Re: The master plan!

[m.j.gill@uea.ac.uk (Matthew Gill)]

On Wed, 23 Apr 1997 10:29:29 -0400 (EDT), you wrote:

>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.

Why can't we get the No. 2 pick?  Sure if Vancouver come out of the
pick 1st they get the second pick and no one else can have it, however
it San Antonio get the 1st pick, then we can have the 2nd pick.  The
only reason I can see for not getting Mercer is that he and Walker
don't get along too well and this might create a chemistry problem
with the team.

Does Washington have a first round draft pick this year?  I thought
that they lost it when there was the problem with the J.Howard
contract.  I might be wrong.

>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. =20
>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. =20

I hope we can sign Fox as well, he is a good player, maybe not an
all-star but he is still good, and could be very usefull in a couple
of years.  Fox has improved his game every year and I believe that he
can continue to do that.

Mat.
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*   -----=3D=3D=3D=3D<<< Matthew Gill >>>=3D=3D=3D=3D-----   *
*   Undergraduate of Electronic Engineering  *
*   at the University of East Anglia (UEA)   *
*          email : m.j.gill@uea.ac.uk        *
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