The master plan!

[JASPINDLER@aol.com]

To borrow a title from one of my son's Goosebumps books, "A Shocker on Shock
Street", I had to laugh at the Globe finally getting some glimmer of insight
into what's been going on with the Celtics.  The list archives will back me
up on this; I have been saying repeatedly for almost two years now that the
plan all along was for ML to become a part owner of this team.  He was given
the job by Gaston to get it back on track, and while his execution has not
been flawless, he most certainly has done the job that Gaston hired him to
do.  ML probably is now sitting pretty with some nice stock options, and an
opportunity to fullfill his dream.  Larry is now ready and hungry to prove
that he can do as well or better than Red and Kevin McHale.  Maybe Pitino
won't come this year, but Larry Brown is not a bad consolation prize. 

My predictions for the draft are simple. If we get the number one pick, we
take Duncan and trade down with the Dallas pick, unloading Brown or Radja in
the process. There are several likely candidates who would think hard about
trading up to the sixth spot and giving us a lower pick and a player with a
shorter contract or a misfit. These teams include Milwaukee, Cleveland,
Washington, Indiana, Sacramento, and possibly NJ.  In either case, I feel
that the Celtics will go big on both acquisitions because they simply have
too many guards under contract.  My personal best wish/hope is to get Baker
and Milwaukee's pick for the Dallas pick and Radja, but this will never
happen with Chris Ford in the picture.  Let's hope he gets the axe before
draft day, and we can pull it off. My second choice would be a similar
swapping of picks with Washington to acquire Harvey Grant. The Bullets would
likely prefer Barros to Rajda which is fine.  The general idea is to move
Walker over to the 3 spot and put a defensive board banger at the 4 spot in
place of Radja.   In either case, May 18th can't come soon enough for me.  We
are in a strong statistical position to get Duncan, we just need a little
luck.  If we don" get the Duncan pick, then I believe they will draft Tony
Battie and Foyle or Thomas.  Mercer will be taken second, so he will not be
available anyway.  There is no point in debating Mercer as a Celtic.  We
cannot get the second pick, and we would not pick Mercer over Duncan with the
first. Battie will go third in almost any scenario, unless he doesn't come
out.  Van Horn is dropping out of the top six picks, leaving players like
Thomas and Foyle available at six.

As for free agents, I would make Wesley a top priority, whatever it takes
within reason to resign him.  Conlon is also a keeper in my opinion, if for
no other reason than he continually exceeds expectations and is a good
soldier. While Todd Day is entertaining to watch on a bad team, I will cancel
my season tickets if they resign him. The notion of resigning him at a lower
price doesn't work, because cap rules limit how much you can cut the salary
of one of your own FA's, and the money should rightly go to Wesly, so Day is
history.  Unfortunately, the timing is once again bad for Rick Fox.  While he
is definiteley making less than he is worth, it may come down to another team
valuing him more than the Celtics do at this point in time.  
Eric Williams has a greater upside than Fox, and has the added advantages of
youth and comradarie with Walker.  If things don't work out here for Fox, I
hope he find a good home with a contender.