Trade talk

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

It's early in the preseason and we are already talking about newly
acquired players getting traded! I believe Pitino when he says that
they're not talking about anything currently. When the trading
deadline rolls around, there will probably be some movement, 
but it will depend on how people are playing at that time. I
wouldn't guess as to who is most likely to go, except that Ellison
and Washington are strong possibilities. They are in the last
years of their contracts, and Pitino probably doesn't plan on
bringing them back, so he'll ship them to some team on a cap
clearing mission. 

And if some appropriate All-Star player becomes disgruntled, 
I would expect Pitino to make a run at them offering anyone on 
the team except Walker and Pierce. The Celtics have been
building a quantity of good players; at some point, they will 
cash in quantity (and draft picks) for quality, as Way has 
suggested. There have been a lot of these scenarios recently, with
Marbury, Penny Hardaway, Pippen, and Francis all getting traded
for lesser players and draft picks.

For the most part, I don't expect much movement this season other
than minor trades involving unwanted players though. In my opinion,
the roster is solid enough that Pitino won't have to make any 
trades out of desperation, which he has in the past. He's pulled
it off pretty well because the other team has been desperate before
too; but now, he can afford to be picky with his trades and wait
until he has the opportunity to really rob a team in some unfortunate
position. 

Alex