Re: Three Good Reasons not to trade Twan now

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

Actually, this is exactly why you can't let him walk and get nothing in
return. Even if they subtract his salary, they're still not going to be
under the cap. Subtract him and EWill and they're STILL not far enough under
to be players. The other contracts-Baker, Pierce, Battie, Delk-are enough to
effectively eat up all the cap. Really, the cap situation is terrible. They
can't get out of cap jail until Baker's contract clears the books.

That's why I think you have to make a decision on Antoine. Either you commit
to him and sign him to an extension or you trade him this offseason.
Everyone knows how I feel. We'll see how Ainge feels. Remember, those
comments he made about Antoine were a while ago. We have no idea how he
feels about him as a player now.

Mark

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Pscottman wrote:

2. A max salary coming off the books. We keep him and suddenly we're major
players in FA with Pierce still signed the following summer. Sure, we'd
still have Baker clogging the works, but we'd have way more flexibility then
if we take two (or more) matching contracts this summer in trade because at
least one of those will have to be 'filler' and we can't afford any more
'filler' contracts on this team. The Celtics MUST maximize every signing for
use due to carrying three MAX salaries. The Luxury tax will keep teams
dumping nice complimentary vets into the system every June to fill a roster
and with the new owners and some cap room we can jump on them instead of
mirroring this year where we had to wait then pick up Long, Coles, etc.
Suddenly guys like Strickland and Rogers are well within our sights again to
round out the bench.