The Time To Have Acquired A Big Man Was The Past Off-Season

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

It's a little late to be crying out for the Celtics to acquire a Big
Man. If they
wanted one, they could have addressed their need for a center in the
past
off-season. After all, it was a unique Big Man's draft with Gasol,
Brown, Curry,
Chandler, Diop, Haywood, Hunter, Wood, and a few other names I'm
forgetting.
Rarely do you see the depth and quality of big people, that were
available
in the past draft.

Via free agency, they could have signed Todd MacCulloch, or Jerome
James,
or even Calvin Booth. Not exactly household names, but an improvement
(or a future
improvement) over whom the C's have currently at center.

As far as the semi-quality or quality Big Men that are currently
available, Mark Jackson
seems to be the most obtainable.   Mainly because Cowens is pissed off
by his attitude,
and the Warriors are loaded with frontcourt players. But it's not like
you can just trade
Milt Palacio and Walter McCarty for him. Sorry, not going to happen,
because there's
such a paucity of Centers around the league, that GS is going to be
deluged with offers
for Jackson, and the C's will have to overpay to acquire him. You want
Jackson,
say goodbye to the Celtics upcoming (likely) lottery pick in the year of
the point guard.
And the C's could use one of them too.
Ray