Re: offseason thoughts

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

I disagree.  Anderson will never be traded.  As for Mercer, he has
magnificent potential, plus personal qualities we all love.  He could
go if Rick thought he could score someone like Pippin, but not
otherwise.  I think there is a big misconception about the salary cap.
 The figure of three or four million that the celtics have to spend
doesn't take into account that the cap is about to go up three or four
million.  So I am assuming that we have seven or eight to spend, and
that's without backloading a contract (so that it starts paying up
just as Pervis or Dana finish).  Why we should have to pay half of
Dino Radja's salary if he comes back to the NBA is beyond me. I still
wouldn't spend it on Geiger, though, who strikes me as a disaster
waiting to happen. 

I get the feeling that Pitino has his eye on somebody in this draft. 
Larry liked Paul Pierce best, and that would also give Rick another
big defender, besides a proven scorer at the three.  LaFrentz doesn't
impress me.  I like Doleac better, who reminds me in a lot of ways of
Jim Petersen, but with a better shot.  The big men in this draft are
shit; I'm not even convinced on Kandi.  Olajuwon, you will remember,
had proved himself in the NCAA tourney.

This is very frustrating.  We are two weeks from the draft, and nobody
has a clue as to what is in the works for the Celtics.  Plus, we have
this Antoine thing hanging over our heads.  I HATE that Gaston was
among the owners who voted against reopening the CBA.  That tells me
that he's a hardass who thinks there is some kind of principal
involved here.  Let me tell you what the principal is, Paul:  putting
banners up in the "Fleet Center."  Otherwise, just do us all a favor
and sell out to a corporation.

Josh




---Alex Wang  wrote:
>
> Watching the finals has reminded me of Pitino's statement that 
> adding a defensive player that was not a scoring threat would not
> help the team. In particular, when Ostertag is on the floor for
> Utah, the Bulls basically don't even need to put a man on him.
> Pippen just runs around disrupting the Utah offense instead.
> 
> Regarding the Celtics' offseason, their situation is that they
> have three starter-quality players. Walker is their sole player 
> with obvious superstar potential, and I imagine he is untouchable
> except for worst-case scenarios. Other than Walker though, I would
> guess that everybody else could be traded. The goal would be to
> have a net addition of starter-quality players, or to add another
> superstar at whatever price. It seems to me that a team with two
> superstars and role players tends to be more successful at the
> championship level nowadays than a team with zero or one superstars 
> and several decent to strong starters (Atlanta, Charlotte).
> 
> That is why I believe that Pitino will not just keep the pick and
> re-sign Jones and Tabak for instance unless he has no other option.
> Additionally, dumping the pick with Knight, for instance, would only
> open enough room to sign Geiger or Ratliff. My prediction is that the 
> pick and either Mercer or Anderson will be the principals in a trade 
> for some combination of cap room, a higher draft pick, and/or a 
> veteran All-Star player.
> 
> Alex
> 
> 

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