Re: Holley on who may be going. . .

["Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

>From: "Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>

>In sum: they gain a starting PG who can relieve Grant Hill of a good deal 
>of his ball handling responsibilities, thereby benefiting both Hill's game 
>and the team as a whole, and add a shot-blocking four in exchange for an 
>underachieving center with a hard-to-move contract and the sacrifice of a 
>valuable but not core member of the team.

Welcome back, Thomas.  I just wanted to add my thoughts to the discussion 
you started.  First, a couple of points I have to disagree with.  One, I 
don't think many people consider Dana Barros a starting point guard.  Sure, 
we all thought he played his little heart out at the end of the year, but 
Gentry saying he thinks he's "underrated" doesn't equal him wanting Dana to 
start for them.  The other is that I doubt Buffalo Brian would be that hard 
to move for them.  I don't know what his contract is, but unless it's really 
astronomical, his size would make a number of teams take a look.  
Particularly, as you say, those with a physical presense at power forward.  
Also, I think he and Vitaly would be a pretty slow 4/5 combination to try to 
play an uptempo system.

Now, I'm always asking this question, so forgive me if I'm redundant.  Do 
you think the Celtics need to make a trade like this, from a basketball 
standpoint, in order to make the playoffs next year?  Personally, I think 
they will be fine with the people they have, given an intense conditioning 
and practice schedule.  I'm of the opinion that every major trade they make 
sets them back a number of months.  A second round guard here, a free agent 
exception there would be fine, but the only way I'd trade any of the key 
players (Kenny, Ron, Paul, Antoine, Vitaly and now Battie) is if the 
contract situation forced it.  Otherwise, the thing this team needs most is 
continuity.  I even think I'd prefer to keep Barros and Minor, at this 
point, unless there was genuine talent on offer for them.

Jim


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