wow... busy weekend

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

OK, so depending on what you believe, we're going to end up with Keith Van
Horn, Jermaine O'Neal, Ernest Brown or Quentin Richardson... 

The Van Horn thing sounds like tired rehash and a writer's speculation. I
believe the O'Neal stuff. If Pitino could turn the 11th pick into Jermaine
O'Neal, I have no doubt he'd do that trade. Ernest Brown and Q... who knows?


A couple of things: I'm surprised by the anti-O'Neal sentiment. I haven't
seen him play much, but when I have he seems like an active, athletic,
improving big man. Is my sample size too small? Am I that wrong? Also... I'm
tired of seeing people dismiss potential trades because of salary cap
implications. BYC and the cap make trades difficult, but not impossible.
When you hear something like Walker-Van Horn, for example, just assume those
are the principles. It would take a complicated deal, maybe even a
three-way, but it can happen. If two teams want to get something done badly
enough, they can make it work.

One more thing... Jersey wouldn't give up Van Horn and #1 for Walker and #11
(as Holley implied), but would they do it for Pierce? Pierce and No. 11 for
Van Horn and No. 1? Throw Vitaly in the mix maybe... then deal down to turn
No. 1 into Przybilla and ??? Probably a pipe dream, but the point is we
might be surprised to see what we can get done if we stop considering Pierce
"untouchable."

Mark