Re: ESPN DQ: Trade Toine and possibly Pierce

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

In general, this is true. Swingmen don't win championships. However, Pierce
is one of the very few guys who can get you 30 points on demand and he does
it under the most difficult circumstances. Ideally, he'd be working with a
point guard who could get him easy looks, but he isn't. Instead, he's forced
to do it almost by himself. I think with a good point guard and some other
tweaks to the team and offense, Pierce could become an even more efficient,
explosive scorer. Plus, he's an above-average rebounder for his size and
position and an improving passer. I really believe if Ainge can add the
point guard and the coach can tweak the offense to relieve Pierce of some of
the responsibilities he has for things he isn't great at (ball-handling),
then Pierce will only get better. That may not mean more points for Pierce,
but I think it definitely means more points and wins for the Celtics. If a
true top-five kind of talent went on the blocks-say a Garnett or Kobe or
something like that-sure, you'd consider dealing Pierce. But short of that,
you're never going to get equal value.

As for Antoine, I think the writing is on the wall. Everyone sees it now.
The team is stuck if it stays the current course. The only way to improve is
to deal Antoine. But it has to be the right deal. That isn't going to be
easy.

Mark