WHY????????????????

[Michael Gooen <callmebogie@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am numb.  Depressed, disgusted, and confused beyond belief at this
trade.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the roster look something like:

1:  S. Williams, Bremer
2:  Pierce, Delk
3:  Brown, E. Williams (hoping against hope that they hand Kedrick the
starting job he was growing into before the Rogers trade and allow EW to
come off the bench, for which he's best suited).
4:  Walker, Baker, Songaila (Mott?)
5:  Battie, Sundov

Gone:  Rogers, Strickland, Anderson, Potapenko, Blount, McCarty, MacLeod,
Forte, Cook.  

That's an awfully long list for a team that made the conference finals
last year.

I suppose I'd be a little calmer if they hadn't thrown Forte into the
deal.  Maybe he's a locker room cancer.  Maybe he's just a good summer
league player.  Maybe Shammond Williams is better than the semi-decent
third guard he's appeared to be thus far....  Maybe Bremer is the steal of
the century.

Ah, dammit.  This just sucks.  When will the "brain trust" realize that as
long as Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce are Celtics, there are only two
types of player who belong on the team:  (i) players who don't need the
ball to be effective -- i.e., tenacious defender/rebounder types (which
Battie and E Williams can be on occasion, which Strickland is and which
Kedrick Brown can be) and (ii) "microwave" type players who can come off
the bench and score in bunches when either or both Antoine and Paul are
tired and/or not getting it done (what Delk was supposed to be, 
Strickland more often than not was, and Forte sure as hell looked like,
albeit during summer league)?  

I suppose you could add a third type -- a floor general who makes sure
that Antoine, Paul and the "microwave(s)" get the ball in the right places
and at the right times.  Obviously, they just gave one of those up.  Don't
know whether that guy's essential -- they seemed to do OK with Kenny out
down the stretch last year.  Again, thanks to Strickland.

I still think they could have gotten something more out of Kenny's
contract.  I have to disagree with Alex Wang and the others who can't
conceive of the Clippers trading for Kenny.  I doubt they'd give up Wilcox
or Ely, since they're "new", but as the young'uns grow up Sterling is
faced with the decision of having to pay them.  That's why the Brand deal
made eminent basketball sense but no "Sterling sense".  That's why you may
see neither Andre Miller nor Baron Davis head home to LA this summer for
one or more of the Clippers' 19 zillion power forwards.  That's why, as
things start to fall apart when Messrs. Olowokandi, Brand, Miles, Odom and
their agents realize that Sterling isn't going to break the bank for them
(who do they think they are?  Eric Piatkowski?), at least one of them
should become eminently available, at which point the Cs WOULD HAVE BEEN
in a position to dangle (a) a veteran point guard coming off an excellent
season who could lead the Clippers into the playoffs, generating some
actual dollars for Sterling and (b) an EXPIRING CONTRACT that would enable
Sterling to reduce his payroll for the following season.  But no.  The Cs
get Vin Baker.  

Wasn't it Curtis Rowe who once said, "Ain't no Ws and Ls on a paycheck?"

My only hope now is that they use the extra money this trade has generated
to resign Erick Strickland, who deserves a new deal even more than Rogers.

Beyond hope is that they ship Baker off to Chicago to spend the entire
summer with Antoine and Tim Grover so that Vin comes into camp the best
shape of his life. 

Michael Gooen
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com