Celts may be able to pluck a plum

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

A few situations around the NBA bear watching. First, the Kobe-Shaq battle
in LA. The Lakers won't do anything during the season, but after this
season, it's sounding more and more like they may at least discuss the
possibility of trading Kobe Bryant. If the Lakers don't reach the Finals,
expect the talk to start. Of course, if Kobe goes on the market, every team
in the NBA will be lining up, but the Celts could put a pretty nice package
of players and picks on the table, starting with LA native Paul Pierce. I'd
do Pierce, Toine and all of this year's draft picks for Kobe. And I'd
include any other bodies the Lakers might want (UCLA's Moiso? Vitaly to back
up Shaq?). Kobe would give the Celts the superstar they're lacking at this
point.

Vancouver also may be a match. Shareef and Bibby are on the block and,
again, the Celts have some attractive bargaining chips. I've been watching
Vancouver a lot lately and I love Bibby. He'll be even better when he
realizes he's the best player on that team, not Shareef. Right now he defers
to Shareef too often. Shareef, of course, is a great player in his own
right.

Chicago is looking for a legit, veteran player to take some pressure off
Brand and make them more competitive (and attractive to free agents). That's
a team that could absorb Toine's contract now without any BYC problems, and
they have some young players they're willing to deal. Jamal Crawford would
be the centerpiece of any deal with Boston, but the Celts have shown
interest in Ron Artest in the past, and may be interested in Marcus Fizer.
This would be a rebuilding move for the Celts. Also, there could be a match
with the Bulls as part of a three-way deal.

The Van Horn rumors may resurface if things continue to go wrong in Jersey.
A Van Horn-Toine deal may be good for both teams and players. A classic
"change of scenery" kind of thing.

Philly still seems willing to discuss Iverson, and there was a rumor
yesterday at bskball.com (so it must be true!) that they had offered Iverson
to LA for Kobe. Larry Brown loves Toine, and I could see a Toine-pick for
Iverson deal happening.

Anyway, the point of the post is there might be some options out there if we
go about this the right way. In other words, don't start selling off draft
picks in stop-gap moves (Shammond Williams?). Isn't anyone interested in
seeing what a healthy Chris Herren brings to the team? Is Shammond Williams
a big upgrade over Herren?

I'm the biggest proponent on the list of blowing up this team, but let's see
where some of these storylines go, and if we can't land a big fish when we
finally throw our line in the water.

Mark