Wallace and Baker were on "The Zone"

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

Wallace kept making jokes and interrupting the interviewers whenever they
tried to ask a tough question... "Chris, I want to ask you about Joe
Forte..." Wallace: "Hey, here's Vin Baker, I'll let you talk to Vin..."

Wallace says they decided they can get by at point guard this season. Says
if Philly makes the playoffs, we get two first-rounders next season in a
deep point guard draft. Says none of the guys on the roster are 30 mpg point
guards. Says they'll be scouring the free agent and waiver wire. He was
asked about guys they would look at and the first name out of his mouth was
Damon Jones (ugh). Also mentioned Greg Anthony (better), Troy Hudson and
Chris Childs. Said all of those guys believe they'll get more than the
minimum, but Wallace isn't so sure. I think it's Damon Jones.

Wallace says Baker was an "assumable risk." Of course, he quoted his numbers
against the Eastern Conference. Said the PF/C rotation of Antoine, Baker and
Battie takes a back seat to no one in the East.

On Forte, Wallace eventually said they "had to" include Forte to make the
numbers work "for us." In other words, they wanted to dump his salary. I
guess he's just the "price of doing business." I've heard that way too much
from Wallace.

Baker was very nice (everyone says he's a nice guy). Says he's about five or
six pounds away from where he wants to be. Says it looks like he'll play
center most of the time and a little PF. That means Battie to the bench (I'm
sure he'll love that). Compares Shammond Williams, developmentally, to Eric
Snow when Snow left Seattle for Philly. Baker says he has a much better
"support group" in Boston, including his mom and dad (he is 30 years old,
right?).

MY OPINION: The one thing I was hoping from this trade was that the Celts
would go with a big frontline of Baker, Battie and Walker. Battie could have
guarded the more dangerous forward. Offensively, it would have given the
Celts three post-up options in Antoine, Baker and Pierce. Antoine has always
been his best against smaller defenders. And Battie is a better player than
Eric Williams. The big lineup would have put Ewill on the bench instead of
Battie. But it's not going to happen. At least, not much.