Portland trade speculation

["Alexander Wang" <alexander_c_wang@hotmail.com>]

Can't believe I'm going to speculate based on Jersey Red, but the lack
of action has been killing me.

1. I believe Brian Grant does want to play for a contender so he's
likely not part of the deal.

2. Jermaine O'Neal would have to be one of the principals. Portland
knows they can get good value from the Celtics for him (based on the
three draft picks on draft day) and he isn't important to their
championship aspirations. His BYC status has improved which makes
a trade more feasible without a third team (unlike draft day, I
believe).

3. I really doubt Pippen is involved. He was intriguing three years
ago but the way his contract is probably structured means that we'll
be paying the majority of the contract for the minority of his
production over its life. I can't imagine Paul Gaston allowing it.

4. Pitino likes Stoudamire from what I remember in 1998 when
Stoudamire-Anderson happened. He praised Portland for that trade.

3. The benefit with trading with Portland is that they obviously
don't care about fiscal sanity. So they can probably absorb any
number of salaries as long as they're getting quality talent in
return. That talent would have to be Pierce or Walker, IMO.

Alex
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