This team should go for it!

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

Do we need anymore proof? Even if they don't win either of the last two
games on the trip (although they're capable of winning either), the trip has
been a success. They'll return in great position and the rest of the East
continues to muddle along. Milwaukee is in a major funk, Toronto can't get
going, Philly can't put it together, Indy has Isiah. Only New Jersey and
Detroit are surging at this point, and neither of those teams are
intimidating postseason opponents.

I'm not naove. I know the Celts aren't championship timber. But no one in
the East is. The Celts could, however, with the right trade, be Eastern
Conference contenders. Will the same be true next year? Probably not. But it
is true this year. They have a chance to sneak out of a terrible conference
right into the Finals. The Van Exel deal? Do it! Get Lafrentz. Get Camby.
Just get some help. They need another piece-either a point guard upgrade or,
preferably, a big man.

The luxury tax is only a factor next year. That's it. Not this year, not the
year after, when so many contracts come off the books. Just next year. Suck
it up and take your shot.

Mark

P.S. It's not sounding good on the Van Exel front. His agent says he won't
non-guarantee those last two years of the deal. If that's the case, the
Celts won't do the trade, and they shouldn't. But there are other things out
there. By the way, the strange thing about the Van Exel deal is Nick would
have two more years on his deal after this one. That blows that 2003 cap
room. Seems strange after everything Wallace seems to be doing to target
summer 2003 as roster change time. Also, the fact that they're discussing
involving Joe Johnson in this trade should tell us what they really feel
about him at this point. If they still believed he was an all-star in
waiting, there's no way they consider it. They'll never say it, but it's
clear they're starting to understand that Johnson just doesn't have "it."
Drive, aggressiveness, confidence, whatever. It's missing, and the Celts are
figuring it out. All that talk about being "top three on their draft
board"... Do you think any team holding any of the nine rookies picked ahead
of Johnson would make the Van Exel deal? Maybe Cleveland, for Diop, or
Detroit, for Rodney White. What do all these guys have in common?