Bad Salary Cap News

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

According to Peter May -- who's the husband of a Pulitzer Prize winner
--
in Sunday's Globe, the salary cap will be going down next season for the

first time in awhile. Right now it's at $42.5, but even with the new TV
contract,
it's expected to drop. And teams expect a luxury tax for the 2002 - 2003

season. May says "that doesn't bode well for the Celtics...", and it
certainly
doesn't, as it restricts the Celtics to either trading for or drafting a
Big Man.

Where the Celtics are going to be drafting for the next few years,
they're
going to need a lucky break or a right evaluation on a foriegn player to

find a Big Man.

Via a trade, you gotta have something other teams would want in a deal,
and as always, shooting guards are a dime a dozen. It's a lot easier to
trade a
big man for a smaller man, than vice versa, as you have to overpay for
size.

Ray