Re: Possible Fortson trade

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Alex Wang wrote:

> The Boston Herald reports that Denver is interested in Ron Mercer and
> Popeye Jones for Danny Fortson and Eric Williams. While I doubt that
> Pitino is willing to take on Williams' inflated contract (supposedly
> Denver is trying to dump it on anyone they can), I feel more optimistic
> knowing that Mercer is worth at least this much. Of course, Fortson
> probably presents a negotiating dilemma as difficult as Mercer's.

In my opinion, there will be no negotiating dilemma. Fortson is the #4
rebounder in the NBA (in only 28.3 mpg) and, for a 23-years-old big man, he
nails his freethrows and also converted an unselfish and efficient  #8
overall field goal percentage.

When Pitino pleaded that his budget is only 3 million (the total of two FA
exceptions) above the salary cap , I believe he was being disingenuous.

Last year Pitino said he had the authority in writing to pay free agents up
to 14 million per year without permission. I don't think that has changed.
Think of it this way: on a 15 man roster (we carried 16 last year I
believe), the new salary cap averages out in the ballpark of 2.5 million
dollars per player. In other words, the salary cap is unrealistically low.
For every Kenny Anderson-size contract (8 million)  Pitino/Wallace must
find, and keep all season, four bums at the Duh-wayne "Vanilla Ice
Lookalike from Hell" Shintzius asking price (1 million). Even for every
measly Dana Barros or Popeye Jones contract, the Celts need to find several
more minimum wage CBA-rejects to balance the books. Well I don't believe
that "Thanks Dad" Gaston is naive enough to believe fans will continue
paying good money to watch the ability of the Celtics to compete torpedoed
every night by the 8 or 9  sub-NBA-standard players on our team like Marlon
Garnett and Shintzius.

Trust me folks, NOBODY in the league genuinely expects to compete at the
new salary cap. Despite having several below-market price contracts, the
Bulls won their championships with a team payroll that nearly doubled the
present cap. Many playoff teams continue to compete with 60 million dollar
payrolls (Knicks, Portland etc.) By contrast, the Celts in Pitino's first
year had the 8th lowest payroll and "coincidentally" finished tied for the
9th worst lottery record. This past season, the Celtics again had a
reasonably low payroll (remember that Walker's extension didn't apply yet)
and again finished "coincidentally" with a won-loss record reflecting
Gaston's investment. Pitino initially made a massive effort to shed costs
in his first year, hoping that this would give him cap room to compete for
players exactly of his choice in the future. But when the new cap was fixed
at millions below what he and everyone expected, I think he realized all
his diligent work had been to no avail. I believe he is more than ready to
spend the necessary money for key players (the only question is whom),
within a budget far better reflecting the traditional size of the Celts
market.

The bottom line is that Pitino has been concocting budgetary excuses to
trade Mercer, since he's known the player since he was a kid and doesn't
want to say anything negative. But if by a miracle he could trade Mercer to
get a statistical Paul Silas-clone (Dan Fortson), I guarantee Pitino won't
even pretend to hesitate (for appearance's sake) before re-signing Fortson
this Summer to more money than Mercer is demanding. IMO, any 11 rpg per 28
minutes player in the NBA is worth trading several 2 assist, "great"
mid-range shooters (.440%) like Ron Mercer. Dan Fortson's numbers talk. I
wouldn't care if he were only 5 feet tall. The remarkable thing is that
Denver 1) won't miss Fortson's rebounding (they have McDyess and LaFrentz);
and 2) they are kind of a dumb franchise. The only reason this trade rumor
sounds phony is that we can't possibly match up Eric Williams' salary
unless Kenny Anderson or Popeye/Pervis were involved.

Joe

-------