Re: Ainge Says Celtics Can't Build Around Walker

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
``Walker and Paul Pierce are perceived to be franchise players and
they're not,'' said Ainge before working last night's Spurs-Magic game
for TBS.
--- end of quote ---

Ainge seems so wrong about Pierce now , but remember that this was immediately
post-Pitino, when both Walker and Pierce were quitting on the Ricktator HARD.
Pierce has made a mind-boggling leap since then, and Walker has attempted a
mind-boggling amount of threepointers in the same period. 

--- You wrote:
``I'd explore what I could get for him, but that's a huge decision.
Making a bad trade would just set the Celtics back further. I've heard
rumors about what they'd have received in (Walker) trades and thought,
`No!' ''
--- end of quote ---

It's nice that Ainge is cautious to not just discard a player he doesn't like,
but I'd be happy if we could get a solid rebounding fool with some upside for
Antoine and a large expiring contract. If the draft takes care of the point
guard, we woudn't miss a beat. If you replace Toine's passing, ballhandling,
and rebounding (which has been declining anyway), you won't miss his 20 points
per game, because he's so incredibly inefficient anyway. Delk can score
efficiently, especially when he's forced to pretend to be a PG.  Battie would
score more - and very efficiently at that - with a good  PG. We'd be structured
similarly to Detroit, except they still don't have a real PG and they don't
have Pierce. 
I'm excited about the possibility of changes in the current distorted structure
of our team! I think the owners should order Toine to feign injury to prevent
further embarrassment in this series, and send a video montage of Toine's play
in the Indy series (titled "TWAN-TAS-TIC!!!!") to every GM. 

Kestas
PS Speaking of injuries, how about Pierce's shaking off a painful sprain last
night and going all-out to the rack on the very next play! When I saw that
injury, I was afraid of two things: 1) serious injury to Paul; 2) that the
inevitable loss  (a sweep, really) in this series would be blamed on the injury
and, consequently, no serious changes would be made.  If they happen to get
swept, I prefer that they do so with their roster intact, so that there's no
ambiguity why this happened.