trade

[Noah Evans <ishbak@forest.STUDENT.cwru.edu>]

I don't think this trade is nearly as disastrous as people think. The
celtics currently have the seventh best record in the league. That's
going to translate into the 23 draft pick or so(does Minnesota have a
pick this year?). Given the talent usually available at that point,
that's really not giving up that much. Usually a player taken that
close to the end is a backup anyway. I'm sorry to give up on Johnson,
but he's still a ways away from producing.

But Rogers and Delk fill a real need for the celtics, offensive
production. The celtics lacked any sort of offensive talent off the
bench. Rogers and Delk, assuming neither of them starts, give us the
luxury of having a second unit that can score. We shouldn't have to
rely on Paul and Antoine nearly as much. With Strickland we know have
at least five reliable scorers(or six if you count Kenny).

What's even more interesting(this may scare some people) is that the
celtics can field four three point shooters at
once(Delk/Strickland/Brown, Pierce, Rogers and Walker). This has the
potential to be a matchup nightmare for celtics opponents.

Rogers is really the key to this trade though, he's a big body who can
post up and hit threes and shoots a reasonable percentage. He's also a
post threat, forcing teams to pick their poison between Antoine, Paul
and Rogers.

I think this trade, especially since we're in the eastern conference,
could pay immediate dividends for the C's.

Noah