Anderson trade

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Why are people so certain that Billups is going to be better than
Anderson? All he's shown is potential while Anderson has had a few
good seasons before this one. I think Pitino should be a pretty good
judge of Billups' talent and whether he fits in the system by now.

I believe that Anderson's contract counts against Boston's cap.
In fact I had read that Paul Allen's agreement to pay for Anderson's
contract was only valid if Anderson was not traded by Toronto.

Popeye Jones is out for the season. Almost certainly, he and Tabak
will be renounced at year's end. 

A vital part of this is that the move clears $2.2M in cap space, 
which at first doesn't sound like much. But it's equivalent to
about $30M in a seven-year contract. It could mean the difference
in signing a good big man or other quality free agent over the 
offseason. (Of course you can argue that we wouldn't be in such
a cap squeeze if Pitino had been more patient in signing 
Knight, Declerq, Massenburg...)

Another point is that Anderson's "monster" contract will likely be
dwarfed by what Billups will get in two years, if he fulfills
the potential that many on this list believe.

Alex