[DJRaz]

so wuzzup boston fans? i would love to hear some takes on the trade at this point.

of course trades take years to show their true value, but so far this has gone down exactly as i thought it would. most people weren't paying attention to the cavs until lebron came, and trust me, they were a total joke from top to bottom. even our good players were bad. we cavs fans knew that but had no choice to love them. mihm has sucked since day one and won't amount to much except another big white guy in green that you all wish would relive your glory years. but it won't happen, he's too soft. van horn would be an upgrade and i don't hear anyone proclaiming him anything legendary.

ricky is a badass - i loved his attitude on the court from day one. i knew that he had the game to back it up. if the rest of the team could just follow his lead..... wait why won't they? ever? on any team? it's cuz ricky is subversive. he appears to be trying his hardest but he is the first one to get a printout of his stats every quarter. he keeps the fans loving him (myself included) with his ability to amaze in mid-air. plus he's a funky cat that has that underdog feel to him. but he's a false prophet, that ricky davis. we knew as soon as lebron made his first bucket. so we shopped him and you took both these doo-doo heads off our hands. thanks. it was completely addition by subtraction.

BUT WAIT you mean we get players in return? actual boston players? that played? hopefully they won't suck. that was my attitude. and guess what,they don't suck at all. in fact they are becoming a real important part of our team. if i was to make up some sort of importance to the cavs rank it would go like this: lebron, boozer, wagner, ewill, diop, z, battie, kedrick, kapano, mcinnis, ollie, newble, bremer, which means our new players are 4, 7 & 8. and each of them plays smart defensive basketball, like real basketball players! something we didn't have many of in cleveland since about 93.

before the trade they were 6-18. since the trade the cavs are 10-10, and 5 for their last 7. and their turnovers (their worst stat) have dropped considerably.

i know the record's not as good out in boston but there's always more to it. i wanna hear the boston side of the trade, especially since i've been into ricky davis for years and now i just want him to suck so we can take your playoff spot ;-)

 

[lastlaugh]

I think the trade is okay and not okay. Ainge thinks Mimh is our future Championsip starter. lol

Ricky is fine. I havn't seen any ball hogging yet (okay well a little during his first game but I think he was just trying to show his stuff) and Mihm has been fine but I don't see how either of them could be considered starters on a team with a chance of winning anything. Ainge see's differently.

You have every guy who played any defense this year on your team now (Jiri gets credit for defense but standing there moving your feet and swacking your long arms at someone every once in a moon isn't defense.


Glad that you like Eric, Kedrick and Tony but Eric is out for a contract. He is basically a role player.
Tony I have always liked but again another role player and Kedrick is a surprise. He has a real coach now so who knows.

Good luck. I like your team. Lebron is great and Boozer gets better and better. I enjoyed watching them the other night.


As for the trade. There are those who still insist the Walker for Raef and Jiri trade was a good one so I don't know what crazy answers you will get from the individual Celtics fans at this board.
They are unique from other message boards (ones that discuss basketball. Not hate ones like the Crazy Celtics Nation or the dumb mean green)

 

[DJRaz]

da trade

i think both mihm and ricky will be in the league a long time. ricky might even manage an all-star appearance before he's done. i sat 2nd row when he jumped over nash for that dunk so i know what that cat is capable of. amazing. but what ou heard about him wasn't exaggerated, it was in fact talked down. by people like me, saying it's not that bad. i'll stick by what i said... i still believe you can win with ricky, but if you aren't he's always suspect. mihm is what he is, an average 7-foot white guy. perfectly employable but not your starter of the future. he's up for a contract next year, so watch out.

ewill is getting lots of love. we all know he's in a contract year and they are already starting to say the right things. the cavs want to keep him, let him retire here, help us get our first ring, but not for too high a price. so we'll see. we can live without an ewill but he's a great guy to have around. i'm sure you know all about that. he might be a role player, but his role on this team is to be the unflappable and experienced heart and soul. that's a critical role, regardless of his numbers. and he's the leader of our defense too.

battie is decent but not unique. decent big man game, nothing spectacular. an upgrade from mihm in my opinion, but i have seen that mihm is making a little bit of noise in boston. he sucked in cleveland, we kept that as quiet as we could so we could trade him. battie's knees are bad so who knows how much he'll help. but when he's playing he's a very active big man that can even has a bit of post game. he started for z the other week and did pretty good.

kedrick is a pleasant surprise. the kid has game! if anything, he appears to have a lot more than he's even showing. he seems bored out there at times. i would love to see what that kid can do when he gets hyped up. he's shown he can slash and shoot, and he's our best defending 2 guard by far. not bad for a throw-in. but with lebron sliding to the 2 ked's minutes might be in jeapardy. hopefully he can pick up some minutes at the 3 -- i'd put him in before newble or kapano, at least against smaller 3's.

 

[Showtyme]

I'm not a huge Celtics fan, but my best friend is. He's a fan of every Boston sports team.

The Ricky Davis trade was pretty okay, but the Celtics definitely miss both of the guys they traded away. Eric Williams was a gritty defender and a fan favorite in Boston, as was Tony Battie.

The problem with the trade: Ricky and Paul don't complement each other. This has mostly to do with Ricky's game, not Paul's. RD only understands two modes of basketball: on and off. When he's on, he has to take over the game, make all the shots, be on fire, play hardcore defense... as one ESPN analyst put it, he's one of maybe nine guys in the NBA that when they are on, they are basically unstoppable.

But when Davis is OFF his game, he doesn't know how to play #2 option. He only knows that he's off. He'll pass the ball, make an effort, run the court, but basically just be a rebounder and not get into a groove.

The most effective way Boston can use Ricky is to 1) coach him into being a good #2, and 2) let him take over when Paul is on the bench, conserving Pierce's energy for the season. Because in a lot of ways, he IS a lot like Pierce: slasher, scorer, gets to the line, makes tough and weird off-balanced shots, not bad from the arc, a very decent passer, and good defensive instincts.

 

[Bad Bartons]

At this point I am not sure about the trade.

I still love the potential that Ricky brings to the court and I think next season we will see more of it. He is hanging back right now and trying not to burn another bridge. I really think after a year of summer ball with both he and Pierce knowing that they will be playing in Boston together the C's might have something very special.

I like Mihm more that Battie. He is a much better rebounder and he has a better offensive post up game.

I miss E Will but he might have been gone next year anyway. Who knows, he might be back in Boston next year anyway.

Overall I am happy about the trade. Boston was a low seed playoff team and that is not good enough. This trade is a risk but it might be the kind of risk that makes Boston much better in the long run.

 

[Nevus]

The problem with the trade: Ricky and Paul don't complement each other. This has mostly to do with Ricky's game, not Paul's. RD only understands two modes of basketball: on and off. When he's on, he has to take over the game, make all the shots, be on fire, play hardcore defense... as one ESPN analyst put it, he's one of maybe nine guys in the NBA that when they are on, they are basically unstoppable.

But when Davis is OFF his game, he doesn't know how to play #2 option. He only knows that he's off. He'll pass the ball, make an effort, run the court, but basically just be a rebounder and not get into a groove.

That's exactly right. That's the problem with Ricky and the reason why it will be so difficult to convert him to a piece of a winning team. He doesn't know how to moderate himself or fit into a role and still produce. It's all or nothing with him. If you don't let him take any shot he wants to, he is hesitant to take any sort of shot at all.