No Subject

At this point, from what I understand, Dino wants the Celtics to pay him
the difference between his Celtic contract and his Panthaniakos contract.
The Celtics are understandable opposed to the idea of letting him have his
cake and eat it too.  

Assuming this all gets worked out, the Celtics appear set to sign Derek
Strong and Andrew DeClerq.  That would give the Celtics a total of 11
players under contract:

	Travis Knight, C-PF
	Pervis Ellison, C-PF
	Andrew DeClerq, C-PF
	Derek Strong, PF
	Antoine Walker, PF-SF
	Eric Williams, SF
	Ron Mercer, SG
	Greg Minor, SG-SF
	Chauncey Billups, PG
	Dee Brown, PG
	Dana Barros, PG-SG

There will still be one roster spot open for a big 7 foot project.
Probably Garth Joseph or Loronzo Coleman.  I don't see Brent Scott making
the cut, even though he may be the most advanced of the three, because I
don't think he gives the Celtics anything that DeClerq, Ellison, and
Knight don't already provide.  Given Coleman's poor showing in Atlanta, I
would guess that the last roster spot goes to Joseph, though he won't get
many minutes (maybe he will get to foul Shaq in the Laker games).

There is also the possiblity that more trades will happen which will open
things up for an Eric Murdock or a Rumeal Robinson.  But, assuming that
the Celtics don't make a trade, they will start with the roster I just
listed.

The strengths of this team will be its youth, athleticism, and backcourt
(and #3).  Most of these players are very young and talented, and this
team is far more athletic than any Celtic team in history with players
like Brown, Billups, Mercer, Walker, Williams, and Knight.  The backcourt
has five players who all have some athleticism and talent.  Brown and
Barros will be the leaders, because they have the experience that the
others lack.  In Pitino's pressure defense, it will be necessary to rotate
a lot of players in the backcourt to keep everyone fresh, and fortunately
Pitino has those players.  (If we were to end up with a Murdock or
Robinson in place of Brown or Barros the situation would be the same.)

The Celtics will also be strong at the #3 position with Williams and
Antione Walker.  Unfortunately the Celtics will be forced to use Walker at
the 4-spot for much of the time because they don't have many better
options.  

The biggest weaknesses on the Celtics will be inexperience, and the lack
of proven big men.  The Celtics will be depending on Knight, DeClerq, and
Strong to provide the size and muscle up front, and we will have to wait
and see how effective that combination can be.  The "wild-card" in the
situation will be Pervis Ellison.  It seems as though Pitino and Wallace
are not counting on Ellison for a minute, which makes sense.  However, if
healthy and willing to play Pitino's system, Ellison has the talent to be
a major contributor at the 4 and 5 spots.  

Because of their inexperience *and* pressure style defense, this Celtic
team will rack up fouls like there's no tomorrow, especially Mercer and
Billups, since rookies get treated harshly by the officials.  I think a
lot of teams will win or lose games against the celtics based on how well
they shoot at the line.

I also think that the Celtics will be a team in transition this year, and
they can't be expected to do all that well.  However, they will be fun
to watch, and they will be the "spoiler" team that all of the good,
playoff-bound teams just hate to play towards the end of the season.  Next
year, the more experienced Celtics will once again make the playoffs.

Michael Byrnes
mbyrnes@stanford.edu