Recently, I caught up with the new radio voice of the Boston Celtics, WWZN 1510 The Zone¡¯s Sean Grande, to discuss all things Celtics. We covered a wide range of topics, including this years¡¯ success, offseason needs, best stops in the NBA and Sean¡¯s last commentating gig. Here¡¯s the full interview.
Jason Ouellette: Ok, let¡¯s start with the obvious. What did you think of this great run the C¡¯s just had?
Sean Grande: You know, I¡¯ll tell you the same thing I have been telling everyone else that asks me. To overachieve, and go beyond even your most optimistic hopes is such a unique accomplishment. And obviously, it was a fun season. I mean to go from not making the playoffs for six consecutive years and to then advance all the way to the conference finals was just amazing.
Walker
 JO: Antoine Walker recently stated that the biggest reason for the Celtics losing to the Nets was the fact that they simply didn¡¯t respect them as much as Philadelphia or Detroit. Do you buy that, or did they simply run out of gas?
SG: Well I think there¡¯s something to what Antoine is saying. But I think he¡¯s saying that more in terms of a pride thing. You know, players want to still say: ¡°well we¡¯re still the better team, etc,¡¯ so it had something to do with it.
Pierce
 But you could see that coming right from the start. Just look at what Paul Pierce said. He was right though when they said they didn¡¯t have one guy that could stop him, but they had two.
Were they tired? Definitely. Was it what made the difference in the series? Maybe it wasn¡¯t the entire difference, but it had more to do with it than the whole lack of respect thing.
Battie
 JO: Not to mention the fact that the ¡®role players¡¯ weren¡¯t hitting their shots like they did against Philadelphia and Detroit.
SG: Absolutely. Walker and Pierce can only do so much and when you look back at
Game 5 against Detroit, you saw guys like Tony Battie, Tony Delk, Rodney Rogers and Kenny Anderson coming up huge. Then it was the exact opposite against the Nets. Their role players were hitting all of their shots and the Celtics weren¡¯t. Plus you can¡¯t overlook the fact that Jason Kidd averaged a triple double for the series.
Joumanna Kidd (Game 5)
 JO: So what was your take on the whole issue with Joumanna Kidd?
SG: I heard several stories from people sitting near Joumana, none of whom had
similar versions of her story. I'm sure someone said something to her, and to
anyone dumb enough to show up for a playoff game in Boston wearing a Nets jersey.
JO: Should we as Celtics fans expect more of the same type of results next year, and possibly raising up that elusive #17 sooner than we thought?
SG: Well I certainly can see them still within the top 5 or 6 teams in the east. You have to take into consideration a lot of things that went right for them this year. Miami and New York fell off the map. The Celtics big two stayed healthy throughout the season. Kenny Anderson was big for them, can he do it again? I don¡¯t see why not.
But then you have to wonder about a team like Milwaukee, who, went from one game away from the NBA Finals to not even in the playoffs. The east will be even more wide open next year I think.
The bottom line is they are back, and they matter again in the NBA. As Celtics fans, that¡¯s what you want right now. It will take a few more years I think to get the title, but they are on the NBA radar, and they matter.
Rogers
 JO: What do you think are their most pressing needs in this offseason?
SG: Right now it is to get Rodney Rogers back. I feel that he (along with Tony Delk) will greatly benefit from a full training camp. Remember, they came in more than halfway through the season, and the team struggled when they first got here.
With a full training camp and a full year together I think they will be even more valuable to this team than they just showed.
Brown
 JO: Well whether they sign him or not, could you expect more from guys like Kedrick Brown, and Joseph Forte?
SG: I think it will take a guy like Kedrick a few years to really be a huge part of this team. We saw flashes of it last season, and the coaches seem to be real high on him.
Forte
 Forte simply ran into a numbers problem. When they brought in Erick Strickland, that¡¯s when he started going on the injured list all the time. But the problem with him is that they aren¡¯t sure what he is just yet. Or at least at the time they weren¡¯t. Is he a two-guard, is he a point guard? They felt like they could mold him into a point guard, but would rather have him learn in practice.
JO: Let¡¯s play a little pretend game. Let¡¯s say you were Mark Cuban and you owned the Celtics. You are a billionaire and you don¡¯t care at all about the luxury tax. Who are you looking to sign?
SG: Tim Duncan. That¡¯s an easy one. I mean if you have the opportunity to get a guy like that, you have to do it.
JO: Let¡¯s talk a little about your background. You left the TV announcer¡¯s position for the Minnesota Timberwolves to come here. Why is that?
SG: Well let me preface be saying it was a very difficult decision to make. For some reason it got a lot of press, and I actually turned it down three times. I was happy in Minnesota with my wife Lori.
I am originally from New York, and came to Boston for college.
(I interrupt him)
JO: So you are a Knicks fan then?
SG: No actually I was a big Rangers fan and not into basketball as much.
(Ok back to the original question).
SG: So I met my wife here and I eventually got the job for the T-wolves. I was following a very popular commentator there in Kevin Harlan, but the fans seemed to accept me and like me. Before we left, I told my father-in-law that I would bring his daughter back home someday but I never thought it would be so soon.
Cedric Maxwell actually called me and helped convince me to come here. The conversations with him carried a lot of weight on my decision to come back here. I had concerns about giving up TV for radio, but radio is a lot of fun. Max and I have a lot of fun with the games and I think we have some good chemistry, since our opinions tend to differ so often.
Kidd (Game 2 vs. Pacer)
 JO: Yeah, I remember one particular time during a Celtics Prewind show where you two debated about who should be MVP. I remember Max saying it was Jason Kidd hands down, and you said: ¡®No, it¡¯s this guy right here,¡¯ as you cued up a Tim Duncan sound byte.
SG: Yeah that¡¯s what I mean. We have a lot of fun discussing lots of NBA topics. And believe me, I¡¯m eating my words about the MVP now.
JO: So how would you compare the two cities in terms of fan passion, quality of organizations and TV vs. radio in general.
SG: Well, let¡¯s put it this way: I could afford to live in downtown Minneapolis.
Seriously though, Minnesota obviously doesn¡¯t have the history and heritage in terms of NBA basketball like the Celtics do. The fans there were great, as was the organization. I really can¡¯t think of anything bad about the experience at all.
In Minnesota, I felt like I was more of a part of the Timberwolves. Since they haven¡¯t been around all that long. Here I had to follow a guy like Johnny Most, who is the voice of the Boston Celtics. I feel like the games here are more important to the fans and I just don¡¯t want to screw it up (laughs).
Here, the Celtics have two different broadcasts. One for TV and one for radio. In Minnesota, they were both part of the same media outlet, so you couldn¡¯t really expect much difference from the two.
There, they had two things that Max and myself do not: professionalism and maturity (laughs again).
JO: Since you have the great opportunity to travel with the team, and go to lots of cities, tell us what these guys are like on the plane, and what are some of the best stops in the NBA.
SG: These guys are a very good group to be around. They tend to play a lot of card games, and Max spends more time with them than I do. It¡¯s always easier to take long plane flights when a team has so much success on the road, like these guys did. We had a few memorable attempted landings (laughs). Probably the best time they had was flying back to Boston after eliminating the Pistons.
Vancouver was my favorite NBA city. Other good ones are Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and now Dallas. But this is really a whole other article for another time.
O'Brien
 JO: Coach Jim O¡¯Brien thinks that the Nets are going to win the NBA title. What do you think?
SG: Well I¡¯ll defer to coach on all things basketball except in this case. I think it will go 5 or 6 games max, with the Lakers coming out on top. Shaquille O¡¯Neal is just too much right now for any team to handle really. Sacramento did a great job, and came very close. They had a very good opportunity to take them out, but couldn¡¯t do it. They played Shaq and the Lakers as good as any team can right now.
(Note: This question was asked before The Finals began).
JO: So do you have anything fun planned for the summer?
SG: Well I¡¯m going to take a vacation to Vancouver most likely. Do the whole northwest thing, ya know. I¡¯ll also be visiting some friends in Minneapolis, who play for the Lynx. Plus I still have some boxes to unload in my office here, so I¡¯ll be busy here in the office as well. Then, it¡¯s time to start thinking about next season, which should be another good one. But like I said, the Celtics are back, and that¡¯s the most important thing.
JO: Well thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to give us Celtics fans your inside thoughts. You and Max did a great job on WWZN 1510 The Zone this season calling Celtics¡¯ games, and we¡¯ll all look forward to hearing you guys next season.
SG: Thanks to you too, and keep up the good work on the website.
Jason Ouellette can be reached at mailto:jayhbk10@yahoo.com Feel free to email your questions, comments, etc.
|
