/strong><\/p>\n We knew we were going to win.\u00a0 We\u2019d gone through such an incredible battle with the Sixers that there wasn\u2019t a doubt in the world.\u00a0 Beating the Rockets was a foregone conclusion.\u00a0 We knew there was no way we\u2019d come up short.\u00a0 Talent-wise, we felt we were the superior team, and we had such a will to win after losing to the Sixers the year before and then coming back to beat them to reach the Finals.\u00a0 We knew we were going to take care of business.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was it like to finally win that championship?<\/strong><\/p>\n As a Celtics fan growing up I was well aware of the \u2018Celtic Mystique\u2019 and what all of those championship banners were all about.\u00a0 And like I said, when we beat the Sixers we knew we were going to win a championship and get to put our own banner up in the rafters of the old Boston Garden.\u00a0\u00a0It was so special for me, because of everything I\u2019d been through \u2013 being cut, having to play in Israel, everything leading up to me putting on a Celtics uniform.\u00a0 And then to finally win that championship, there\u2019s nothing in the world like that feeling.\u00a0 It overcomes you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What memory stands out most?<\/strong><\/p>\n I remember coming back from Houston and landing at the airport, and all of the people that were there to greet us.\u00a0 I\u2019d never in my life experienced anything like that.\u00a0 People were going crazy.\u00a0 And I remember the parade, going through the city with all of the people there, and to me it just felt like it was more than just basketball.\u00a0 I guess it was because we\u2019d just carved out our own place among all of those other great Celtic teams.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Was race ever an issue when you played for the Celtics?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m a history major.\u00a0 You go back three years prior to us winning that championship, and it was the height of busing in Boston.\u00a0 There were so many negative connotations around that.\u00a0 I vividly remember seeing the young black men being poked with the American flag, and that was resonating with me as I traveled through the city as a hero.\u00a0 I remember being amazed at how I was being treated, when just three years earlier Boston had given itself such a black eye with that incident.\u00a0 The people were cheering us and celebrating our achievement, honoring us as champions, and I just wished we could have bottled that up and applied it to more than just the Celtics.\u00a0 I wished it could have been used to transform the thinking of an entire region.\u00a0 Obviously Boston has come around and it\u2019s one of the greatest cities in the world right now, but it went through some dark days to get here, and I think the Celtics played a part in helping with that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Celtics win the 1981 NBA Championship, only to be swept out of the playoffs the very next year by the Milwaukee Bucks.\u00a0 What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n We lost to the Bucks in four, but to be honest, any team in the playoffs that year could have beat us in four games.\u00a0 To be quite frank:\u00a0 We came to the conclusion, as a team, that it was time for our coach to go.\u00a0 I make no bones about that.\u00a0 Bill Fitch was a very good coach, but he was also very strict, and he couldn\u2019t loosen up the reins after we became more of a veteran team.\u00a0 He still wanted to control everything, and he wanted to beat you down over everything, and it eventually wore thin with the team.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll be honest with you \u2013 if we were properly motivated, there was no way in the world we would have lost for games to the Milwaukee Bucks that year.\u00a0 No way.\u00a0 But we did lose four in a row because there was some internal stuff going on.\u00a0 If you remember, the next year we won a championship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Indeed.\u00a0 Red fires Fitch, and replaces him with KC Jones.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bill Fitch was the perfect\u00a0coach when the roster was populated with younger, immature guys with very little professional experience.\u00a0 KC Jones was the perfect coach for a veteran team.\u00a0 He worked us hard but he treated us like veterans.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t soft \u2013 he was a very demanding coach who held us to the highest standards set by Celtics teams from the past, and he had a point of reference because he was on so many of those championship teams.\u00a0 He let us know about it:\u00a0 No matter how many rebounds you got, your head couldn\u2019t get too big because [Bill] Russell had gone out and gotten 40.\u00a0 No matter how many points you scored, it didn\u2019t matter because [John] Havlicek had the team record with 56.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a coach, KC always looked cool under pressure.<\/strong><\/p>\n He\u2019d played in so many important games where the Celtics would be down six with a minute to go, so he knew how to get the best out of us without leaning on us in a negative way.\u00a0 By the time KC arrived Larry [Bird] had already matured, and he had a bunch of veterans around him \u2013 Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, guys like that \u2013 so it was an ideal time for KC to take over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That 1983-84 team was special.<\/strong><\/p>\n Our motto that year was \u2018Don\u2019t Be Denied\u2019.\u00a0 And we weren\u2019t.\u00a0 We won the championship that no one thought we would win.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you remember most about\u00a0beating the Lakers?<\/strong><\/p>\n The final seconds of Game 7.\u00a0 No one thought we could beat the Lakers.\u00a0 They were the thoroughbreds, we were the Clydesdales.\u00a0 It was a very physical series, and that\u2019s exactly what we wanted because we knew that\u2019s the only way we could beat those guys.\u00a0 If you remember, there was Kevin McHale\u2019s hit on Kurt Rambis, and there was Larry Bird bumping Michael Cooper out-of-bounds.\u00a0 The series was full of things like that.\u00a0 We knew that we had to physically beat them, because they had never played that kind of game.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take the Lakers long to learn, but in that series it was the element of surprise that we needed.\u00a0 So, for me, being back in the old Boston Garden for Game 7, with twelve seconds left on the clock, and knowing that we were going to be world champions when absolutely no one gave us a chance but us\u2026that is the thing that I remember the most.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That series is still one of the highest rated series in NBA Finals history.<\/strong><\/p>\n There were so many things that captured the fascination of fans everywhere.\u00a0 You had Jack Nicholson in the stands, giving us the choke sign.\u00a0 You had the fight with Rambis and McHale.\u00a0 You had the East Coast team going up against the West Coast team.\u00a0 Glitz going up against blue collar.\u00a0 And the history between the two teams \u2013 that intense rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain \u2013 only added fuel to the fire.\u00a0 It was the perfect storm and it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing to focus on that series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your passion and positive attitude are well known \u2013 do you feel like this had an influence on how that series played out?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think so.\u00a0\u00a0My goal was to make sure that we played as loose and as confidently as possible, and if that meant being a cheerleader and a motivator, then that was my role.\u00a0 And at that point in my career I wasn\u2019t on the court a lot.\u00a0 When I did get in the game I tried my best to make a positive impact to help the team \u2013 a big steal, a three point shot, a key rebound, a couple of minutes of tough defense, whatever I could contribute.\u00a0\u00a0The media didn\u2019t get to see us at practice or behind-the-scenes, but I made sure I kept reminding the guys that this opportunity was special, and that we might not get this chance again.\u00a0 I kept telling them that we had to stay focused and to seize the moment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Los Angeles, you were Public Enemy Number One.<\/strong><\/p>\n People remember me as an antagonist because I waved that towel and got under the opposing team\u2019s skin.\u00a0 That was all part of the plan.\u00a0 If I could take some of the pressure and attention off of Larry, Robert and Kevin, then I was doing my job because they could loosen up and focus on playing basketball.\u00a0 Just leave the antagonizing to me.\u00a0 It was a bravado that got under the skin of the fans more than the players, but it helped us as a team remember who we were.\u00a0 I never let them forget that we were the Celtics and that we expect to win.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lakers fans have long memories.<\/strong><\/p>\n [Laughs.]\u00a0 I remember going to LA after that series and a guy at a restaurant refused to serve me.\u00a0 He said he wasn\u2019t going to serve anyone associated with the Boston Celtics.\u00a0 I just said, \u2018Great, I don\u2019t want your greasy burgers anyway.’<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You won 2 NBA Championships.\u00a0 Which one means the most to you, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n The 1984 championship, without a doubt.\u00a0 The first one was really special, but everyone expected us to beat the Houston Rockets.\u00a0\u00a0We didn\u2019t have a lot to prove in terms of being the best in the \u201981 NBA Finals, because once we got by the Sixers everyone knew that we\u2019d just beaten the best team in the playoffs.<\/p>\n No one thought we\u2019d beat the Lakers in \u201984.\u00a0 Even the writers in our own city.\u00a0 We had to prove we were better than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, and we were able to do that.\u00a0 That series is talked about today because we were able to defy those odds.\u00a0 So many memories \u2013 Gerald Henderson with the big steal, Dennis Johnson with the big baskets when we needed them the most in Game 4, Cedric Maxwell telling us to jump on his back in Game 7 and then delivering with a huge game to help wrap up the series.\u00a0 McHale dominating down low, Larry hitting shots from all over the court.\u00a0 It was a great team effort.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You were cut by the Celtics 47 games into the 1984-85 regular season.\u00a0 Were you prepared for that?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was, because I knew what getting cut felt like.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t go into the league as a first round pick\u00a0with lots of money.\u00a0 I made mine the hard way and was able to take care of what I\u2019d made, and I knew that there was another world out there beyond playing professional basketball.\u00a0 And I knew what it was like to work \u2013 I\u2019d worked in a federal penitentiary and I’d sold cars on the front side of my career, and I made sure that I learned from my mentors so that I\u2019d be prepared for life after basketball.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was the transition like?<\/strong><\/p>\n Robert Kraft, who now owns the New England Patriots, asked me to serve as a board member for Channel 7, which helped me how big businesses work behind the scenes.\u00a0 The president of the Bank of Boston gave me an opportunity to become involved in a community outreach program.\u00a0 Jim Davis, the founder and chairman of New Balance, brought me on as a board member.\u00a0 All of these things helped with the transition, because idle time is the biggest thing any athlete faces when transitioning from their playing days.\u00a0 When the cheers stop coming, the boos stop coming, the ball stops bouncing, and the team camaraderie comes to an end, that\u2019s when everything stops abruptly and there\u2019s a deafening silence that causes a lot of guys to go into a deep depression.\u00a0 They\u2019re not equipped to deal with that.\u00a0 But I was prepared, so I didn\u2019t have to deal with figuring out the next chapter in my life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You weren\u2019t there for that \u201986 championship, but I hear you stayed closely connected to the players.<\/strong><\/p>\n To me, that 1986 Celtics team is the greatest team ever assembled.\u00a0 But the team that impressed me the most was the \u201987 team.\u00a0 I have more respect for that team than any team that I ever saw play.\u00a0 There was so much adversity.\u00a0 Parish playing with two twisted ankles in the playoffs. \u00a0Larry with the elbow injury.\u00a0 Kevin McHale playing on a broken foot.\u00a0 Bill Walton battling the foot problems and unable to play.\u00a0 And these guys take this thing to Game 6 of the \u201987 NBA Finals \u2013 a series that they had no business being in, quite frankly. \u00a0They just kept getting up off the mat and battling.\u00a0 They lost that series to the Lakers, but they didn\u2019t get beat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about the legendary Red Auerbach.<\/strong><\/p>\n When I first met Red, I\u2019d just gotten cut from the Kansas City Kings.\u00a0 Red called and said he\u2019d like to meet with me, so I went to Boston and met with him in his office.\u00a0 He tells me to sit down, and then he tells me that he doesn\u2019t have a spot for me on this team.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking to myself that he could have told me that over the phone.\u00a0 Then he tells me that he thinks he\u2019ll have a spot for me next year.\u00a0 He says he wants to send me to Israel to play,where he could hide me while I get another year\u2019s worth of experience under my belt.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking to myself, ‘Israel?’\u00a0 If he wanted to hide me, why didn\u2019t he try to hide me somewhere in Harlem instead [laughs]?\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t ask any questions.\u00a0 If Red Auerbach thought a year in Israel could get me into the NBA then I\u2019d pack my bags and head overseas.\u00a0 And that\u2019s exactly what I did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Red always seemed a step ahead of the competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n Red had a vision, and he always talked about getting people to buy into that vision.\u00a0 He preached having a clarity of vision.\u00a0 Larry Bird was another example of Red\u2019s vision \u2013 he drafted Larry a year early and then waited for him to turn pro.\u00a0 And we all know how that turned out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell me about Bill Russell.<\/strong><\/p>\n The first time I met Bill Russell I\u2019d just signed with the Celtics.\u00a0 He was doing broadcasting work for CBS-TV at the time, and we were getting ready to play Philly.\u00a0 He walks up to me and says, \u2018M.L. Carr.\u2019\u00a0 And I say, \u2018How are you doing, Mr. Russell?\u2019\u00a0 He says, \u2018Fine.\u00a0 Guess What?\u00a0 I\u2019m going to turn you into a household word today.\u00a0 You know what word that is?\u2019\u00a0 I said, \u2018No, what?\u2019\u00a0 He says, \u2018Garbage.\u2019\u00a0 And then he breaks out in a big grin and lets loose with that famous laugh of his.\u00a0 That was his good-natured way of welcoming me to the team.\u00a0 Russ has been very supportive to me over the years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tell me about John Havlicek.<\/strong><\/p>\n My first encounter with John came when I was a member of the Detroit Pistons.\u00a0 It was my first game against the Celtics \u2013 and trust me, I was a Celtics fan growing up \u2013 and I had the task of guarding John Havlicek.\u00a0 He got the quickest and easiest 27 points that anybody had ever scored on me.\u00a0 He would run down the court and run me off of either Paul Silas or Dave Cowens, and then he\u2019d be wide open for an easy jumper.<\/p>\n Well, later that season we play the Celtics in Boston, and I decided I wasn\u2019t going to let John run me into Silas or Cowens, and that I wouldn\u2019t let them pop me in the chest the way they did in the previous game.\u00a0 My strategy was to rough up John before he could get me into those screens.\u00a0 Well, the first time down the court I bump John pretty hard, and I learned that that\u2019s the worst thing you could do in Boston.\u00a0 I thought the fans were going to come out of the stands after me.\u00a0 It was almost like I\u2019d hit the pope [laughs].<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you think that Havlicek’s accomplishments tend to get overshadowed by the players that came after him – especially Larry Bird and Paul Pierce?<\/strong><\/p>\n Not only that, when you look at what guys like Havlicek accomplished you realize that it was a different era.\u00a0 It was tougher back then.\u00a0 The travel was tougher.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have the same nutrition that they have today.\u00a0 Sports medicine was in the Dark Ages back then.\u00a0 What John did was unbelievable when you think about it.\u00a0 Guys like John, Jerry West, Russ and Chamberlain.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I don\u2019t like to compare eras.\u00a0 When I retired we flew first class.\u00a0 Guys back then traveled by car and train.\u00a0 Teams today have their own private jets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You came back to the Celtics in the \u201890s and took over as the team\u2019s general manager.<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a great opportunity that came about because I was chasing [team owner] Paul Gaston and constantly trying to buy the team from him \u2013 I\u2019d put together an ownership group that would have had the resources to purchase the Celtics.\u00a0 He had no interest in selling at the time, so he asked me if I\u2019d be interested in running the team.\u00a0 For me, I thought that would be the next best thing, and that it would give me the inside track if he ever did decide to sell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was that experience like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a great experience, because it gave me a chance to give back to a Celtics family that had been so great to me over the years.\u00a0 It gave me the opportunity to guide the team through some very tough times.\u00a0 When I arrived, the talent level clearly wasn\u2019t where it had been.\u00a0 The team was in transition.\u00a0 And realistically, it was going to be a few years before we got it back.\u00a0 So I eventually decided to run the basketball operations, and then to also coach it at the same time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Did you ever have second thoughts to becoming the head coach?<\/strong><\/p>\n [Boston Globe sportswriter] Will McDonough was up front and honest with me.\u00a0 I was talking to him about the coaching position, and I asked him what he thought.\u00a0 He said, \u2018Are you kidding?\u00a0 Get the longest contract you can get, and get the most money you can get.\u00a0 \u00a0That way, when I kick the crap out of you in the paper, and you\u2019ll be laughing all the way to the bank.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Your two-year stint as head coach didn’t end well.<\/strong><\/p>\n Red tried to talk me out of it.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t like the idea.\u00a0 He said that I had such a good name in the\u00a0city, and that I had the respect of the fans, and that it was going to be a big risk.\u00a0 He said that my reputation could take a big hit.\u00a0 I listened to what he had to say, but I was convinced that I was the best person to take the team through what was certain to be a very rough period in franchise history.\u00a0 I was willing to take the hits in order to get the team into a place where we had some good draft picks, and then I knew it would be time to step aside.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Was coaching as hard as you’d envisioned?<\/strong><\/p>\n Much more difficult.\u00a0 I never could have envisioned some of the things that were said and done by the fans during that time.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never talked about it until now, but I\u2019d walk into my office and my assistant, Becky, would be in tears.\u00a0 I\u2019d ask her what was going on.\u00a0 She was reading letters from irate fans \u2013 there were death threats and all kinds of stuff coming in.\u00a0 And I just never thought it would go to that level.\u00a0 I\u2019d discuss it privately with Red and keep it behind closed doors, and then I\u2019d only let the public see my positive side, but it was tough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Did the fan criticism ever cross the line?<\/strong><\/p>\n There were people who were trying to dig up dirt on me.\u00a0 People who would go down to my mother\u2019s house unannounced, and without my knowledge, and of course she\u2019s going to let them in and make them feel at home.\u00a0 They were there to dig up dirt on me, all because I was running and coaching the Celtics and the team was going through some tough times.\u00a0 It was very hard on my family.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How different would things have been if Len Bias and Reggie Lewis had lived?<\/strong><\/p>\n The team wouldn\u2019t have gone through the slide, and I wouldn’t have been general manager and head coach.\u00a0 There would have been a nice transition from Bird, McHale and Parish, and I think the team would have remained very competitive during the \u201890s.\u00a0 Those were two great players.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where were you when you heard that Bias had passed away?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was walking to a meeting with my financial adviser, and someone on the street asked me if Len Bias was going to be okay.\u00a0 I said that he was going to be more than okay, that he was going to be unbelievable.\u00a0 Then I walk a little farther and someone else asks me the same thing, and I\u2019m talking about how he\u2019s going to be the next great Celtic, and that\u2019s when this person tells me that Bias had had a heart attack and died.\u00a0 I refused to believe it.\u00a0 But then I walked into my financial adviser’s office and he\u2019s telling me about news reports of Bias\u2019 death.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How did Bias’s death effect Red?<\/strong><\/p>\n Red was devastated.\u00a0 That was the first time that I could ever remember Red not having an answer for something.\u00a0 He really liked Len.\u00a0 It broke his heart.\u00a0 He also knew that the Celtics had lost someone who was going to be special.\u00a0 He said he knew this kid, and that there was no way Bias would do drugs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last question \u2013 If you could give someone a piece of advice what would that be?<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help \u2013 and always be willing to give help.\u00a0 Too many times we are afraid to ask for help; asking for help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.\u00a0 And remember, riches are to enrich the lives of others.\u00a0 We’ve all had people help us in this life.\u00a0 We should be sure to do the same whenever we can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By:\u00a0 Michael D. McClellan\u00a0|\u00a0To a generation of Boston Celtics fans, M.L. Carr was the towel-waving agitator best remembered\u00a0for antagonizing Lakers players and fans alike during that epic 1984 NBA Finals.\u00a0 To another generation of fans, Carr was the Celtics\u2019 coach and general manager during some of the darkest days in franchise history, overseeing one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[783,773,776],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-8982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dark-days","category-featured-interview","category-bird-era","tag-m-l-carr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.celtic-nation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/basketball-300x50.png\")
<\/p>\n