Re: Paul's right

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
Paul M. said: 
"And that just about explains everything. My God, both teams suck and
apparently refuse to do anything about it." 

And he's right. The Lakers are willing to trade Glen Rice, the Sonics Vin
Baker and Horace Grant, the Knicks Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston, the
Bucks Glenn Robinson, the Hawks Dikembe Mutombo... but our guys are
untouchable?

Look, we'd all love to trade "Eric Williams, Calbert Cheaney and the Utah
pick" for Houston or Mutombo or whoever, but the truth is you have to give
up something to get something. New York is willing to trade Patrick Ewing,
Allan Houston and Marcus Camby for Glen Rice and Dikembe Mutombo. Does it
guarantee they will be a better team? No, but the Knicks are willing to take
the chance. And you could make an argument that four of the five players
involved in that trade are better than anyone on the Celtics' roster.

--- end of quote ---

I don't know what it is with you guys (Paul and Mark)...<rant on> It's always the same mantra: our players suck, our team sucks, let's trade everyone on our team for just about anybody. Because, let's face it - there's hardly a player in the NBA who isn't better than even our best guys, so we'll come out ahead every time (the mystery is, why would other teams want our players?). And of course, none of our players have ever improved, or have any chance of ever improving. It's only players on other teams that do that. </rant off>

Not that it proves anything, but let's take a poll:
Disregarding the cap situation/implications, would you trade the following players for Walker or Pierce straight up?

Ewing
Mutombo
Camby 
Rice
Houston

My answers: no, no, no and no. 
Reasons: 

Ewing - done

Mutombo - nearly done, short term gain defensively for long term loss

Camby - Battie deluxe

Rice  - please

Houston - very good at what he does, but pretty one-dimensional. As for his defense, there's no reason Walker or Pierce couldn't play as good, or better, defense when they're his age, especially with the right coach. I'm not sure that Pierce is not better defensively already (2x more steals, 4x more blocks). In fact, the only stat that Houston is superior in is shooting percentage, the rest, Pierce is better or equal. But again, how do we know Pierce won't go up by 4 percentage points by the time he's 29, especially if he's playing on a title contender? While Walker plays a different position and his number are harder to compare to Houston's meaningfully, much of the same argument applies with him. Give our guys some credit and benefit of the doubt, will you?
Kestas