Rodney Rogers

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

Because of the intended Battie+Bowen for Rodney Rogers midseason trade,
writers are speculating that Pitino will again try to trade Battie for
a re-signed Rogers. My feeling is that it probably won't happen, because
since that trade failed, Pitino has been publicly touting Battie as one 
of his best moves. Also, a sign and trade would be more difficult to
work with in the salary cap, because presumably Rogers would sign for 
a higher salary than his current one (otherwise we could get him for the
exception instead). So the Celtics would have to throw in another player,
such as Minor.

I'd imagine that Pitino would use Rogers as an inside scorer for the 
second unit, which is certainly a Celtic need. Some pros: Rogers is an
older player (28 in June) than Battie with six years of league experience.
Because of his poor season, he'll probably come cheaper than Battie, so
you're more likely to get more bang for the buck, which is something that
a budget-constrained team like the Celtics needs. Before this last season,
Rogers was improving his stats every year, albeit on the Clippers.

Battie has more upside though because of his shotblocking talent and I 
would love to see him stay a Celtic, if the price is right. Unfortunately,
rookie contract players seem, as a group, to be the most overpaid people
in league history. I'd prefer to see Battie signed to a reasonable 
extension and the Celtics attempt to get Rogers for the $2M exception.
He seems like the type of midrange player that is liable to slip to this
range.

Alex