Re: How can we make the trade work?

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

bird wrote:

> LA likes picks, though, and we do have that one from Denver -- Derek
> Anderson for the pick and cap trash?  I'm not sure LA goes for that,
> either.  (I can't believe I just suggested a trade.  When with the
> madness of July end?)
>
> Regards,
>
> Bill

Well I like this scenario (Denver pick plus Barros and cash for Derek Anderson
in a sign-and-trade). Derek Anderson is a natural born big guard with solid
off-guard ball distribution skills (career 3.5 assists). Relatively speaking,
I think Tariq and Mercer fall more in the tweener 2/3 class. A healthy Derek
Anderson would be a lottery pick in almost any year IMO, and therefore worth
the gamble of Denver's protected pick.

What I imagine is likely to happen next year is that several of solid 2001
upperclassmen are going to tumble into the 5th-to-8th pick range (Troy Murphy,
Terence Morris, Loren Woods, Vincent Yarbrough). Either that or some of the
sophomores or incoming freshmen will be there (Casey Jacobson, Jason Gardner,
Gilbert Arenas, Joe Forte, Zach Randolph, Eddie Griffin). It all depends on
how many, if any, of next year's ultra-hyped prepsters declare for the draft.
If you believe the hype, these prepsters could fill three of the top five
picks in the draft and maybe half of the top ten.

And the longer they delay their NBA entry, the more valuable the Denver pick
likely becomes (less and less protected).

I guess it is a shame we could lose a chance to get up to two picks from that
group, but I also think it is doubtful that Pitino is slick enough to pull off
a "I could have sworn I said we'd make the playoffs in FIVE years".

That means I think you will see at least one of our 2001 draft picks traded on
August 1st. Pitino seems to ambivalent about draft picks or adding more young
players. If there has been any one predictable theme to Pitino's otherwise
erratic GM policy, it has been this since day one.

    He prefers 30-something veterans (Pippen) to draft picks. He even prefers
unproven NBA bench players (Jermaine O'Neil, Potapenko) to multiple first
rounders.  As I recall, Pitino said near the end of the 1998 season that
Boston's upcoming draft pick (it ultimately turned out to bePaul Pierce) might
not even make the Celtics roster.

    FWIW  I think Boston should time a serious rebuilding decision for next
summer, what with two draft picks in hand, Pierce a year older, and Walker
without his base-year contract hassles. Walker will be 24 next August 1st.
That's not "washed up" by any means and we'll know a lot more about him.

    I don't mind if Pitino stays on after this season. I don't think fans
should beat him over the head about the 3-year playoffs promise as long as he
starts making smart basketball decisions in the longer term interest of the
team. "Seven years to build a championship caliber basketball club" (the
second part of his original promise) still sounds almost realistic. But that's
only if there are no desperate, flavor-of-the-month trades.

------