Celtics New (Again) Roster

[Michael Joseph Byrnes <mbyrnes@leland.Stanford.EDU>]

First of all, since the Celtics now have 13 players under contract, one of
them will have to go, barring an injury.  My guess is that Pervis Ellison
will win the "13th player" award, despite his big contract.  There will
also be no more major acquisitions, as the only players the C's can trade
are Ellison, Dee Brown, Dana Barros, and Greg Minor, none of whom have
much value.  The only "blockbuster" type of trade the Celtics could make
would involve Antoine Walker, Chauncey Billups, or Ron Mercer, and I
highly doubt that Pitino would make such a deal.

After that, this is what the C's roster will look like (minus Ellison):

 C: Travis Knight	(Andrew DeClerq)
PF: Antoine Walker	(Tony Massenburg, DeClerq)
SF: Chris Mills		(Walker, Bruce Bowen, Greg Minor)
SG: Ron Mercer		(Dana Barros, Dee Brown, Greg Minor)
PG: Chauncey Billups	(Tyus Edney, Barros, Brown)

At center, Knight will start and be backed up by DeClerq.  

At power forward, Walker will start and be backed up by Massenburg and
DeClerq.

At small forward, Mills will start.  Bowen will probably battle Minor for
the backup slot (and get most of the minutes, since he is a Pitino/Wallace
signing; if Minor had impressed in Atlanta, I doubt that Bowen would have
been signed at all).  Also, if the C's want to go with a "big" lineup,
Walker could back up Mills.

At shooting guard, Mercer will probably start, though Brown might also get
the nod.  With Mercer starting, Brown and Barros will fight for most of
the backup minutes; I doubt that there will be much left for Minor.

At the point, either Billups or Edney will start, with the other the
primary backup.  Barros and Brown will get any remaining minutes here, but
they won't amount to much.

The big loser in all of this is Greg Minor.  With the pressure defense and
running offense, and the inexperience of Mercer and Billups, Pitino may 
end up using a five guard rotation.  Unfortunately, Minor is the sixth
guard.  He could also back up Mills at forward, but he is probably behind
not only Bowen, but also Massenburg and DeClerq (with Walker playing SF). 
The Celtics also lose because Minor has five years left on a long term
deal, and I doubt that any team will want to trade for him.

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu