Nothing but bad news

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Detroit papers report Damon Jones is expected to sign with the Celtics
today. The Miami papers report Rod Strickland is expected to sign with the
Pacers.

This is bad for several reasons:

... Damon Jones stinks. The Celtics will have Kenny Anderson, Tony Delk,
Damon Jones and J.R. Bremer on the roster, and still only one guy who can
play point guard-Kenny. And you know Kenny won't repeat the health/strong
play he did last season.

... Rod Strickland is good. The Celts get Damon Jones, the Pacers get Rod
Strickland. Who improved more? Strickland gives them another good point
guard behind Tinsley.

... This seems to put an end to any Tinsley/Croshere for Kenny rumors,
unless the Pacers want a Kenny/Strickland combo at point guard. And, really,
who would want that?

Combine that with no Rodney Rogers... bad.

They didn't need to re-sign Erick Strickland, because Strick was a luxury
with Delk around. But what do Damon Jones and J.R. Bremer bring? 

Bruno Sundov can't replace Rodney Rogers. He can't even replace Walter
McCarty. Do you realize this team is going to operate with a functional
rotation of Kenny, Pierce, Ewill, Walker, Battie, Delk and Kedrick Brown?
You certainly can't count on Sundov to suddenly become a big contributor.
And Vitaly is out. Jones probably will play as the backup PG, but not much.
Forte and Bremer will sit. That rotation, by the way, is assuming a lot for
Kedrick, but he will have to play whether he's ready or not. We thought
Pierce and Walker were exhausted at the end of last season, just wait... Do
you realize the team right now doesn't have a backup center OR power
forward? 

The payoff next summer better be HUGE. I mean impact starter and
difference-maker. It won't excuse the decision to let Rogers go just to pad
Gaston's wallet for one season, but at least it would indicate an ounce of
caring for the team and the fans.

Let's see... off the hook for Pitino's contract (let's be conservative and
say $5 million saved)... playoff revenue (again conservative, say $2
million)... ticket increase ($3 million)... Seems to me the money is there
to take the one-year hit on Rogers. I don't know how Gaston can look in the
mirror.

Mark