Re: Lottery Protection

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> What COULD enhance our duo's reputation as traders is if Vitalyi developed
> into a dominant NBA center, DeClercq remained an overclocked career backup,
> and the players available to Cleveland with our pick don't pan out. BTW, the
> trades Rick made were by and large good trades - it's his performance in
> other areas of player personnel management that leaves a lot to be desired.

Well, I think Vitaly can be a lot less than a "dominant NBA center" and
still be worth Declercq and the #8 pick. There are very few dominant
centers in the league and they only come around every few years. When
they do, they are almost always #1 picks. If he turns out to be an
"average starting NBA center," i.e. the 15th best center in the league, 
that would be quite satisfactory. 

Alex