From Dennis Velasco,
Your Guide to Basketball.
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IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR THE CELTICS THIS SEASON?

Atma Brother #1: Who cares? The Celtics get way more attention than they deserve thanks to the East Coast bias pervading sports coverage, the forever annoying Boston sports media, and their very loud fans (I have to hand it to those those Celt fans though). They aren't a big market team, nor a good team. Let's stop talking about them like everyone on the national hoops scene has stopped talking about the Golden State Warriors.

Well, okay before we stop talking about the Celtics, here's a few final thoughts: The Danny Ainge Era in Boston has been a joke. They have a horrible NBA roster with overrated young talent (I'm sure it would make it to the NCAA Final Four though) and are a franchise in search of a clue right now. The good thing for Celtic fans is that neither of these things will stop you from making the playoffs in the Leastern Conference.

Now if Ainge swings a deal for Pau Gasol instead of tanking it for the loaded 2007 NBA Draft, the man should be fired immediately. Actually just like his buddy Kevin McHale in Minnesnowta he should've been fired several years ago. They've both been worse than Isiah Thomas in New York. Yup, that bad.

Dave: Sure! 1. Greg Oden. 2. Kevin Durant. 3. The Second Coming ends the world. Thanks to the NBA's weighted lottery system that keeps bad teams bad for longer than strictly necessary, the latter is just about as likely as the former.

Mike: In a word, no. It depends what is defined by "hope," but they're simply a mess right now and they need to start over. I essentially count only three NBA talent guys there besides Paul Pierce and Wally Sczcerbiak. Al Jefferson has Vin Baker-like potential, Ryan Gomes is a solid bench guy for a good team, and Delonte West could be a nice instant-offense type in this league for a while. Otherwise, it's ugly. Rajon Rondo alright, Gerald Green has potential, but that's about it. They need to blow this thing up and start over, pronto.

Ryan: Nope! I think the best part of this whole debacle will happen this spring when the Draft Lottery goes down and the Celtics fail to snag a top three pick out of this mess of a season much like when they lost out on Tim Duncan a couple years back.

Tom: A glimmer of hope for what is left of the Celtics roster this season is that their young point guards will get plenty of time to run the team so decisions can be made on what direction they will go with the PG position in the future. With the emergence of Al Jefferson, the return of Paul Pierce and Tony Allen, and the high possibility of adding another extremely talented piece in the draft, the C's will need a trusted floor general to develop in order to turn the thing around.

Ron: The Celtics are a mess this season and are bound for a lottery pick. Look for the young players get the bulk of the minutes for the rest of the season as it is all about the ping pong balls, baby. I feel for Paul Pierce, who just wants to win.

IT MAKES SENSE FOR ALL PARTIES INVOLVED TO TRADE PAU GASOL. WHERE DOES HE GO?

Atma Brother #1: He's going East unless Jerry West in an exit move decides to screw the new ownership group by making the West that much tougher. It makes the most sense for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Chicago Bulls to work something out. Teaming Pau Gasol with Benny Wallace down low gives the Bulls a very formidable front court in the East. They should be able to at least make the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs with those two big men teamed up. The Bulls have the right mix of young talent and P.J. Brown's big expiring contract to entice the Grizz. This deal should have already been completed.

Dave: If the Bulls can't get Kevin Garnett, Gasol makes some sense there. Other than that just about any bad team could have him for the right combination of young talent, salaries, and picks. Milwaukee could offer a complete salary dump with Ruben Patterson and Brian Skinner plus a lottery pick this season. A Swift or a Villaneuva could be thrown in there either way also. If Gasol does go somewhere before the deadline I expect it'll be something along those lines.

Mike: I still don't know if it makes sense for all parties (Gasol is only 26, after all, and Memphis will get an impact player out of this draft), but it's probably too late to not trade him. The only team that makes sense to me is Chicago. They have young guys, expiring contracts, and draft picks. Memphis is going to get some combination of the three, and Chicago is the only team that can offer all of them. Boston just makes no sense to me; they need to start over. I see Gasol in Chicago, and as a Wizards fan, that scares me.

Ron: I have a gut feeling that Pau will play the rest of the season for the Grizzles. The Grizz are getting "low-ball" offers and do not want to pull a Babcock/Vince Carter trade rape job. Look for Grizzles to get more fair trade value for Gasol in the offseason.