haggerty@akov01.DEC (Both Ends Burning) (09/18/85)
I am also an avid Celtics fan (if owning season tickets qualifies as avid),
and I think the Maxwell-Walton trade will be good for the Celts and Walton.
Walton has another 2-3-4 years left in him (playing part time) and he is
certainly better on an off-day than Kite is on a good day.
Maxwell is another story entirely. To this day I cannot believe how the
press, the fans, the owners and then finally KC and Red turned on Max
after his no-show performance the last 1/3 of the season. Too many
people have forgotten that he was the 1981 Championship Playoff MVP and
was certainly a major contributor in the 1984 Celtics win. I hope they
haven't made a mistake in letting him go...
As for the rest of the Celtics team, they will continue with Bird,McHale,
Parish,DJ & Ainge for starters, with Walton,Vincent,Wedman,Williams &
Sicthing for the second five. Everyone else is expendable.
The rest of the league is divided up into the Eastern Conference and
the LA Lakers. Once again, I didn't see any trades that would give
LA some decent competition in the West, so look for them to be in
the Conf finals for the 3rd straight time.
The rest of the East could be tough. The Atlantic division, besides
Boston and Philly, now has Pat Ewing to contend with at NY, and
the Bullets and Nets never lay down and die for anyone.
The Central could be the toughest it's been in a couple of years.
After the Bucks surprise year last season, they might realize they're
contenders. Detroit is Detroit again, and they still need a real center.
Everyone else is everyone else. The 1980s have belonged to Boston and LA
(sorry Philly) and I see no reason to think that 1985-86 will be different.
If anyone's interested in what I REALLY think, let me know.
- kevin
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