Walker trade

["Alex Wang" <acwwang@xxxxxxxxx>]

A few years ago (which was the last time I posted on this list), I was a
pretty staunch Walker defender. The Celtics didn't have much of a
supporting cast, especially on the offensive end, and Jim O'Brien did a
good job of playing "ugly-ball" with Pierce as the only true offensive
star and Walker throwing up three-pointers as the inefficient second
option (but actually still more efficient than his two-point play
because of his gimmicky inside game). His versatility helped a bad team
become an above-average team. But ultimately, this wasn't a championship
team. We needed to somehow add talent. The draft picks didn't go well.
The Baker trade was a disaster because it wrecked the team's salary cap.

 

Ultimately the Celtics are like most of the league - they're constrained
by the salary cap. The way for these teams to compete and hopefully win
is to have players that are better than their salaries. These guys fall
in three levels usually:

 

1) superstars on max salaries: The real all-NBA guys. Pierce could be
one of these.

2) mid-level exception players: It seems like there are more and more
talented guys available at the exception every year.

3) young players on the rookie salary scale.

 

The problem with Walker is that he was a non-superstar on a max salary.
For a rich team like Dallas, this isn't a big deal (and no, I don't
believe that this was a salary dump as it is being portrayed by some
columnists). For our talent-thin, cap-strapped team, it is a serious
issue. I started questioning whether Walker could adapt his game to new
talent also. 

 

That's why I don't really feel upset about the trade. We've taken back
an overpaid player in LaFrentz, though I've always been a fan of his
game. There really aren't too many shotblocking PF/C's in the league
that aren't total offensive idiots. His salary isn't even that
outrageous when you look at the going rate for big men (other than the
occasional fortunate exception pickup). We've also potentially added
some good talent for the money in Jiri Welsch, the first round pick, and
potentially the mid-level exception next year. We're still going to have
to get lucky in the draft or some opportunistic trading to get to
contending level. Or somehow pick up a stud with the exception, which I
doubt - although you can generally pick up a solid starter.

 

I think the other option was to let Walker walk at the end of his
contract, let Baker's contract expire, and totally blow up the team.
That's a long, long process and I wonder if you end up wasting Pierce's
prime years - that's why I'm not a fan of that approach for the C's.

 

Alex