The Jim Ard Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Monday, May 2nd, 2005
Dave Cowens was selected two spots ahead of you in the 1970 NBA Draft, and you
suddenly find yourself on the same team. Ironically, Cowens' foot injury was
the reason Auerbach signed you to a contract. What was it like to play center
for the Boston Celtics?
It
was probably the best-managed organization that I’ve ever been a part of, and
that includes my post-NBA career. Since retirement I’ve worked for a number of
tech companies in Silicon Valley, very successful enterprises, and none of them
comes close to the way the Red Auerbach and the Celtics ran things in Boston
during my time with the team.
It was also a great thrill to be a part of such a legendary team. Playing in
front of the Boston fans, playing in the fabled Boston Garden, playing beneath
all of those championship banners…it was a very special experience, and unlike
any other in basketball. It must be akin to playing baseball for the New York
Yankees, or playing football for the Green Bay Packers. It was more than just
about the game of basketball. It went much deeper than that. Looking back,
being a Boston Celtic was the highlight of my basketball career.
The
Celtics won 60 games that season, but stumbled against the Washington Bullets in
the Eastern Conference Finals. Please take me back to that series. What stands
out after all of these years?
What
stands about for me was the respect that I had for guys like Wes Unseld and
Elvin Hayes. They were the big guys that made life so difficult for us in that
series. They dominated us in that series. We just couldn’t find an answer
underneath the basket, and fell behind 3-1. That was too much of a hole to dig
out of, even with all the great players we had on the roster. I think we lost
that series in six games. That kept the Celtics from a chance to repeat as
champions, and it also put the Bullets into the ’75 NBA Finals. Rick [Barry]
was playing for Golden State then, and the Warriors won that championship
series, 4-0.
Fellow ABA-er Charlie Scott joined the Celtics for the 1975-76 season. Please
tell me about Mr. Scott.
Charlie
Scott was a very, very bright individual. Very talkative. You put those two
elements together, and you realize that he should have been a lawyer [laughs].
He was a thrilling player. I didn’t know him very well prior to his joining the
Celtics, and I was a little apprehensive at first because of the stories that
I’d heard. There were rumors that he had been a malcontent in Phoenix. My
concern was what impact he would have on team chemistry, and how he would mesh
with established stars like John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and Jo Jo White. Would
there be enough basketballs to go around? Would he cause problems in the locker
room? Things of that nature. Plus, we had given up a promising young player in
Paul Westphal to acquire a proven veteran to help us win a championship.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Charlie Scott very much a team player. He
came to Boston and did his best to fit in. He didn’t try to be the star, and he
didn’t have to score a ton of points to be happy. He was only concerned with
winning, and I think that that’s what made him seem like such a diva in
Phoenix. It wasn’t that he had to lead the Suns in scoring in order to be
happy. I think the team was so bad, and the talent level so low, that he felt a
need to shoulder the offense in order to win. I think that if the Suns had
other players who could score, then Charlie Scott would have been happy to
distribute the basketball more. Anyway, by midseason I could tell that the
trade for Charlie Scott was a good one. He was a leader.
