Trade Discussions

[John Lyell <Jlyell@concentric.net>]

Sportsline news

Away from the court, the Celtics continue to be very active in trade 
discussions, looking to improve a team with some clear deficiencies. And 
Pitino rather expects the club to make a deal before the February 19 trade 
deadline.

"I think the chances are very good," he said. "We're going to try to move 
some people -- for their benefit as well as ours."

To this point, the offers to the Celts have been very refuse-able. But 
Pitino believes the club is meeting his goal of building value in the 
players on hand.

"Oh, we've got great value," he said. "Except now that you've built that 
value, you don't want to give it away.

"The people that have been talking to us are just looking for lopsided 
trades. They're trying to give us their problems and they want a good 
player from us, and we're not about to bite on that. Or they want to give 
us salary cap relief for one of our good players, and we're not about to do 
that as well."