Re: Hawks' first round picks

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Michael Joseph Byrnes wrote:

> Mr. Ghost wrote:
>
> > They should talk to Atlanta.  They may have as
> > many as four firsts this year from trades (...)
>
> I don't think the Celtics are going to want too many more first round
> picks.  The Celtics already have a nucleus that is about as good and as
> *young* as possible, in Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer, and Paul Pierce.  Two
> other key players on the team, Tony Battie and Walter McCarty, are also
> quite young.
>
> At this point, I'm not sure the Celtics need to be looking to add more
> youth to the mix.
>
> Michael Byrnes
> mbyrnes@stanford.edu

I guess I'd agree with MGhost on this one, since at least the Celtics could
thereby add relatively high-quality rookies picks without fear of cap
constraints. From this point on I find it hard to believe the Celts could
acquire equal talent via the FA route, especially once we re-sign Ron
Mercer.  Whenever that happens, all our key (and well-paid) players will be
signed through at least 2003.

Look, if we logically assume a near-imminent collapse of the "ancien regime"
(the 34-year-old and over ex-DreamTeamers who presently dominate the league)
probably immediately following this season , then it's safe to say our
Celtics surely will progressively increase their win total over the coming
years, on the strength of the vast head start in young lottery talent we've
already accumulated. This being the case, I think Wallace and Pitino should
pursue a strategy of happily swapping any of our Y2K-and-beyond first round
picks (along with our end-of-the bench cap guzzlers) in exchange for
Atlanta's or another NBA team's first-round picks next year. In fact, I think
we should swap any of our near-future Celtics first round picks (after the
1999 season) in exchange for the same year's first round pick of almost any
other team.

The time to make such trades is now, while everyone but us die-hard Celts
fans still undervalues the potential of our team.


Joe


p.s. Aren't there more predictions out there? I counted only around 60 on
TJ's list.

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