Yaaawn! Time to wake up and get ready for Celtics excitement!

[jmc@ptc.com]

OK, It's time for me to wake up from my winter of hibernation and 
actually post something again.  Pitino's moves to keep his good players 
and to acquire Battie have me very excited about the Celtics' future!
This season: Second round of playoffs
Next season: The sky's the limit!

I like Mark Berry's take on the latest moves: 

> Knight for Battie: I like it, mainly because it gives us a player with more 
> potential who seems like a good fit for the system. It also lets us out of 
> the contract sooner.

I agree, he's a better fit, and that's very important.  I wish people on 
this list would take that into account more when dreaming up trades.  

I'm always amazed at the trades people propose to send Mercer or Pierce
away.  These guys are young, athletic, talented, and better fits for our
system than almost anyone else's.  We'll get more value for our money by
keeping these guys.  On top of that, even though Walker is supposed to be 
the team leader, but I think Mercer will evolve into it.  He has the work
ethic, maturity, self-control and leadership qualities.  In the years to come
there will be brief stretches where he'll remind you of Michael Jordan.  
He'll be a perennial All-star.  Trading him away now would be a huge mistake. 

Going back to Battie vs. Knight, not only do I think Battie is a better 
fit, but I think he's a better player, period, with greater potential. 
As others have stated, he got an undeserved bad rap from performing poorly 
in a poor system last year.  

I remember wanting the Celtics to take Battie as the next best choice after
Duncan, but they took Billups instead.  What a disappointment that was!  I
thought Battie was more of what the C's needed than even Van Horn.   I
frequently consoled myself that at least they got Mercer with the #6 pick.

Now they'll have Battie anyway, and Billups got transformed into Kenny 
Anderson, so they'll have all the players I had hoped for from that draft 
anyway, plus Kenny Anderson to boot!  

I'm psyched! 

If Battie is still growing, he could be a legitimate "up-tempo" center. 
The Celtics would still need a big, bulky center for the top teams that 
have them, since those teams just feed or pound the ball inside for easy 
baskets, as San Antonio did last year, and as LA can do with O'Neal. 

That's why Schintzius could make sense if Pitino can motivate him.  He 
doesn't have to be a superstar, he just has to keep the other big centers 
from repeatedly getting position for easy 5-footers and layups.  In most 
games he would get just a few minutes or no minutes, but against dominant 
huge centers, we'd need him or someone like him to play a lot of minutes. 

The Celtics will be a high-scoring team, so all they have to do is keep the 
other team from getting tons of easy baskets.  Between Battie and Schintzius, 
the Celtics would be able to plug the hole in the middle against both 
slow-down bruising offenses and uptempo offenses.  Any offense provided by 
a Schintzius-type center would be a plus, not a necessity.  

The fact that he says he needs to be pushed and welcomes that makes me feel 
he's likely to work out. 

> Signing Popeye: Like everyone, it seems, I think this is a great move. He 
> gives us a banger we haven't had in a while.

We need rebounds!!  Let's sign Popeye!

Jon Mc