Delk & Rogers

[Bob McChesney <rwmcches@uiuc.edu>]

What is depressing about the Delk trade is that it doesn't work on any level.

First, that it is a very ill-conceived trade in a strategic sense is 
obvious. This sort of deal only makes sense if you are acquiring the 
missing piece to make you a title contender. Delk and Rogers do not do 
that, so we sacrificed our future for not much of a present. The point is 
not that you should not trade 20 year old lottery picks and future no. 1 
picks. The point is you should only trade them if you are going to upgrade 
your talent level over the long haul, so you have a better chance to win a 
flag. By the time the Cs are in any position to threaten for a flag -- 
barring more dumb ass trades -- Tony Delk will be on his last legs or out 
of the league. JJ and the 2002 no. 1 pick will be in their mid 20s.

But that barely begins to indicate just how bogus this trade was. Consider 
that Chris Wallace is on record as saying there will be countless Erick 
Strickland types available for bargain basement prices in the off-season. 
In other words, if we can wait four months, we can pick up guys like Delk 
and Rogers off the bargain rack, without giving away lottery picks or 
future no. 1 picks. So why did we toss all that value away? So we can win 
the title this year? Yeah, right.

And why didn't we get a better deal from Phoenix. This is Pitino style 
dealmaking -- once you decide you want a guy, you give the other team 
whatever it asks for. Are we to believe Phoenix would not have made this 
deal if we had protected the no. 1 pick through pick 15 of the first round, 
or at least through the lottery. That's what Philly did to us in the Moiso 
deal. That's what other teams usually do. Why did Wallace hand what he did 
for players who are not even starting caliber players on quality teams? I 
mean is there any evidence that either of these guys is much sought after? 
They have each played for numerous teams in their careers, and based on 
what I have seen they will probably play for numerous more, before they 
head to Europe or the CBA.

And this leads to the final point: Delk and Rogers simply aren't very good. 
Delk looks a lot smaller than 6-2, and nobody is going to confuse him for 
Gus Williams. Rogers just doesn't have much game. Neither seems to fit in. 
What was Wallace thinking? This trade only works if these guys, and 
especially Delk, come in and light up the floor. These guys are cut from 
the same lame cloth as Battie, Potapenko, McCarty, Williams et al. They are 
not quality players. They are the sort of guys who always end up on 
mediocre or lousy teams. (Maybe that is why they ended up in Boston, huhh?)

So dig this, the ultimate insult: the Celtics are actually a worse team 
after this trade right now than they were before the trade. And this was a 
trade that was all about giving away the right to down-the-road potential 
to make the team better right now. To justify the deal O'Brien has benched 
Kedrick Brown, who clearly needs to be getting major minutes right now. 
This trade may possibly even drop the Cs out of the playoff picture! 
Unbelievably bogus!

Chris Wallace must have tooted a mountain of coke after the Lakers game 
with Jim O'Brien who convinced Wallace the Cs were for real. At any rate, 
he made a bad trade, and a trade that could go from bad to super-bad in 
years to come. In basketball a single trade or draft can set a franchise on 
a course for many years. Wallace has made an extraordinary error in 
judgment. He deserves to be fired for it. He should be fired for it.

ThanksDad, can you pull your face away from your PeeWee Herman video 
collection long enough to do the right thing?

Bob McChesney