Re: Wallace: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

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

Like it or not, Ray is dead on with this post. Butchered draft picks,
selling future picks, stockpiling swingmen... the only way this works is if
the Celts sign Duncan or Jermaine O'Neal in summer 2003. We know Duncan
isn't interested... and why exactly should Jermaine O'Neal leave more money
on the table and leave the Pacers, whose roster is both younger and more
talented than the Celtics'? Or maybe Jason Kidd will decide he'd rather
leave more money on the table to play in Boston... sure.

Cap room alone is useless. Look at Chicago. What did Detroit buy with all
their cap room last summer? The only team that has played the cap room game
and won is Orlando, and thanks to Grant Hill's injury, they now are placing
all their bets on Duncan. Cap room isn't the end. It's the means to an
end-building the best basketball team you can. I've seen no indication that
Wallace understands that.

Mark

--- --- --- 

Ray wrote:

Byron Russell!!??!!

Just the latest insanity from the Celtics flawed and failed GM.
He's already killed the last two Celtics drafts, so why not go for
three.

It's not that Russell is a bad player or that he won't help the team,
but
he's a short term solution (they're certainly not going to re-sign him)
and he doesn't address their main need for a big body.

Here's hoping Utah puts together a winning streak before the
deadline and that negates the possibility of a deal.

But what does it matter?

Wallace and more importantly CFO Richard Pond (as Gaston is locked away
in his
Vermont ski chalet saving his precious bodily fluids and growing his
fingernails
long) are hell bent in trying to keep the team away from the dreaded
luxury tax.

So, if they don't deal off a draft choice now, it's only a matter of
time when they
sacrifice a pick to stay under the tax. A likelihood that has gained
great momentum
with the announcement that salary cap is going down next season.

But what can you do?

Not much. Hope that Gaston sells the club and they bring in a uber rich
Mark
Cuban like (bleep the luxury tax) owner and a better GM, ala L. Bird.

In the meantime, we're left to ponder:

Without a draft pick in this, the Year of the Point Guards draft, where
exactly are they going
to find a quality (I said quality) PG?

And when will Wallace figure out that this teams needs a Big Man?  How
exactly
are they going to get one if they keep making poor choices with their
draft picks?