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RE: [Celtics' Stuff Re: Salary dump?
>many Boston fans have been conditioned to
> believe that first-round picks are useless. They're
not. You don't sell them to lower payroll. You sell them
to create cap room to sign someone
> occasionally, but not just to lower payroll.
>
> Mark
Yeah, and not just "occasionally".
For me the odd thing is how a guy like Joe Forte is
reportedly making one million a year averaged out over
the length of the contract, as a 21st pick.
That's not even Palacio, McCarty or Brown level
compensation. Obviously, rookies are a bargain. Wallace
and Papile have said so several times in the past.
But in yesterday's Herald article, I don't recall anymore
if it was ownership or the paper that suggested we'd dump
the salary burden of a first round pick by doing this
deal. That's what got everyone upset in the first place.
Is the following a fair description of the situation? The
trade isn't about salary cap but rather about auditioning
a known commodity for the playoff run over adding another
rookie this summer. We already have three "rookies" on
the roster next season and two more in 2003. That's five
roster spots even without this summer's pick.
Bottom linr, whether or not its a good personnel decision
(especially with Roshown "me the money" and ten other
wing guard-forwards also on the roster), it still
constitutes an actual basketball decision in my view. Its
not about the 2003 free agents or the luxury tax.
I presume Wallace has had his eye on Russell for quite
awhile, even back to when he was priced out of reach.
So criticize his personnel judgement all you want. You
won't hear any complaint from me. It doesn't seem like a
position we need help at, yet he seems to covet the guy
as an upgrade over what we have.
Let's be fair to Russell. He just turned 31, yes, but as
recently as last season he averaged 12.0 points over 78
games including .413 on treys and .440 overall on a
playoff team. Is that worth a bottom 20 draft pick?
For his career, he's averaged 11 points and 4.6 rebounds
on .452 shooting in 92 playoff games, which I bother
mentioning because they are all better than his regular
season career averages. The fact that he's started 59
playoff games also is relevant, on a young team like
Boston that will attend that dance for the first time in
years.
And like Erick Strickland, maybe Wallace thinks BR might
get a lot more open looks in Boston and thus a higher
percentage on his treys. Russell is .367 on his career.
What was Strickland's? Since coming to Boston, he's
turned into a 40% shooter from that range.
Of all the possible trade scenarios we should be griping
about, this one seems pretty defensible on basketball
terms. I don't know why Wallace should be getting this
level of grief. It certainly seems like he's damned if he
acts before the deadline, damned if he doesn't.
To be contrarian, it seems like all 29 teams are heading
into 2003 with the same lemming mindset. No team seems
willing to do anything for the present. I wonder if
Boston could pull off a historic steal now by going
completely against the grain from the 28 other teams?
Joe
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