Welcome back, Gents, to the Weekly Musings. Yeah, so we missed a few weeks. It’s not like I’m getting paid for this bidness. But here at the Weekly Musings we like to provide a service, so we’re going to dive into some Atlantic Division fun and shore up the top two teams for the playoffs. Of course, we’ll get our jabs in here and our barbs inthere, but it’s all in good fun right? Right, KG? Please don’t hurt me.
Let’s just get out on the break and fill the lane!
· Guess what? The Heat aren’t running away with the conference. Ok, they have a 6 game lead, but the Wiz are hot on their trail. Sure they haven’t made the playoffs since they were the Bullets (not even with Jordan) but the East is just that weak. Hell, right now they’re the #3 seed. And for years I gave Special Ed crap for wanting Larry Hughes instead of Paul Pierce, but now he’s looking pretty smart. I mean, if you forget the last 7 years. Hughes is now out and Washington keeps winning. Once the playoffs start the Wiz should be the 3rd seed in the East. Right now the Celtics are 1 game out of the 6th seed. Guess we’ll see once and for all who was right, me or Ed.
· Hey, didn’t you used to be the Minnesota Timberwolves? If Minnesota played any worse they’d have to pay people to watch them. They look defeated as soon as they take the floor. After winning 58 games last year and nearly making the Finals the T-Pups have lost to Charlotte, Toronto, the Knicks and Lakers twice. How can they still be favored in any game? It might be time to say it once and for all: Garnett isn’t a winner, bottom line. He doesn’t make teammates better, and he’s made Wally World worse. To quote the immortal Richard F. Pitino “Larry Bird’s not coming through that door. Robert Parish is not coming through that door. Kevin McHale is not” … never mind, you know what I mean.
· Speaking of aging Celtics, is it time to trade Paul Pierce? I’ve read several articles recently suggesting that very same thing, but to me it’s ridiculous, and not just b/c I spent $75 on an authentic Pierce jersey. Trade Pierce and build around Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins and Jiri Welsch? Don’t be stupid Ric Bucher. They’re all nice players but Jefferson is a few years off, Perkins is hit or miss right now and Jiri is a journeyman with good defense. They were going to sit on expiring contracts and get ready for next year but things changed and the Atlantic became winnable. The East is soft and they may even get into a 2nd round. That’s 3-5 home playoff games and that’s big money, win or lose. Boston is better off taking a healthy Raef LaFrentz (11 and 7) and Paul Pierce (22, 7 and 4) with defense and rebounding coming from Blount, Jefferson and rookie spark-plug Tony Allen into the playoffs. Here’s the trade for the Celtics to make and cement a 5th or 6th seed: Gary Payton and Tom Gugliotta (welcome back) for Sam Cassell and Fred Hoiberg. Celts get a playoff tested PG with scoring ability and an outside shooter to replace Walter McCarty’s range. Wolves would get a HOF PG in Payton who’s been playing well of late and may be rejuvenated next to KG as well as two big, fat expiring contracts. They can then shed those two GP, Googs and Latrell to make that same run at the FA’s they tried to get last time around.
· What to do with Ricky Davis? The man scores 14.6 a game coming off of the bench and though he’s not a Danny Ainge type player (like Welsch is) you can’t just shed 14 a game. The way to approach what to do with Davis is see where he’d be accepted and who is out there that can be moved. Names like Donyell Marshall, Nick Van Exel and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are available. So is everyone on teams like Milwaukee or New York, save some. But remember, money has to match up. How about Ricky to Toronto for UConn product Donyell Marshall? You’ll lose a few PPG but add almost 4 rebounds. If the Celts can do the trade described above and convince Raef to start playing down low to use his size, this could work wonders at getting the Celts into that “coveted” 6th seed.
· So here’s your starting 5 for the Celtics after our trades go through: C – Raef LaFrentz, PF – Donyell Marshall, SF – Paul Pierce SG – Tony Allen or Jiri Welsch PG – Cassell. This gives you rebounding up front and scoring from the point to make up for the lack of O at shooting guard. It also will allow Pierce to save his legs a bit and be freer to create in the offense. On the bench you’ll still have Al Jefferson, Mark Blount and Marcus Banks to spell Marshall, Raef and Cassell. Welsch can play SF and Cassell can shift to SG when you need to. This squad has a chance to win a few playoff games.
· Trailing the Celtics by the narrowest of margins are the 76ers. They lost a close game at home last night to a good Grizzlies team but one fact remains: they need to add to this team b/c its killing Allen Iverson. He scored 38 last night with the flu. Korver is nice and hits the open J (2nd in the league in 3-pt shooting) but missed the big one last night. The time has come for Billy King and Jim O’Brien to decide which way to go with this team; playoffs or lottery. Find a taker for Glenn Robinson, it’s become a hindrance, even if it means getting rid of Sam Dalembert, who is not an O’Brien favorite and will probably be overpaid for. Some moves they can make:
Rookie swingman Andre Iguodala and bull$h!t artist Glenn “Dog” Robinson to Portland for Shareef. Portland would be happy to shed a huge contract for Robinson’s expiring one and add an explosive player like Iguodala.
Dalembert and G/F Aaron McKie to Denver for Nene Hilario and Nik Tskitishvili. Neither one can get good minutes in George Karl’s rotation and both could help Philly’s size. Denver can have McKie play SG and let Voshon Lenard walk or play McKie at PG and trade Andre Miller for some size.
Glenn Robinson and Kevin Ollie to Milwaukee for…wait for it….Keith Van Horn. Yup, make it happen.
So there you have it folks, I’ve fixed the Celtics and Sixers so we can have that classic battle for the Atlantic Division we’ve always wanted: Pats vs. Eagles. No, I mean Sox / Phils. Ahh, whatever. Pitchers and catchers report in 10 days.