On Thursday in Las Vegas, Robert Kraft defended himself against the assertions that he’s been unwilling to spend real money to make the Patriots better.
After firing Bill Belichick, Kraft is engaged in a campaign not only to make his team elite again, but also to regain his status as the region’s most beloved rich guy.
Last month, Red Sox President Sam Kennedy, who has been, perhaps unfairly, cast as the mouthpiece for the increasingly reclusive John Henry, angrily asserted that it’s unfair to say the Red Sox aren’t financially committed to winning. He said this with uncrossed fingers and no winking, even though the team is lowering payroll and watching idly as impact free agents sign within the American League East.
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Henry went from being the guy who ended Boston’s decades of baseball frustration and saved Fenway Park. Now he’s looked at as cheap, disinterested and more invested in the Fenway Sports Group than Fenway Park’s team. He’s slipped below even Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs, whose former reputation for being cheap has been mostly covered up by the NHL’s salary cap (mostly — he was the billionaire who laid off all TD Garden part-time employees during COVID before negative publicity shamed him into reversing course).
All the while Wyc Grousbeck has been… well nobody knows exactly what he’s been doing and that’s a good thing. The Celtics owner is visible without courting attention. He’s involved without overshadowing his basketball people.
Unlike their forever rival Lakers, keeping the Celtics as one of the NBA’s signature teams is much harder. In Los Angeles, the weather and all the Hollywood lifestyle perks make it a destination franchise for free agents. Boston has no such built-in advantages.
But the Celtics have drafted well, spent smart and hired good people. That obviously doesn’t guarantee a championship, but failing at any of those makes winning another banner all but impossible in Boston.
Grousbeck had no hesitation about resigning Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to monster deals, nor adding payroll and tax penalties to bring on Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday.
He’s spent a boatload of money to make the Celtics a championship favorite. Financially there’s little to gain from going from a contender to a favorite. But the Celtics have won one title with Grousbeck in charge and he spends like he wants to win five more.
When he invested in the PGA Tour, nobody questioned it because Grousbeck is already spending almost $40 million in luxury tax fees according to Spotrac.
“We haven’t blinked at all,” Grousbeck said of his luxury tax situation in October. “I was part of the committee that put the aprons in place with the players committee and we’re aware of all that. We’re going to be over the second I believe, Brad (Stevens), and paying those penalties and that’s the way life is. But it’s designed also we can have more competition in the league, and we’re fine with competition, as long as we win.”
When the Celtics were eliminated last year, Grousbeck wanted to know how he could contribute to fixing the problem.
“The general tone was, how do we take this energy we’re feeling right now that was built up over having two good seasons, but then didn’t get all the way?” Grousbeck said. “The whole point is, how do we get to banner 18?”
Grousbeck has carried himself like the good parts of Mark Cuban without the magnet for controversy or burning need for attention.
Despite that desire to win, he put doing the right thing first and still fired Ime Udoka, when the outstanding first-year coach turned out to be a problem off the court. Maybe what Udoka did was bad enough that the Celtics had no choice but to fire him. But if that’s true, the Celtics prevented information leaks better than almost anyone in sports history as most people don’t actually know what Udoka’s offense was.
The Celtics have the best record in the NBA. They’re a lock to make the playoffs and barring injuries, will be among the league’s championship favorites for the near future.
Celtics tickets aren’t cheap, but their fans know that when they open their wallet, they’re paying an owner who is spending his own money on giving them a worthwhile return.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
