Just rambling about money and Walker because I fear the worst and want to holdhands.

[damekmo@teleport.com]

>> Bulpett says of Gaston: "that
>would
>>mean he is not playing in the same league with other clubs that choose to
>raise
>>the roof to keep a magnetic talent such as Walker."
>>
>What is ironic is that Gaston in the past has had no problem in giving 2+
>mill to pervis (for sitting on the bench), 3+ mill to Dee and Dana, 5+ mill
>to Dino whose season gets over by jan  etc, but when the time comes to play
>the one real player he is pleading fiscal sanity. - MIshra

Mishra,

Both you and Bulpett are right. And believe me, I think the Celtics need to
sign Walker. But....from Gaston's point of view, God help me, there are a
bunch of teams out there paying tons of money for players who probably
aren't going to get them anywhere. They might, but they certainly might
not. Teams can lose with them, teams can lose without them. And I'm not
talking about the stiffs the Celtics have signed in the past. Garnett comes
to mind, although that's only because he's the apparent poster boy for
"over-paid players". I've said it before, it's a crap shoot. I think Gaston
wants more of a guaranteed return on his investment. Now...I think that's
pretty near impossible, unless you're talking about a player like Jordan,
or perhaps, stay calm...Shaq. However, perhaps the risk has become too
great to tolerate, unless the team is owned by AT&T. It's been said before,
maybe he should sell the team if he's not going to play the game and gamble
with the big boys. However, the Walker doubters have an arguable point.
Now, I've always said that you sign talent and worry about the rest later,
especially if the talent seemingly is willing to work so hard and is so
willing to take the responsibility for leadership. However...it's not my
money and who's to say how much risk is acceptable when the stakes are so
high? This whole $100mil limit on salaries could just be posturing, and I
hope it is. But there has to be a cutoff point. Jesus, I've written this
whole thing and so...what's my point? Christ, I want them to sign the kid
because this team hasn't seen talent like his in years and please, I have
just as many if not more doubts about Mercer's value to the team so don't
give me this, "What about (the apparent saintly) Ron?" crap.... But, maybe
salaries have gotten out of hand and it's just our bad luck that Gaston's
found religion, but somebody had to do it.

Paul M.