Celtics Need To Trade Mark Blount Before The Deadline

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Here's what the Celtics are looking at:

Mark Blount will opt out of his contract after the season and become a free agent. 

He's young, he's decent, he's developing, he's a center, and he's angry with the current
Celtics management for the various trades that have removed his friends on the team  
and for having lost the guy O'Brien, who Blount credits as developing him into a legitimate 
NBA Big Man.

And there will be teams out there who are willing to sign him at $5 mil. a year 
with their Mid-Level Exception. 

For the Celtics to re-sign him, they will have to go above the Mid-Level
exception.

And he's simply not worth it to them.

Because  the Celtics have to deal with the possibility of Chris Mihm opting out of his contract 
too; they plan on going after a widebody, they have LaFrentz coming back,
Perkins is on the horizon, and Rafael Araujo or a high school
bigman may be awaiting them in the draft.

So, it's either trade Blount now and get something for him or overpay him or
lose him for nothing.

The first option is the most prudent, and as you usually have to give up something
to get something, and Blount along with Mills, et al. may appeal to a lot of teams,
especially contending teams that need frontcourt help and are looking for cap
relief.

Ray