Re: yeah, but

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

I agree with your assessment of the East, Gene. The Celts really lucked into
this first-round matchup. The Pacers are weak-minded and completely lack a
go-to guy, and their coaching deficiency is obvious to everyone. If things
hadn't broken exactly this way and the Celts had matched up with the Sixers
or Nets, it would have been an early summer. Now, I wouldn't be shocked to
see them beat Indy and reach the second round.

Unfortunately, that almost certainly would be enough to spare Obie, and may
even be enough to spare Wallace. The first would be bad, the second would be
a disaster. For that reason alone, I'm still hoping for a first-round loss.
I'm sure that sounds like heresy to some, but this team is going nowhere on
its current course. 

The thing is, this really is a critical offseason for the Celts. Walker only
has one year remaining on his contract. This is the time to make a decision
on his future with the team. Either you deal him now while you can or you're
forced to sign him to another huge deal. The only thing you can't do is let
him walk as a free agent with no compensation (if not for the Baker deal,
this might be an option because the team would have some cap room; but with
Pierce and Baker, there's no cap room to be had). So it's crucial to address
it now. Throw in the fact that the team has two first-round draft picks and
Eric Williams already is posturing for a contract extension (if they extend
him at anything more than vet's minimum type money, they should be
committed-wait, they should be committed just for the Baker trade), and you
have another critical summer. The last time they faced this kind of
important offseason was 2001, when they blew the three draft picks. They
can't afford to blow this offseason the same way.

Mark

P.S. Did anyone else watch the Sixers and Hornets last night? Say what you
want about Iverson, but when he plays like he did last night, he's a sight
to behold. It really was awesome.