Re: Reluctant on Pierce

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

I don't think anyone is especially eager to trade Pierce, but some of us,
myself included, just don't see this team getting any better with the
current personnel and mid-level draft picks year after year. We don't have
cap room to attract free agents, so the one avenue left for improving the
team is through trades.

Now, there are very few tradable commodities on this team. Pierce, Walker
and Vitaly are more less it. You can make arguments on Kenny, Battie,
Griffin maybe, but even if you find someone who wants them, they won't offer
much in return. So, looking at Pierce, Walker and Vitaly, you have to decide
if you can get anything in return that improves the team. Walker: He drives
me nuts at times, but he's still the team's most important player. But his
salary and lingering questions about his attitude drop his trade value, and
his base year status makes him tough to deal. Vitaly has some value, but we
need more big guys, and if you're trading Vitaly, you're sending him out to
a team that needs a big guy. I'd still look into it, however. Would
Portland, seeing the end of the line approaching for Sabonis, give up Brian
Grant for Vitaly? 

Finally, you have Pierce. He's young, cheap and talented-a recipe for
tremendous value. He doesn't have any baggage from off-the-court problems or
questions about his attitude. He's the kind of guy everyone would like to
have and who would be difficult to give up. But he plays SF/SG, the easiest
position in the NBA to fill. What might he fetch in trade? Derek Anderson
and the third pick? Othella Harrington and the second pick? Bo Outlaw and
the fifth? You know, I'm probably underestimating his value. Iverson?
Abdur-Rahim? 

I wouldn't hang a "Make An Offer" sign around his neck, but if teams are
calling "all day, every day" as Pitino claims, I'd certainly listen. Pierce
is the one guy on the roster who could fetch the kind of talent that could
turn this team around. And you'd probably be able to attach some of these
salary albatrosses we call a bench (you know who you are Eric Williams), to
make salaries match in any deal.

Just my thoughts.


Mark