Top Five Most Important Things For The Celtics This Season

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1. Have Gaston sell the team. Adios to Gaston, Pond, and Wallace
would solve many of the Celtics problems and bestow upon them a
much more competitive position for the future.

2. Find a Big Time Point Guard. Don't care whether they trade for a
a Marko Jaric (my suggestion) and develop him, or go after a ready
made PG like Cassell or the more peripatetic Nick Van Exel. This
team needs an impact PG, and backup types like Strickland or
Hardaway or Reefer Alston aren't going to cut it in the playoffs.

3. Rejuvenate Vin Baker. It's a start, that he's working out in the
Boston area and losing weight, but hey, the real games haven't begun
yet.
And those real games are the mind games going on in Vinny's head during
the
regular season. Vinny's a damn high maintenance guy who needs the love
and the ball from his teammates. He needs to be a foci of the offense,
and that's
where having a top flight PG, that can get him the ball would
prodigiously increase
his chances of being the old Vin Baker. I'm afraid that even if Baker's
in shape, if
the C's practice the ol' ball hoggery to Walker and Pierce, and make
Baker a peripheral
option, Vinny's going to be sliding back into a depression.

4. Develop Kedrick Brown. Whether you keep him and add some athleticism
to the
team, or deal him off for a PG, or trade him to the Clippers next season
with Walker
for Olowokandi or Brand et al.,  you've got to give him the playing time
to develop.

5. Sign Charles Oakley. How many back-up PGs does a team need? Deal for
a
legitimate lead guard and use the veteran's minimum on a guy like
Oakley. Adding
Oakley frees up Battie to be dealt in a trade.
Ray