Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports that the Celtics? summer will be greatly influenced by the NBA?s luxury tax. This has changed the perception from ?it?s all about winning? to ?it?s all about the money?.

Asked what portion of his decisions in this offseason are dictated by financial concerns, Celtics general manager Chris Wallace didn't hesitate. ``I'd say 120 percent,'' he said.

The Celts' payroll for the coming season is now in the $52 million range for the nine guaranteed players. The base for Paul Pierce's new deal has yet to be calculated, so the number could be altered slightly. And the figure will rise if Omar Cook is still on the team on August 1 and his partial guarantees kick in.

But with Rodney Rogers still to sign (he's the first priority) and Erick Strickland desired, the Celtics are living on the fault line with a tax that could kick in anywhere from $51 million to $54 million. The threshold won't be learned until the revenues are added and audited in July of 2003.

``Before we even sign anyone, we're up against it,'' said Celtics chief operating officer Rich Pond. ``We have a lot of work to do trying to manage this. Nobody knows the exact number, so that makes it difficult. You don't find out the threshold until the season's over and everything's calculated, so you're working against a framework of something that's unknown.''

``It's possible for us to keep the players we want and stay under,'' said Pond, ``but it'll be difficult. If we're slightly over, it's better than being significantly over. But we don't want to be over at all. The mandate right now is clear. We're not supposed to venture into the luxury tax area.'?