sums it up

["Troy Hash" <troyhash@kih.net>]

This is from todays basketball.com news.  I think this pretty much sums things
up in a nutshell.

The Trade Front:   The tenth pick in this season's draft and a first round
pick in the upcoming one for reserve guard Tony Delk?  In essence that is the
trade Boston made when they shipped Joe Johnson, Milt Palacio, Randy Brown and
a conditional 2002 first round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Delk and forward
Rodney Rogers.  Rogers is a free agent after the season and chances are good
that Boston will not re-sign him when his contract expires.  What to make of
this trade?  Probably helps in the short term as Boston seeks to return to the
playoff for the first time since the  1993-94 season.  Delk and Rogers provide
some outstanding scoring punch off the bench, which has been a glaring
weakness for Boston this season.  Long term however, the trade works in only
one way, and that is financially.  Boston's ownership, as are many ownership
groups around the league, is extremely concerned about the luxury tax that is
looming on the NBA horizon.  In short the Celtics' will not pay it and this
trade does much to ensure that fact.  Boston will be drastically reducing
their payroll after the season, as the shuffling of players in this deal, as
well as the five players on the current roster, including Rogers, that will be
free agents after this season trims roughly $9-$11 million off the team's
salary heading into the offseason.  With Paul Pierce's mega deal kicking in
next season, he is scheduled to break $10 million for the year, Boston was
looking at a player payout in excess of $52-$55 million which would put them
close to the luxury tax threshold if it was instituted.   With point guard
Kenny Anderson's contract set to expire after next season, the Celtics will
save another $8-$10 million possibly putting them at roughly $40-$42 million
in players salaries heading into 2003-2004.  Whether that savings will be used
to entice a free agent big man like Tim Duncan or Jermaine O'Neal or an
All-Star playmaker like Jason Kidd or rather be used to line the pockets of
the ownership remains to be seen.  Expect the latter given majority owner Paul
Gaston's desire to run a very profitable business as well as the realization
that the Celtics are a publicly traded company.

Unfortunately the financial implications meant trading away a very talented
basketball player in Joe Johnson.  The local and national media towed the
company line stating that the Celtics were down on the smooth player out of
Arkansas.  That he lacked the confidence and intensity to excel at this level.
However, the apparent lack of confidence was largely due to head coach Jim
O'Brien's poor use of the promising rookie.  O'Brien's system is the
antithesis of Joe Johnson's game as it requires perimeter players other than
Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce to clear out the side for the two co-captains.
Johnson's immense talents were wasted in such a system and consequently his
free flowing game and skills withered.  He sums it up himself.  "They have two
All-Stars (Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker) out there, so it was kind of tough
to be assertive with the type of game we were playing. Instead of me trying to
come out and be more aggressive, I had to play my role. But I feel good about
this trade."  The Suns will make full use of Johnson's immense talents and
will be the better for it.  Three years down the road, the Suns' gain will be
the Celtics' loss.  If only it were the other way around. - RaSi

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