Re: Thank you, Boston Sports Guy

[Bob McChesney <rwmcches@xxxxxxxx>]

oops. Below I meant to describe NJ as a mid-low playoff caliber team in the 
west, not lottery team. I guess I am being too nihilistic.

We agree on the Rogers trade.

The Rogers trade cost us two no. 1 picks for a guy who played for us for 
three months. That is stupid. Even if Joe Johnson and Casey Jacobsen never 
pan out, we could have gotten more.

I loved the playoff run as much as anyone. I was jumping up and down and 
hooting and hollering. It was like the good old days and, ma, did it feel 
good! I'd like to think we will build on it. But we played two unimpressive 
teams -- deep lottery teams in the west -- and then got cleaned out by what 
would be a mid to low lottery team in the west. Was it worth torching two 
no. 1 picks to get that buzz? I see no reason to think that this will lead 
necessarily to bigger and netter things. NBA history is littered with teams 
that did what the Cs did in 2002 and then stagnated or declined.

Ultimately it is all about talent. The Rogers deal mindlessly decreased our 
potential talent level. The Baker deal locks us into a sub-standard talent 
level if we are serious about a title.

If we somehow do win a title -- and I laid out the conditions yesterday 
that would have to be met -- I will gladly eat my words. I hope I am wrong. 
But people defending this deal are doing it like parent defending a child 
who is a screw-up. It is out of love, not reason. I think it is clear if 
you don't have a strategy that has a vision for getting to the point where 
you can win a title, you are never going to win a title. The smart GMs 
always have such a strategy and it is transparent. That is why it was such 
a pleasure to watch Red in action.I am willing to wait five years if that 
is what it takes. But I want to see a strategy. I don't see anything close 
to one in the Rogers and Baker deals. (And I was a big Wallace defender 
before he jumped off the cliff with those deals. I thought he got it.)

Bob McChesney

At 02:01 AM 07/24/2002 -0400, Celtic4Hire@aol.com wrote:
>My respect for Boston Sports Guy's writing and Celtic history never carried
>over to his evaluation of NBA  talent or trades. BSG runs with the herd. The
>herd loved the Rogers trade. I distinctly remember him heavily supporting it.
>I said I thought it was good from a short term prespective and bad from a
>long term. My final conclusion was I wouldn't have done the deal because the
>risk was too high of not resigning him versus losing a lottery pick. You
>don't see BSG retracting his previous statements now. Right now its looks
>like I was right.
>
>I will say that getting Rogers last year enabled us to go to the Eastern
>conference finals. This saved us the normal progression of first making the
>playoffs, then winning the first series, etc. and gave Walker and Pierce a
>great amount of playoff experience. Right now, it looks like I was correct on
>Rogers trade. However, if we move on to the championship this year, I will
>attribute some of that to the experience the Cs got the year before and agree
>that I was wrong...
>
>DJessen33

Robert W. McChesney
Your Man in Urbana
Institute of Communications Research
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
www.robertmcchesney.com