With all the talk about the Lakers and Lebron James...

you kind of have to wonder about the worth of predictions in this forum. Take this thread started 7/22/02 (when the Vin Baker deal was made official):

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38214

Here are my favorites:

Needless to say, this trade has not panned out well for Boston. In fact, the team has gotten worse in just about every area:

Offense:

I know he's injured, and that when he wasn't Spud Webb blocked more shots than he ever could, but Vitaly Potapenko's loss actually hurts. Like Battie, his range consistently extends to 13'-15' feet, whereas Vin Baker hasn't hit from there all season. The Ukraine Train has some offensive skills but he was at his best spreading the floor and opening the lane to Walker. However, without a natural point, the Celtics frontcourt doesn't get these kinds of looks anymore (the pass doesn't come until the defender has rotated to jam any baseline jumper.)

Delk is a designated three-point shooter who loves the corners. He finds plenty of open looks from skip-passes or kicks off penetration. Problem is, he doesn't put moves on his defenders as much as Anderson did, isn't a natural point and is liable to have 1-10 nights, especially on the road.

Without Rogers, the Celtics have no offense coming from their second unit. McCarty is a good defender who will not let his assignments free their shooting hand, but relies way too much on the three offensively (despite his offensive skill and athleticism, which he showed in last year's playoffs.) Shammond Williams dribbles way too much (with his speed, he needs only one dribble on the penetration to get him to the basket) and passes up on the wide-open lane when he doesn't. Vin Baker hooks his defender whenever making a move, and when he doesn't travels when drop-stepping. Whenever he gets the ball on the low-block, he pumps it instead of just putting it off the glass. No other bench players even play.

The only bright spot comes from the two superstars: teams double Pierce whenever he receives the ball, and feel that Walker needs single coverage at all times. Since Walker can play anywhere on the floor, the defending big man or guard is the one who leaves his position and opens up either points in the paint or an open look outside.

Defense:

Shawn Marion sums up the Celtics defense: "Draw and kick; (the Celtics) are a team that just swarms you in the paint and they collapse." The Celtics don't allow many points in the paint, but have a hard time jamming jump-shots or just rotating. The Celtics run a zone in which players defend areas, but force one-on-one matchups. Simple ball movement can break it down.

As for the impact of the trade, there is nothing to stop this ball movement - Kenny Anderson isn't around any more to clog the passing lanes. Vin Baker's impact is minimal; he doesn't play very good defense, and also has bad habits on the defensive end (he pushes defenders out of the lane when the shot goes off, even when he has good positioning.)

The positive:

The Celtics got punk Joe Forte off their roster, and the owners brought home a sh*tload of cash.