Re: the future of the center spot

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 04:38 PM 10/16/01, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
>Here's the thing about your strategy... Teams never trade a great big man
>unless they're forced to do it. Either the player forces the hand with his
>behavior, or the contract situation forces it. And when they do make those
>trades, they almost always try to get a serviceable big man in return.

This is on the mark. There's almost no way for the Celtics to make a direct 
acquisition of a proven, quality big man. But I think that there are 
several examples of multiple step paths they can take. For instance, 
Philadelphia acquired Mutombo in several stages. First, they traded 
Stackhouse for Ratliff back when Ratliff was a relatively unproven power 
forward. Second, they packaged Ratliff with yet more talent to acquire 
Mutombo. Of course we'd be more than happy just to get the Ratliff quality 
center at this point. But I think you can get the second-tier big man by 
giving up the star quality small man, if you're willing to take a risk.

Another example is how Charlotte managed to pick up Elden Campbell (and 
Eddie Jones!) for Glen Rice. Or how Toronto managed to pick up Antonio 
Davis for an unproven #5 pick. The opportunities are out there for 
second-tier big men, if you're willing to give up true star quality at the 
swing positions for instance. Not Duncan but something significantly better 
than Battie/Potapenko/Blount. And from there, you might be able to go after 
one of the big guys, if you're a promising team and you're lucky.

Alex