Wow if this is true it is pretty amazing we can't move him for some value than Laettner (stiff) . Walker and Anderson for Rose & Croshere Walker and Anderson to the Clippers for Anderson, Dooling & Jaric . Walker for Ben Wallace & Amaechi if they don't get Duncan. Amaechi & Eisley would be good free agent acquisitions. Poor Ron Mercer really got screwed by Percy & No Limit. What did Pitino offer him about 6m a year , now he is lucky to get the exception ?
I assume Krause still likes Ron Mercer, at least as a consolation/booby
prize. Or Mercer has the sign-and-trade scenario with Toronto involving
McGrady. The bottom falls out if none of those deals work.
Mercer and Derek Anderson probably did make a mistake with No Limit, but a lot of players with other agents are in the same boat. The No Limit people did seem to negotiate counterproductively for their clients with the public 71 million maximum salary ultimatums. Their clients became near pariahs with ownership and lost the sympathy of everyday fans.
I almost think the Celtics ought to withhold any quick offers for 2.25 million free agents until things play themselves out a bit. They might end up surprising themselves and doing better than a Mark Jackson. Forget about the International Man of Mystery, Austin Croshere, but maybe a Derek Anderson or John Amaechi is a possibility in a wink-wink type deal. Derek Anderson is a good player. I'd predict playoffs if that happens.
Thinking back on BSG's inside scoop, I'm still not sure trading Antoine for half his salary cap space in return would actually put the Celtics back under the cap (and even if so, not by much). In this sense, it seems doubtful that this trade alone would put them in a position to enter the free agent market for Croshere, which I assume to be the raison d'être. Does someone out there feel like doing the math and correcting me? If there is no Croshere involved, then this strikes me as a highly improbable trade.
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