BSG Says It's A Blah Trade

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

http://home.digitalcity.com/boston/sportsguy/main.dci?page=links

(Yeah, drafting Alexander and keeping Fortson would have been
preferable.)

Here's my reaction: Ho-hum. If the Celts had just allowed Fortson to
leave, they wouldn't have gotten anything for him and that would have
been that. Instead they threw Barros into the trade and took back two
salary corpses (Robert Pack and Hot Rod Williams, who Eddie Andelman
actually referred to as "Hot Dog Williams" on WEEI this morning) and a
protected #1 pick from Utah. Pack only played 67 games over the past
three years and hasn't played three-fourths of a season since 1994 --
trading for him is like buying a car that doesn't have an engine. And my
Dad summed up everyone's feeling on WIlliams when he blurted out, "Hot
Rod Williams? Is he still alive?"

The salaries don't matter because Barros makes $3.5 million, Pack and
Hot Dog make a combined $6.5 million, all three contracts expire next
season and the Mavs are giving them $3 million to make up the money
difference. The key here for Boston is obviously the lottery-protected
draft pick; unless Karl Malone blows out his knee next season that pick
will be in the 20-25 range. Hard to get juiced about that one. Basically
it's a "blah" trade for the Celts; I would have rather seen them keep
Fortson and use their #1 pick last June on Courtney Alexander (instead
of Jerome Moiso).

Still the best part of the trade for me was making fun of Pitino's
inevitable press conference (on the phone with my Dad last night): "If
we can keep Robert Pack healthy ... he's a guy ... who can really give
our offense a boost ... when he's not in the hospital ... we've coveted
him for years. And that draft pick ... gives us three picks ... in next
year's draft ... which will make for a terrific, TERRIFIC bargaining
chip next summ-ah."

One other note: ESPN.com's Ric Bucher reported that the Celts would be
receiving young center Bruno Sundov from the Mavs as well; everyone else
has Sundov headed to Utah. The 20-year-old Sundov supposedly has some
potential -- he's 7-foot-2 -- so that would make the trade a little more
interesting from Boston's perspective. My guess is that Bucher screwed
up.

By the way, I enjoyed the Dana Barros Era almost as much as I enjoyed
the Vincent Brisby Era. Onto the links...