My take on the trade

[DJessen33@aol.com]

This trade is a great one, maybe better than the Battie for Knight trade. I 
have to give out one PITINO IS A STINKIN GENIUS...Pitino is a great value 
trader. He would be great in the stock market. Williams is at a low value 
right now. Shooting percentage way down. His game was always slashing to the 
hoop, getting fouled and short jumpers. I saw him play after his first injury 
and thought he was fully back to form. Hopefully, he will still have his 
explosive first step. I think Denver may have left him to far out on the wing 
where defenders didn't honor his shot and they backed off him for his drive. 
I don't think he is exactly what Pitino was looking for but Denver only has 
so much they can offer...Man, getting a no. 1 out of this deal is highway 
robbery. Plus, Pitino got Denver to crawl and pay for 3 million of Williams 
salary. WOW....I have the at Denver/Celtics game recorded and I watched part 
of it the other day. That was the game Mercer went off on. The reason he did 
so well was because they had undersized Corey Alexander guarding him most the 
game and Mercer just shot over him. I sure he impressed the Nuggets, however. 
Fortson looked solid. I don't think he will be an all-star but neither are 
Antonio Davis and PJ Brown. I will watch the game again tonight and look at 
them closer...This was a trade to fill a need (rebounder, size defender) and 
put something away for the future (the no. 1). This is why you draft the best 
player available to build your team and then trade to fill holes. Mercer has 
a chance to be an all-star where Fortson probably never will. However, power 
forwards are always worth more than shooting guards in my book unless we are 
talking about people like Jordan...This trade seems to put Battie at the 
backup center and power forward spot. I think they can all split the time 
equally but I would like to seem the C's resign Riley as insurance and let 
Ellison ride the injured list as double insurance. When Pitino has the press 
on (which really is no more than 25% of the time), Battie will be in. Fortson 
and VP will rotate out sometimes and McCarty  or Walker will play the four 
(in the press)...I absolutely don't want Pitino to trade Walker now. I have 
felt that this team needed to be built around Pierce and Pitino seems to be 
going that way. However, we need to have other scoring options and 
alternatives if Pierce goes into a funk or gets injured. Plus, Walker has the 
ability to go off for 30 on any night. Mercer never had that ability due to 
his skill level and position...Final Conclusion: Absolutely a great trade for 
the C's. With the Eastern Conference dismantling that is going on, the 
Celtics could be moving up to be one of the top four teams in the east!!!

DJessen33