Vescey Kind Of Likes The Trade, Says Battie on The Market

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

October 21, 2003 -- HOOP DU JOUR 
AT first aghast, I figured Danny Ain't must be using Rick Pitino as his consigliore. 
What other explanation could there be for the Celtics' tribal boss squandering the surplus skill of Antoine Walker (and Tony Delk) on the acquisition of Raef LaFrentz (Jeri Welsch, Chris Mills - an original free-agent pull by Pitino - and '04 first-round pick) from the Mavericks; the parcels in parenthesis are not much more than salary-cap fodder and improbable visions of sugar plums? 
I shuddered to imagine other plausible possibilities. 
Is Ain't secretly a member of Mark Cuban's cult? Check it out: In '98, the Suns donated Steve Nash to the Mavs for the draft rights to Pat Garrity, Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells and a '99 No. 1 choice. Guess who was coach of Phoenix at the time? 
Then again, if I allow facts to get in the way of a premise, I'm bound to disclose the Suns turned that selection into Shawn Marion. Jerry Colangelo was prepared to take Jonathan Bender at No. 9 despite strong opposition from Bryan Colangelo, Ain't and the rest of the staff. There was much internal celebration in the Suns' draft room when the Pacers picked Bender at No. 5. 
So, what is it then? What would possess Ain't to swap a quadruple double threat (points, rebounds, assists and turnovers) on a nightly basis for a guy whose only chance of averaging double figures (9.3 points and 4.8 boards last season) is to become a classmate of Vin Baker's in a 10-step program? 
Surely, I must be overlooking the obvious here. 
Maybe Donnie Nelson, a Suns assistant under Ain't and currently the Mavs president of basketball operations, threatened to reveal Danny Boy really didn't quit coaching so he could spend more time with his or Michael Jordan's kids. Maybe Nelson was going to divulge Ain't actually bailed (before being officially asked to leave) because he preferred to play golf all day rather than work. 
Who knows, maybe the trade was simply an uncontrollable Caucasian Persuasion impulse. Maybe Ain't simply wanted the best available white player, excluding Europeans, particularly Frederic Weis. 
Maybe Ain't was never assigned to work TNT's sidelines for a Dallas game. 
Obviously, I'm at a pained loss to shed some intelligent light on the absurd. 
You don't suppose Ain't dealt for LaFrentz because he thinks he can play? You don't suppose he believes the 6-11 center can be a factor in the East as a starter? (That certainly explains why Tony Battie, sources say, is being shopped enthusiastically) You don't suppose Ain't is convinced the lefty's shot making-shot blocking ability somewhat substantiates the $62.7 million guaranteed he has coming to him? 
If not that, then what? 
Naturally, Ain't is going to swear his undying love for LaFrentz now that he's not going anywhere for the next six seasons. At the same time, there's no denying Boston's new owners were disgusted by Walker's undignified act-wiggling after scoring, taunting, trash talking opposing coaches, confronting abusive home fans - and Ain't was repulsed by his sorry shot selection and negligent caretaking of the ball. 
	
In reality, maybe this is purely your standard addition by subtraction transaction? There are only two surprises: It took until a week before the start of the '03-04 season to expel Walker; and the Celtics got so little superficially in return; on Walker's worst day, LaFrentz can't favorably compare to him. 
Or did they? Due to the loathsome luxury tax, the majority of moves these days are made or not made based primarily on economics. This is definitely one of those cases to extremes. While the rate of exchange between Boston and Dallas is basically even for this season (for salary cap purposes), the Celtics get massive financial relief next season. 
How? Mills' pay ($6.6M) comes off the Celtics' cap next season, they hoard an additional $1.3M on the difference between Delk's deal and Welsch's and, because LaFrentz earns $9.087M in '04-'05 and Walker pockets $14.625M, an extra $5.5M can be saved. 
In dollars and sense, that adds up to an alluring $13.4M. Bearing in mind, the Celtics' payroll next season would've been almost $59M, well above the luxury tax, the trade saved them double the above amount. 
As they say, it was trade that helped both teams. Ain't is breaking up the Celtics, getting fiscally sleeker, stockpiling draft picks and not looking to win a title any time soon. The Mavericks, run by a spendthrift, have greatly enhanced their chances of dethroning the Spurs, a team they came very close to beating in last season's Western Conference finals. 
Who says you can't buy a championship?