Re: Herren trade

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

Hi Mark:

    Aside from Popeye and Calbert, it looks like the trade tally presently
stands at:

Ron Mercer = 1st round draft choice (Denver) + 1st round draft choice ('01 Utah)
+ Chris Herren + Bryant Stith + Eric Williams.

    As for freeing any Summer '01 cap room, it probably should be treated as a
wash (Ron's contract extension with the Bulls probably roughly equals Eric
Williams salary with Boston for '01-'02) unless you think Mercer might have left
anyway for nothing.

    All's well if it ends well....I hope Boston gets just one good-to-great
10-year starter (say a Jo Jo White or Cedric Maxwell caliber Celtic) out of the
two draft picks to make this a trade a steal. I'm kind of hoping it will by
Notre Dame's Troy Murphy or Maryland's Terrence Morris (two very well-rounded
and mature players) unless THE center is within reach (in which case I'd trade
Pierce and half the roster to move up). It won't happen with the Denver pick
because it is has "franchise center insurance" for the next two years. It could
happen with Boston's own pick if the Lepprechaun is still with us.

    The Celts also need to hope Robert Pack is another Popeye Jones for Denver,
since in the near term the "McNuggets" may have added more useful veteran
minutes to their rotation than the "Boston Chickens" did this off-season.

    Robert Pack is maybe the key because he is the first proven NBA player to
back up Van Exel in awhile at pointguard. The freefalling Cal Cheaney is now
behind Abdul Wahad and Voshon Lenard at guard, or else behind Tracy Murray and
James Posey at forward.  The 6-10 Heat power forward Mark Strickland is another
new acquisition for Denver's tall frontline (LaFrentz, McDyess, Keon Clark and
two marginal rookie 7-footers), which BTW last year led the NBA in blocks (7.53
per game) by a wide margin (around .8 per game). Murray and Lenard can come in
and shoot the ball from outside. I wish Boston had added a tall, spot-up
perimeter shooter like that. It seems like an obvious team weakness, along with
rebounding and a post-up game.

    Still the McNuggets have little chance of making the playoffs because of the
division they are in. So we might get tempted with as high as a 6th pick overall
from them next year.

    Randy Brown and Bryant Stith will be key transitional figures on a team
whose most characteristic feature by far is still youth and inexperience. They
join only Kenny Anderson and Eric Williams among players born before 1974 (Carr,
Griffin and McCarty were born in that year).


Joe

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