Celtics V. Lakers: Who's Smarter?

Political writer and baseball fan George Will once described George Steinbrenner as a “dumb-o-meter.” Writing in the 1980's, he said the best advice he could give to any club would be to watch what the New York Yankees owner did and then do the opposite.

The histories of many professional sports franchises feature owners and general managers who were “dumb” or “dumber.”

With 31 championships to their collective credit in 62 years of NBA play, however, the Celtics and Lakers have been notable exceptions to this generalization, at least until recently. Even Rick Pitino, who can be graded no better than "average" for his stint as Celtics president and head coach, drafted some good players, including Paul Pierce.

Things are changing, however. Thanks to the unflagging efforts of owner Jerry Buss, the Lakers now merit a rating of “dumb” on the basketball dumb-o-meter. It is only a matter of time before the storied Lakers collapse along with him.

Like Steinbrenner, Buss often has been willing to pay to win championships but he does not seem to understand that successful stewardship of a marquee franchise entails a measure of statesmanship as well as largesse. In recent years, he has allowed both Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to treat his team as a whipping boy and to make him look foolish.

Taking his cue from the famously dysfunctional relationship between Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin, Buss fired Phil Jackson only to rehire him one season later. Of course he still is a piker compared to Steinbrenner when it comes to breaking the law and getting caught, but his recent DUI puts him in play if not quite in contention.

All that remains now for the Lakers to slide from “dumb” to “dumber” on the basketball dumb-o-meter would be for Buss to anoint his daughter Jeanie as his successor. She is preparing for her future role by undertaking such current assignments as team vice president, Phil Jackson romantic interest, and Paris Hilton companion.

As life with the Lakers becomes more farcical, Boston is even smarter than it was when basketball pioneer Red Auerbach was running the club. It understands the most important issue for any sports franchise is to get the right player at the right price.

When Wyc Grousbeck and his fellow investors purchased the Celtics in 2002, they brought along an MIT-trained numbers cruncher with them and a quantitative approach to analyzing rosters and on-court strategy that continues to be undervalued by many other clubs. One of their first projects was a regression analysis of 25 years of the NBA draft to determine which college statistics best equate with NBA success at each of the five positions.

It was its use of advanced metrics that enabled Boston to recognize how critical Kevin Garnett could be to its rebuilding effort. He led the league in a statistic called “wins produced per 48 minutes” that assigns individual credit for team success. 

If they continue to combine off-court processes with on-court success in this manner, the Celtics will safeguard their status as the premier dynasty in the history of American sport.