Celtics
The main thing I wonder is if the Celtics have any intention of trading Pierce, or if they plan on holding their cards...
That team isn't set for any type of salary relief for the next 4 seasons. I doubt anyone in Boston wants to wait that long for cap relief to do something with it. Besides... if they wanted cap room to play with, they wouldn't have dealt Walker for Raef LaFrentz of all people, and signed Mark Blount to a very nice contract this offseason.
NBA teams don't have many options are far as rebuilding. It either comes through the draft, trades or free agent signings. And we can basically rule out free agents on that team.
The draft is a somewhat viable option for the Celtics. They don't really have hope of getting a good lotto pick as their squad is going to contend for a playoff spot in the East pretty much every year. Even latter lotto picks don't usually pan out for the special player the Celtics really need.
So, the third option is another trade. The Celtics happen to have two guys that play the same position in Ricky Davis and Pierce. No GM without his brain missing is going to confuse how much better of a player Pierce is than Davis, but going from Pierce to Davis isn't a really bad drop off.
The problem could be Raef. LaFrentz happens to like to shoot the 3 ball, a lot. Having two guys on the same roster (if Boston got Peja) that love to toss up 3s may not be something Boston is interested in. And LaFrentz's contract makes him extremely difficult to move.
Kings
Sac would probably have to include another player that catches Boston's eye to make this work, and that guy probably isn't Ostertag. I highly doubt Miller or Bibby is going any where any time soon. Pretty much the same with Webber.
The options left on the roster would be Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie.
I -could- see this trade going down in Petrie was willing to part with his talent, but, I find it hard to believe that Petrie would accept giving up this many of the guys he brought in here. Petrie really seems to love the players he hand-picks, and has a lot of faith in them. Ostertag not being one of these, of course.
Anyway, if Petrie shopped any of his guys any time soon I'd be surprised. He's not a GM really prone to radical change at all, and moving any of the core guys he has could hardly be considered anything but. I personally think in two seasons, he'll have let Peja play his contract out, and he'll have a real good idea of what Webber is still capable of by then. From that point, he'll make his decision for the future of the team.
Why I think this is bad is I don't like how Peja performs in the playoffs. As much as I'd like to say we're a contending team as we are, with Peja on this roster, I simply don't feel that's the case. If you want to beat the best teams, you HAVE to have your top guys performing. Peja throwing bricks all day isn't going to get it done, and I don't have a lot of faith in him to turn things around this post season.
He's our starting SF and our 2nd option on the team. He HAS to perform for us to succeed. Again, I don't think it's going to happen.
I'd rather sacrifice some other people (Christie, Jackson) if that's what it takes to bring a guy like Pierce to Sacramento who prides himself on playing his *** off in the playoffs. We may not win it all, but at least we'll have another guy who comes to play when the chips are down.
For the record, I'm quite happy with how Bibby, Miller, BJax, Christie, Webber and basically everyone steps up their game when needed. The exception is Peja, and for a championship caliber team, you've got to have your guys clicking.
Ok, this is a long post, I'll end it here.
BUT, songaila has proven a lot for the Kings. He can rebound defensivley, and he is a solid perimeter shooter.
