The one thing that's been missing with the Boston Celtics for years is continuity. I guess no one told GM Danny Ainge though since he's made another puzzling move. The Celtics traded Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed and two 2nd round picks to Minnesota for Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones and a conditional 1st round pick.
Whenever you trade for Olowokandi and he isn't a through in, you've made an awful move. Ainge seems to be making these trades just for the sake of making trades since high-salary players like Walker seem to walk through Boston annually. The players they gave up were the hustle players you need under Doc Rivers. Now you bring in Olowokandi, who hasn't dived at the ground since his contract fell on the floor?
Of course this deal isn't anything special for the Timberwolves either. Szczerbiak was having his best season in years and Ricky Davis won't provide the 20 points Wally did. They definitely got the better of the deal. Dwayne Jones was a trade waiting to happen since he got sent down to the D-League.
Believe it or not this mostly happened for money reasons. Mark Blount received a big contract several years but hasn't lived up to it. Szczerbiak and Olowokandi will get exuberate money for the rest of their careers as will Ricky Davis. The problem with all four players is that with injuries they'll live up to it.
If it just Szczerbiak then I could condone the trade on the Celtics' side. But by getting Jones and Olowokandi and trading three draftees and a pair of future picks it doesn't make sense. A bad that gets depth taken away becomes worse. Only if Szczerbiak is healthy and productive will this work for Boston. The T'Wolves have pieces to now to put together a decent team. I think Minnesota will wind up being better defensively through this but the difference might not be enough to get them in the playoffs. |
