Perspective

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

As bad as the Celts have played lately, they're still fourth in the
conference and second in the Atlantic. And as for the doom-and-gloom
thoughts that they might actually miss the playoffs... check out the
standings. There's a pretty big gap between the top eight teams in the East
and the rest of the conference. Sure, things can change, but it's going to
take a pretty severe collapse to miss the playoffs.

Of course, backing into the playoffs isn't what any of us want. We want to
see this team improve and be a threat in the playoffs. We're not, and it's
not. There's no magic fix for what's wrong. The team is lacking in areas of
defense, toughness, depth and shot selection. You can't really put Band-Aids
on those kinds of problems.

Mikki Moore, of course, isn't the answer. But neither is Grant Long. The
implication, however, is that the "braintrust" is admitting that the answer
also isn't Vin Baker. That's no surprise to most of us. It was obvious
before the trade was even made. Obvious to everyone but Chris Wallace and
the "braintrust."

There aren't any answers on this roster. Wallace faces two choices-take his
medicine this year and try to use the two draft picks and Kedrick to add
talent in the offseason; or package the picks now, maybe with Kedrick, and
try to get help for this year's team. Unfortunately, the picks right now
don't have much value and neither does Kedrick. But they might gain value by
the end of the season when the Celts may be a borderline playoff team. So to
trade them now would be trading them at the wrong time.

No, the best course of action is to take their medicine and regroup in the
offseason with those assets. I'm afraid Wallace will take the short-sighted
approach, however. He hasn't shown a lot of foresight to this point.

Anyway, I don't think this team is going to continue to spiral like this. I
think they'll get some things squared away and settle into the lower-middle
pack of Eastern Conference playoff teams. That's my prediction. 

Mark