Enough about Fox, already!

["Damon Graff" <dgraff@mfi.com>]

     Look, Rick Fox was just about the only Celtic that came to play for a 
     long time, and he will be missed for that, but we have a bright future 
     here that realistically has no place for him or the salary he would 
     command.  There are certainly players still on the roster that I'd 
     have liked to seen go first, but it was inevitable.  Let's move on.
     
     This trade with Phoenix would be interesting, as Wesley Person and 
     Cedric Ceballos both have talent, though I don't know what kind of 
     long-term contracts they might be sitting on.  Ceballos would fill the 
     big forward role pretty well, and Person is a pretty good young player 
     (though at a position we don't really need).  I don't know that I'd 
     want to part with Williams for them, though, but it might be worth it 
     to take one of the big contracts off our hands.
     
     As much as I'd like to think we have some hot trades in the works for 
     Barros, Minor and/or Dee Brown, we realistically will start the season 
     with all of them still on the roster.  I'm thinking it'll shape up 
     like this on opening day:
     
     Guards: Billups, Mercer, Brown, Barros, Minor
     Forwards: Walker, Williams, Ellison, DeClerq
     Centers: Knight, Joseph, Williams
     
     They get rid of Radja and sign Andrew DeClerq, then just bring two of 
     the giants they've got in camp now to collect fouls and see which one 
     starts to improve faster.  As the season wears on, though, we'll have 
     a much better chance of trading some of the other guys - particular 
     Barros or Brown.  I agree with those who say that Dee is due for a 
     rebirth under Pitino this year, and I hope that Dana is similarly 
     inspired.  I worry, though, that Barros will be the odd man out on the 
     guard rotation, and that his trade value (which is actually pretty 
     good right now) will drop as a result.  Ideally, I'd like us to start 
     the season without Barros or Minor (but keeping Dee and Pervis around 
     - though the right deal could quickly have me singing a different 
     tune).
     
     Has anyone expressed any interest in Minor?  There are a lot of 
     marginal players out there that I would trade for him in a heartbeat 
     (I'd take a future second round pick for him, but no one would even do 
     that because of his contract).
     
     It's sometimes hard to keep perspective on this whole thing, 
     especially when you're reading 50-100 messages from rabid Celtics fans 
     every day, but this is truly a rebuilding year for the C's.  
     Certainly, they will be a MUCH more exciting team to watch this year, 
     and by the end of the season will be giving the best teams in the 
     league a run for their money (barring injury, of course).  They'll 
     probably squeak into the playoffs, maybe even get in to the second 
     round (if the leprechaun smiles on us), but given the yardstick to 
     which we hold all Celtics teams, it's not sufficient (if this were 
     Sacramento, it would be a different story).  Next year, they'll have a 
     decent draft pick (some size would be nice), and they might get a good 
     free agent (but I think they'll be out of the running for most of the 
     guys that are consistently mentioned on this list).  Pitino is doing, 
     and will continue to do, all that he can to jump start the rebuilding 
     process, but Rome and the Bulls weren't built in a day.
     
     Back to DeClerq for a second.  I think he's their man, despite what 
     you hear about Derek Strong, Outlaw, etc.  The price will be right, 
     and he made quite an impression on Pitino in college.  I haven't seen 
     anything on him in the pros, however, except his Knight-like stats.  
     Does anyone have any more insight?  Maybe some of you guys out in the 
     Bay Area will have some tips...
     
     Enough of my rambling for now.  Any thoughts?
     
                - Damon