Boston goes into the season with three point guards.  Randy Brown played in 54 games last season.  Kenny Anderson played in 33 games.  Chris Herren played in 25 games.  That left Milt Palacio -- who couldn't make it as the Grizz' back-up -- to play in 58 games.  Quarterback-by-committee can work, but not with so many injuries.  Now Randy Brown appears to be suffering the same injury that disabled him last season.

The result?  They're looking at Chris Herren again.  Herren was in Italy, but appears to have lost his position with the Bologna club.  His contract hasn't been ended, so GM Chris Wallace can't talk about signing him.  The Celtics look set at the 2, 3 and 4 positions, but it remains to be seen how well their committees at the 1 and 5 positions will work.

In his weekly rundown of the NBA, the Boston Globe's Peter May reports that Chris Herren won't be the point guard for the Fortitudo Bologna team he signed with in July.  There are conflicting reports and rumors as to what exactly happened with Herren in Italy. Herren left the team a week ago while it was in Chiavari for training camp but never rejoined it.  He remained in the Bologna area with his wife, Heather, who is pregnant. Bologna has signed ex-Laker John Celestand to take Herren's place.

May also talks about the travels of George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge to Louisville.  He refers to them as "the Dumb and Dumber of the NBA."  As a testament to ownership's performance, the Hornets are struggling with season ticket sales.  May also reports that Louisville already contemplated an NBA team sharing the limited entertainment dollars when the Grizzlies came shopping.  Louisville University President John Shumaker says the economics don't work.

The Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett reports that Jack Ramsey is heading to Boston.  He won't be paid, but he wants to help ensure son-in-law Jim O'Brien is successful as the Celtics' coach.  Also, Boston is looking at bringing more than 14 players to camp.  This is a change from what they've been saying the past month or so.

Bulpett also suggests there could be some schedule changes as a result of the coming war on terrorism.  Although the teams usually fly on charters, referees could face difficulties since they fly charter.  His article reviews a few other stories from around the league, including Anthony Mason in Milwaukee and the possible relocation of the Charlotte Hornets to Louisville.

Peter May reports in the Boston Globe that the Celtics made a profit of about $9 million in 2001/02.  However, the company that owns the Celtics lost about $4 million.

The Celtics have about 50,000 people who have less than 10 shares, and it costs a lot to service them.  They are trying to make changes that will reduce expenses in this area.  The ownership group also had to pay a state sales tax from the sale of WFXT-TV.

Peter May writes in his Boston Globe Sunday column that when Chris Webber re-signed with the Kings, the contract that was submitted to the NBA for approval was a seven-year deal with an escape clause after Year 5 and with the last two years nonguaranteed. That is almost unheard of in NBA circles, especially for a player of Webber's ilk. The last two years were worth more than $43 million and there was immediate speculation that Webber was victimized by not having an agent.

When the league sent out the contract details to other teams, one Western Conference executive was equally stunned. He quickly called an agent friend and, after a series of calls, the word got to the Webber camp and there was the predictable confusion and disbelief. However, the mistake was quickly fixed and Webber's contract now is guaranteed for all seven years. You can understand Sacramento's willingness to amend the original deal, given that Webber is its best player.

Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports that the Celtics set an opening-day record as single game tickets went on sale yesterday.  The club reported selling more than 17,000 seats for the upcoming season.  This is some 400 more than they sold prior to the 1997-98 campaign (Rick Pitino's first as Celtics coach), and more than double the number sold on this same day last year.  The large sales happened even though the Celtics cancelled a scheduled block party to support the event.

The most popular games are against the Lakers, Wizards, Sixers and Raptors.

Former Celtics great Robert Parish spent last season as head coach of the Maryland Mustangs, an expansion team in the United States Basketball League. As the league's Coach of the Year, he captured a division title and schooled the Rookie of the Year.  Parish says he took the step down to the minor leagues to prove he was serious about coaching and for the experience. It wasn't for the $18,000 paycheck, a far cry from the $2 million he earned in his last NBA season, 1997.  Now he is looking for an opportunity to move into the NBA coaching fraternity.  This is an interesting article that Chris Frates has written in the Boston Globe.

Antoine Walker describes his summer as "peaceful" in a feature article in the Boston Globe.  But the article is as much about the open management style of GM Chris Wallace and coach Jim O'Brien, who invited Walker and Paul Pierce to join management in the team's War Room for the draft in June.  Asked if he could remember another time when he was advised of team decisions before they happened, Walker said, "Not where they really respected your opinion. I think this is really the first time."  It's obvious Boston will take a long time to forget Rick Patino.  This piece is as much about his flaws as it is about the new group's positive attributes.