Yada Yada..

[Warwick <giants@eisa.net.au>]

Roster as of now...

C: DeClercq  | Knight  | Ellison
PF: Walker   | Jones
SF: Pierce   | McCarty | Minor
SG: Mercer   | Bowen   |Jones
PG: Anderson | Barros

Players available for trade
___________________________

Travis Knight
Pervis Ellison
Antoine Walker OR Paul Pierce (hopefully not both!)
Greg Minor
Dana Barros

Needs
_____

A quality intimidating big man capable of scoring 7-10ppg, 7+rpg,
1-2bpg.
A backup point guard in case of injury to either Barros or Anderson.

Free Agent $
____________

The Celtics have roughly $4 mil to spend on acquiring these talents to
fulfill the role.

Free Agents who can fulfill those roles
_______________________________________

Big Man
________

Vlade Divac - 15.965
Matt Geiger - 13.223
Theo Ratliff - 13.048
Ike Austin - 12.550
Luc Longley - 11.607
Olden Polynice - 9.638
Michael Stewart - 9.373
Terry Davis - 8.246

Note: Jayson Williams, Rik Smits and Arvydas Sabonis are all expected to
be
re-signed by their current teams, but are worthy of a lot of respect if
they are available. However with the older Smits and Sabonis being
injury
prone, their effectiveness with the Celtics will only be a temporary
fix.

Quality 3rd string Point Guards
_______________________________

Mark Price - 9.827
Cory Alexander - 8.013
Anthony Johnson - 7.605
Alvin Williams - 5.536
Rick Brunson - 4.546
Doug Overton - 2.021
God Shammgod - 1.321
_______________________________

The possible destinations for our hero, Antoine Walker...

Chicago - They'd have to sign him thru free agency, they dont have much
on
their roster which would interest the Celts...

Denver - I'd pull the following deal

Boston Get | Salary    | Denver Get  |  Salary
R.LaFrentz | 2.38 mil  | A.Walker    |  2.2 mil
D.Garrett  | 2.16 mil  | E.Ellison   |  2.42 mil
Nuggets #1 | --------  | G.Minor     |  2.52 mil
________________________________________________
TOTAL      | 4.54 mil  | TOTAL       |  7.14 mil

This still leaves the Nuggets considerably under the cap with the
Celtics
lineup looking like

 C - Garrett  | DeClercq | Knight
PF - LaFrentz | Jones
SF - Pierce   | McCarty  | Jones
SG - Mercer   | Bowen
PG - Anderson | Barros   | Free Agent

LA Lakers - I wouldn't trade him to the Lakers if I were the Celts...
Such
a deal would give the Lakers a commanding position in 3 different
positions
when looking at their future lineup with Shaq at center, Walker at
forward
and Bryant and/or Jones at guard. I wouldn't do it for Jones because
with
Mercer and Pierce, the Celts are fine at swing.

Miami Heat - The rumored deal involving the Celtics re-signing Antoine
Walker
to trade him off to the Heat is ludicrous... Why would a team re-sign
their
main star only to trade him off to a team in the same division for two
fine, but clearly not star players?

Phoenix Suns - Another team which would have to lure him through the
free agent waters.. Again they don't have much in trade value for the
Celts
given their current lineup full of free agents. Jason Kidd is nice, but
we
have Anderson and two point guards hasn't worked much in the history of
the
league.

Portland Trailblazers - I'd pull the following deal

Boston Get | Salary   | Portland Get | Salary
B.Grant    | 6.00 mil | A.Walker     | 2.2 mil
K.Cato     | 1.15 mil | P.Ellison    | 2.42 mil
*******    | ******** | G.Minor      | 2.52 mil
________________________________________________
TOTAL      | 7.15 mil | TOTAL        | 7.14 mil

Thus giving the Celts a lineup of

 C - Cato     | DeClercq | Knight
PF - Grant    | Jones
SF - Pierce   | McCarty  | Jones
SG - Mercer   | Bowen
PG - Anderson | Barros   | Free Agent

Seattle Supersonics - I'd pull the following deal

Boston Get | Salary    | Seattle Get | Salary
V.Baker    | 4.26 mil  | A.Walker    | 2.2 mil
H.Hawkins  | 3.64 mil  | P.Ellison   | 2.42 mil
*********  | ********  | G.Minor     | 2.52 mil
_______________________________________________
TOTAL      | 7.9 mil   | TOTAL       | 7.14 mil

Thus giving the Celts a lineup of

 C - Free Agent | DeClercq | Knight
PF - Baker      | Jones
SF - Pierce     | McCarty  | Jones
SG - Mercer     | Bowen
PG - Anderson   | Barros   | Free Agent

Cheers,

Warwick