Next year's lineup

["Brian Boisvert" <brianb@stylus.com>]

I've seen a lot of mail lately about who to keep, who to dump, etc. so I   
thought I'd add my $.02.  First of all, I've tried to be realistic.  Sure   
I'd love to see them dump Dee, Ellison, Barros, and some of these other   
huge contracts, but realistically, we just can't.  We tried.  No one   
wants them, so we better get used to them.  So, assuming we get Duncan (I   
know -- big assumption!), here's how I see next year shaping up:

PG:  Wesley/Barros
SG:  Draft pick?/Minor/Brown
SF:  Fox/Williams
PF:  Walker/Radja
C:  Duncan/Ellison/Conlon

This really isn't a bad team.  They have several veteran players, but are   
also *very* young and athletic -- a huge upside.  Assuming that they gel,   
stay healthy, and have a decent coach, I could see them making the   
playoffs, maybe even during the first year.  However, I think this would   
also be the most expensive bench in league history -- Barros (3.4   
million), Minor (1.8 million), Brown (3.25 million), Radja (5.3 million),   
and Ellison (1.8 million)!  Obviously (with the possible exception of   
Minor), I wouldn't mind seeing all of these "bench" guys disappear, but,   
assuming we are stuck with them, this would make for a pretty deep team   
 -- very few teams can have players like Radja and Williams come off the   
bench!  I'm also assuming that we resign Wesley (which I think we will)   
and Fox (which I hope we will, but think we might not if another team   
offers him a larger contract).  I also figure that we've seen the last of   
Day, Hamer, Driggers, Hawkins, Brickowski, Szabo, and Lister.  I happen   
to hate Todd Day (and his pathetic FG%), but even the Day supporters have   
to realize that Day's cap slot is much more valuable to the Celtics right   
now than the player is.  He's gone at the end of the season.

I'd also like to comment on what Heinsohn said about trading down to dump   
Dee.  This really isn't a bad idea (and one that I have been advocating   
for some time).  For the first time in years, we have a lot of different,   
exciting options ahead of us because of these two picks.  If the Dallas   
pick turns out to be just "average" (i.e. not top-five), we may want to   
look to trade it with one or two of our expensive "bench" players (like   
Dee).  There are very few other situations where we will be able to dump   
a salary like this.  Salary cap issues are going to be huge in the next   
few years.  If we don't do something now, everyone is going to be   
bitching and moaning in 98-99 when we can't sign any free agents.  This   
way, we can use the Todd Day/Lister/Brickowski money to resign Wesley,   
Fox, and the draft picks and still have some $$$ for free agents in the   
next few years.  Obviously, if the Dallas pick is #2 or something like   
that, I wouldn't trade it away, but if it is #7, you could use it to free   
up cap money to sign a PROVEN free agent, rather than draft a rookie   
which is always a crapshoot no matter where you pick.

 --Brian
brianb@stylus.com