Re: Jumaine Jones

[Eggcentric@xxxxxxx]

< So, what were Ainge's picks then and why did Wallace/Papile 
prevail? >  - Kestas

It's misleading to think Wallace/Papile prevailed, since Danny of course
had the final say.  At the point when Ainge was hired, W/P already had 
done a fair amount of scouting and had targeted Banks as their favorite
PG at the #16 spot, loved Perkinsb upside, felt Hunter was a sleeper, 
and had no interest in Songaila.  Ainge happened to also be familiar with 
(and impressed with) Banks, but was unfamiliar with Perkins, Hunter, 
and Songaila. 

If you are asking who Ainge's top picks were, his choices kept changing
out of necessity.  I forget the exact time line now, but at some point,
Ainge had settled on a Walker/Brown trade to Chicago for Jay Williams/
Fizer/Robinson. Then came Williams' unfortunate motorcycle accident. 
Ainge next attempted to obtain Bosh et al in a trade with Toronto, and 
Sweetney et al in a trade with the Knicks. He also liked Pavlovic and 
Hinrich.  And I should insert here that had Ainge been able to sign Karl 
Malone he would have then felt free to trade Walker for Sprewell. 
I guess what I am saying is that Danny was being pulled in two 
directions -the now vs. the future - with no clear cut preference or 
written-in-stone convictions for either.

Come draft night, had Ainge not sacrificed his #20 for West's #27 in 
order to snag Banks at #13 for our #16, it is rumored he was prepared 
to take Cook over Perkins had Cook not been chosen at #24.   

By the way, Kestas, forget about ''deep Throat.''  I am doing a poor job 
of filtering his info, as I am by nature a lot more negative than he is.  
As a female, I have little background and knowledge concerning the 
intricacies of Bball, my main connection to the Celts being a very 
close relative who happens to be a sportswriter at the same newspaper 
for which I do occasional political editorials... satires under a different 
name, of course.  I hear lots of juicy Celt ''insider''  stories along with 
occasional timely scoops, but am unfortunately sworn to secrecy from 
divulging most of them ... left only to hint at some.  

Even my husband can't figure out why I feel compelled to occasionally 
rain on Celt optimist's parades. Why would I even bother to state that 
Jones' biggest advantage over Kedrick is that Obie can now use him in 
the same way he erroneously used Kedrick - instruct him to dash down 
the right lane of the court, position himself at the 3-point line, patiently 
wait to receive the ball, and then launch a 3-pointer, but with a bit 
more accuracy than Kedrick?  

But despite my acid tongue (a little pepper has always seemed to me
a lot more interesting than sugar), ''on the other paw'' I do get off on 
the Celtics and root for them in every game.  I just can't resist tweaking 
other pompous ''cyber mouths,'' ( i.e. those who predict we will finish 
2nd in the ED having added only a rookie PG to our now six-year tired
starting lineup) if only to balance and enliven such a serious dialogue. 

To that end, I will keep posting away and joyously inhaling every little
fume from every lister's post.  It is truly amazing to me how erudite
so many of you are considering that it is ''only'' a sports list. 

It has been much fun, and I thank you all for that. 

Brenda (Egg)