Post-lottery draft thoughts

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

1. I don't foresee us moving up in the lottery, especially not by trading
Antoine Walker as has been suggested. Antoine doesn't have that sort
of trade value because of his large contract and his inconsistency. 
The Clippers, for instance, are not going to be interested in Antoine,
because they are a cheap team. They'd much rather have someone on a 
rookie contract.

Now Pierce, on the other hand, is on a rookie contract, which puts him
on equal footing contract-wise with this year's draftees. If the Celtics
were interested in moving up in the draft, I imagine that Pierce might
interest teams like the Clippers (#3), Chicago (#4 and #7), and Orlando
(#5, #10, #13). None of these teams have established players at shooting
guard.

A trade like Pierce and Barros for the #3 and Derek Anderson could be
a possibility, depending on who is still available at #3. I honestly can't
say whether I like this sort of trade or not because I don't have the
knowledge or ability to evaluate pro prospects. But I think something like
this is more realistic than trades involving Walker. In general I would
doubt that we move up at all, because the team would get younger (and
probably significantly worse in the near term). Beyond that Pierce has
proven that he can play in this league, which you can't say about any
of the draft picks.

2. There's been talk that Orlando would like to get rid of their draft
picks. Certainly lottery picks have good value and they won't be forced
to get rid of them for nothing. I would guess that they would trade 
their draft picks this year for future first round picks if they just
want to get rid of them to save cap space. If we are high on several
players in lower lottery, we could possibly trade one of our 2001 picks,
or even a more distant first rounder, for either the #10 or #13. 
I seem to remember these sorts of trades happening without cap
implications but I'm not sure.

If we had two picks this year, we could go for one young project type
and one more proven, immediate performer. 

Alex