Re: Moiso on the trading block again

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

You're right. The trade boils down to George Lynch. Is he great? No, but he
was a starter and a damn solid one on a team that went to the NBA Finals.
He's signed through '05, but at a reasonable price. Don't you think he's
more tradeable than Kenny, even with the extra years on the contract? So you
clear Traylor's contract this year, Moiso's next year and trade Lynch to a
contender at the deadline for a draft pick. Or maybe you package Lynch with
one of the rookies after the season, or with Vitaly or Battie. Whatever.
He's a positive asset, not a negative like Kenny. Heck, maybe you just keep
Coleman and he's the starting center (and he would be on this team). The
bottom line is, it's Kenny we're talking about. Addition by subtraction.
Getting anything positive for him, even a journeyman like George Lynch, has
to be considered a huge victory.

I understand what you're saying about patience, Paul, and I agree with a
large part of that. I believe the team needs to take the long-term view, not
get into any bad contracts, try to get out of bad contracts, let the rookies
develop and build value. I believe all that. It's just the utter inactivity
in the meantime that drives me crazy. Where are the moves around the edges
to bump this team into the playoffs this season? You could make a convincing
argument that they're worse this season than they were last. That's not the
way to do things.

Mark

P.S. I was with you at the time on the Moiso pick. I wasn't thrilled with
any of the remaining prospects on the board (the consensus next choice was
Courtney Alexander, who did nothing for me). Of course, they could have had
Jake Tsakalidis, Hedo Turkoglu, Morris Peterson, Jamaal Magloire, Quentin
Richardson or Speedy Claxton, so it's not like the draft was as thin as
everyone thought. But the Celts aren't the only teams to miss on draft
picks, and Moiso went about where most thought. I thought it was a decent
risk based on his obvious talent and decent production at UCLA. I have a
hard time blasting anyone for that pick because there's no reason to believe
as of right now that Stromile Swift, Marcus Fizer, Jamaal Crawford, Dermar
Johnson or Joel Przyzbilla (all chosen before Moiso) will be anything more
than stiffs either. It was a weird draft.


Paul M. wrote:

Well, if one hypothetical is worth getting into - would we like to have the
package that Charlotte got for Coleman if we had traded Kenny for him - then
I think the validation of the Moiso trade is worth getting into. But the
real issue for me is the original acquisition of Moiso in the first place.
Getting into that just makes you want to weep.

Now, concerning the package. It seems to me that the trade comes down to
Kenny Anderson who became Derrick Coleman for George Lynch. Moiso, Tractor
and Porter are incidental. All of them mediocre at best and that's giving
Jerome a parallel life. Lynch's contract is up in '05.  Does adding George
Lynch to this roster really do that much for you? Isn't that just another
"spinning your wheels" kind of trade. Kenny's contract is up next year.
Doesn't he become more valuable to a team that wants to clear cap space in
the last year of his contract? I could be totally wrong but in any case, to
be honest, when I heard this trade I immediately thought of you and was
actually surprised at how little Charlotte got for him. George Lynch just
doesn't thrill me and never has. But then again, I was willing to give
Pitino the benefit of the doubt with the Moiso pick and I thought he
actually had a chance to be good, so what the hell do I know.