Friday, June 10, 2005
Boston Celtics HUB:
"I'm just going to say what I've already said about it - it's ludicrous...I don't know where this stuff comes from.'' -Celtics "Man With The Plan" Danny Ainge said of an ESPN.com report that he discussed trading Pierce to Portland for the No. 3 draft pick and guard Nick Van Exel.
Though Ainge declined to discuss the matter further, two league sources said yesterday that Pierce talk has been almost nonexistent across the league"
The thought process behind this deal is actually pretty intelligent:
Nick Van Exel plans on retiring, and his salary matches up with Pierce's. Nick the slick has a team option for next season, which Portland will not pick up...unless it can be used to acquire talent.
If Ainge could actually pull this deal off to acquire Wake Forest pg Chris Paul and have the deal worked out so that Van Exel's approx. $14 million option could be used to sign Ray Allen(The UCONN alum has expressed an interest in playing in Boston in the past), then this deal is a no brainer; pure genius really.
Portland gets Paul Pierce for the #3 pick...Van Exel gets a retirement gift in the form of a buyout...Pierce gets back to the West Coast...Boston finally gets a future star point guard and fixes its chemistry problem by swapping Pierce for Allen. Everybody wins. The odds of all of those components falling into place seem quite long...almost as long as the odds against Ainge actually trading for old #8 last season ... -NF
"I'm just going to say what I've already said about it - it's ludicrous...I don't know where this stuff comes from.'' -Celtics "Man With The Plan" Danny Ainge said of an ESPN.com report that he discussed trading Pierce to Portland for the No. 3 draft pick and guard Nick Van Exel.
Though Ainge declined to discuss the matter further, two league sources said yesterday that Pierce talk has been almost nonexistent across the league"
The thought process behind this deal is actually pretty intelligent:
Nick Van Exel plans on retiring, and his salary matches up with Pierce's. Nick the slick has a team option for next season, which Portland will not pick up...unless it can be used to acquire talent.
If Ainge could actually pull this deal off to acquire Wake Forest pg Chris Paul and have the deal worked out so that Van Exel's approx. $14 million option could be used to sign Ray Allen(The UCONN alum has expressed an interest in playing in Boston in the past), then this deal is a no brainer; pure genius really.
Portland gets Paul Pierce for the #3 pick...Van Exel gets a retirement gift in the form of a buyout...Pierce gets back to the West Coast...Boston finally gets a future star point guard and fixes its chemistry problem by swapping Pierce for Allen. Everybody wins. The odds of all of those components falling into place seem quite long...almost as long as the odds against Ainge actually trading for old #8 last season ... -NF
