The Price of a Champion

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

When the 1985-86 Boston Celtics wrapped up their season by defeating the Houston Rockets in six games in the NBA Finals, the final season statistics read as follows:

The team averaged 114.1 points per game, while allowing 101.2 per night, on average.

Maybe defense didn't win championships back then. But maybe for that team, it didn't exactly matter. Certain teams can "flip the switch", as they say. The 1985-86 Celtics were such a team. A 2-point lead could morph into a 20-point cushion in a matter of minutes.

And it wasn't just the starting five of Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish that fueled arguably the greatest team in the history of the National Basketball Association. No, once those five headed to the bench, opponents still had to deal with a healthy Bill Walton, the sharp shooting Scott Wedman, an equally lethal Jerry Sichting and a bruiser in Greg Kite, amongst other solid back ups such as Rick Carlisle, David Thirdkill and Sam Vincent.

A complete team.

So if the 1985-86 Celtics could be purchased in a department store, what would their price tag read? $6,560,000. Total.

6.56 million dollars for arguably the greatest cast of characters the league has ever seen. 6.56 million for the greatest front court in the history of the league. For 67 wins to 15 losses. For a team that could have easily won 70 games. For a team that was disappointed with its finals opponent - a team who knew it would walk away with the trophy.

My, how the times have changed. Sure, the value of the dollar has risen since 1986, but if you were to walk into that same department store (now up to date with carriage returns, makeshift police officers and price scanners lining every aisle) to purchase the 2007-2008 world champion Boston Celtics, your jaw just might drop as you come upon the $81,133,740 price tag. For the sake of this piece, let's refer to that number at 81.1 million.

Now, not everything changes. We still see 60-win teams, 20 point per game scorers and double-digit winning streaks. Both of the championship teams in question possessed all of those at some point during their respective seasons.

But there still is the matter of that difference of 74.54 million dollars in total team salary. Some would say it's not even fair to compare the two - that too much has changed over the years. But for a man of my generation, who was born just as Michael Jordan was about to own the 1990's and break bank with contracts and shoe endorsements and restaurant endorsements, along with everything else - the idea of a 6 million dollar team is ridiculous.

I find it remarkable that Scott Pollard, who made 1.2 million dollars with the Celtics in '07-'08 (while playing in only 22 games), made more than Kevin McHale in 1986 (1 million dollars earned).

I also find it mind blowing that Brian Scalabrine made three million dollars two seasons ago, while Larry Bird took in a total sum of 1.8 million in '86. McHale and Bird, two of the greatest of all time. What would they be making today? Would they both be collecting more than the $23,750,000 Kevin Garnett made two seasons ago? Would they both be gunning to be the first athlete billionaires, instead of LeBron James? Or would they take the Tim Duncan road less traveled by and accept a pay cut to better help management put together a winning team?

Would it even be possible to ever put together a winning team today like the one we saw in 1986? A team so deep and so talented that toyed with opponents before crushing the life out of them with a torrid offensive run. Or would it be impossible because of the size of the contracts in today's game? Today, one single athlete makes nearly four times the amount an entire team made two decades ago, and because such standards have been set, we will rarely see quality players (particularly free agents who feel they're worth something), accept less money just to be on a winning team.

With the salary cap and the luxury tax now a heavy burden on teams looking to acquire the necessary players to fight for a title, it's unlikely we will ever see a team as talented as the 1986 Celtics, simply because acquiring the best front court in today's game would probably sink your team into the luxury tax single handedly, before acquiring any other players. Forget about adding two high quality guards to bolster your starting five, especially when you can't afford to pay them.

Then, there's the matter of adding the second or third best center in the game to backup your starting center. And in today's game, why would such a player accept a bench role and less money when he could potentially be starring on his own team?

I'm afraid those days might be long gone. It's a shame, because while we'll still see an NBA champion crowned year after year, perhaps we'll see the quality of the team sink further and further from what it once was. And all the while the price of that champion will continue to rise.

Stay Tuned.