Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck joined the Dennis & Callahan show Wednesday morning during a charity benefit for the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston. To hear the interview, visit the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.

After the Celtics lost to the Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Grousbeck was asked if he is still watching the playoffs. “I am watching this year because I want Miami to lose so badly,” he said, adding “I’m rooting hard against the Heat.”

Grousbeck said he will be rooting for the Mavericks the rest of the way because of his relationship with Mavs owner Mark Cuban. Said Grousbeck: “I love the guy. … He’s just a good guy. He genuinely roots for us against other teams. He is a Celtics fan when he’s not a Mavs fan. And we’re going to return the favor.”

Grousbeck did give the Heat credit. “I thought they outplayed us in the series,” he said. “They had more juice. They had more pop. I can’t really deny that. I would have loved to take that Monday night game in Boston and make it 2-2 and see what happened. I think we might have won the thing. But I don’t really regret with like a huge missed chance. I’m just annoyed we didn’t beat them.”

When asked about the trade of Kendrick Perkins, Grousbeck said he felt Perkins was not the difference in losing to the Heat. “I love Perk, but I don’t think our issue was guarding their 5 spot,” he said. “Our issue was guarding their 2, 3 and 4. So, not only did we need Jeff Green, we needed about three more of him.”

Grousbeck played down the chemistry factor. “We had gotten that far in the season without Perk. He hadn’t played essentially the entire season,” Grousbeck said. “So, we were starting the games with [Shaquille O'Neal] and finishing the games with [Glen Davis]. And that would have continued in the playoffs if Perk was there. So, Perk wouldn’t have been starting if Shaq had been healthy.

“Where the plan fell short is Shaq not being able to come back; we thought he could.”

Grousbeck reiterated that Perkins most likely would have been gone after the season anyway. “He had already rejected our maximum offer to him, so he was gone,” Grousbeck said. “At this point now, we have the rights to Jeff Green that we will pick up and extend, and we have a first-round pick from the Clippers in a year or two, hopefully. So, we’ve got some assets that we wouldn’t have had.”

Speaking about the re-signing of Doc Rivers, Grousbeck said, “We built up to the ’07-08 season by going through a couple of tough years and playing the kids, and coaching them up, and he was willing to do that. I just looked at him with my partners and said this is the guy we really want, we don’t want to be interviewing a bunch of other guys, this is the guy, we’d like to have him stay.

“He had a good year this year, it wasn’t as wearing on him as last year I think way. Last year he was pretty beat up. This year, he seemed to be excited. We all collectively decided let’s make him this offer. I thought we ought to do it during the week off between New York and Miami — go ahead and get it done so we’re not in this bidding war with the Lakers and everything else at the end of the season. And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m a Celtic. I love it.’ ”

Grousbeck also touched on Rivers’ relationship with Danny Ainge. “He and Danny are two peas in a pod. They respect one another, they make trades together, they approve trades together. It’s a good working relationship. It really is.”

Grousbeck acknowledged that the Celtics need to add some pieces for next year, but they will have to do it through a sign-and-trade since they are over the cap and can’t rely on free agency.

Said Grousbeck: “I think we ought to look at keeping these guys together and adding two or three pieces if we can aggressively, whether we can spend more money on other people — that’s been done before. We hit people over the head with the wallet club — $60 million to [Paul] Pierce, $100 million to [Kevin] Garnett, $40 million to [Ray] Allen, extending  [Rajon] Rondo, extending Doc. We basically say, ‘Come here, we’re a big-market team. That’s the way we run this thing.’ So, if we can hit some people over the head again this summer, we’ll do it.”

Asked about who the Celtics could use as trade bait, Grousbeck said: “That could be future draft picks, trade somebody. We’ve got a bunch of guys we could sign and trade.”

Pressed about which current member of the team might be traded, Grousbeck said: “I love the Big Three, the Big Four. I love those guys. I think the fans love seeing them together. I haven’t heard anything from Doc or Danny [Ainge] or anybody else about anything we’re planning to do.”

Grousbeck said that the Big Three have another run in them, they just need a better supporting cast. “They needed more help at the end, so we obviously need more help for next year, I’ll at least say it that way,” he said. “These guys aren’t going to get younger next year. They’re quality guys. They know how to play together. We’ve got to get them some help.”

6 Comments for “Wyc Grousbeck on D&C: ‘I want Miami to lose so badly’”

1. john schaffer Says:
   May 25th, 2011 at 10:48 am

   the celtics always have been a top team and they will continue , i just hope they get better health next year and play the way they are capable

2. Rudy Says:
   May 25th, 2011 at 5:45 pm

   The Celtics had a 15 to 20 year gap of not being a top team. It was the longest draught in team history. Hopefully, we are not heading in that direction again. I believe the pressure is now on the ownership. We’ll see what happens !!!!

3. jjp Says:
   May 25th, 2011 at 8:42 pm

   Okay, we have heard so much about the Perkins trade and how it really didn’t make a difference. But not many are considering how the trades of back up players such as Erden and Harangody affected the team chemistry and made them a lot worse than if they remained in the team. This did not make much sense to me, since in the end they replaced them with players who were not even active. Some were out of shape and they all had to learn the system in a very short time. Erden was pretty solid when he played. He was decent under the basket and had a good understanding of the defensive system. Luke played hard all the time and when playing with confidence, he was knocking down shots. And both these guys were not expensive either. So it really didn’t make sense. They could have given the C’s better quality than Pavlovic and Murphy. Bad call.

4. Glenn Says:
   May 26th, 2011 at 1:02 pm

   Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers have unfortunately been given too much credit for the Celtics. The reason they won a ring and got to the finals last year left for Chicago for this season, Tom Thibodeau. Jeff Green and Nenad would have figured out team defense and Baby would have been called out with Tom around. Danny and Doc showed me the benefit of having “Players” coaches around but at some point, you always need an X’s and O’s guy to finish the job. I want the secret defensive guru for the Mavericks. They’re playing way over their head defensively.

5. anne Says:
   May 26th, 2011 at 2:14 pm

   Who cares what the Celtics owner wishes? Heat fans couldn’t care less about him and his team.
   In fact keep rooting against the Heat because they play better and better.
   Do you honestly think that LeBron or DWade care who boos them?? It’s so childish it’s ridiculous.
   Go Heat and piss everyone off.

6. trey Says:
   May 27th, 2011 at 2:30 pm

   anne, there’s nothing childish about fierce competition. You think only children don’t like each other? And that quote really wasn’t the focus of the article. Wyc mentioned that he didn’t like the heat and that he wished their series would have been different.”heat fans couldn’t care less about him and his team”.. Exactly. That’s why this article was written for Boston Celtic fans, not Heat fans. But go ahead and continue on the Miami bandwagon, nobody here cares.

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