El Guapo's Ghost Rambles on about the Red Sox

NO REST FOR THE GHOST

I wanted to take this week off, but Danny Ainge decides to move Antoine Walker.

I do not know hoops that well but most would agree that the Celtics were not going to win number 17 with Walker and Pierce as the top dogs and that Walker was the one to be moved. My initial questions about this deal were:
1. Is the deal just to save money in the short-term a la Bake me a rum cake deal?
2. Raef LaFrentz and his big ass contract?
3. Is this all Walker is worth?

I am not sure about the answer to the first one because I do not have all the figures. The last two are easy to answer. Walker has very little value; thus the Celtics had to take back a contract.

Jason Ouellette from Real GM thinks that
Despite what a lot of Boston fans think, Walker’s league wide value was not very high. Maybe it was his penchant to hoist up more threes than his character on NBA Jam. Maybe it was his incessant whining to officials during games. Maybe it was the looks he gave during games as if he constantly smelled something bad.

Bob Ryan goes even further in today’s Globe:
The only surprise here is that Danny Ainge was actually able to find a buyer. It wasn't easy. I heard him tell Glenn Ordway on WEEI yesterday, "I talked to every team in the league, and, believe me, there are people out there who, even if he averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and shot 50 percent from the floor, would not want him on their team."

I guess Walker was not in “the best shape of his life” or it would not impact his game/trade value as Peter May states.
Rather than let this thing drag on until next summer, Ainge decided that what Dallas offered was as good as anything he was going to get -- and there was just as strong a chance that any future offer might be worse.

But what about the Knicks deal, Kurt Thomas, Charlie Ward and a salary filler (around $2.7 million) for Walker, which was reported to be on the table this summer? Thomas would have filled Walker’s spot for the Celtics and more importantly Thomas would opt out of his final year. Both Thomas and Ward’s salaries would come off the books after this upcoming season allowing the Celtics to be on a one-year rebuilding plan instead of a “three-year.” They could offer a max contract to a more worthy player than Walker.

As we all know, the championship formula for the NBA is not rocket science: attain one dominating player with an All-Star mix in seven other role players. Perhaps, I am missing something but even if next season this deal turns out to be a four-for-two as Peter May expressed (LaFrentz, Welsch, Draft Pick, and Mid-level FA for Walker and Delk), it still would not get the C’s any closer to raising another banner. The Celtics need to attain that other All-Star then find the other seven.