The Boston media has all been reasonably positive, taking the stance the Wally is a bettter compliment to Pierce than Davis and that dealing Blount and Banks are addition by subtraction. Witness Steve Bulpett of the Herald:
After initially looking to make a trade to clear salary cap and roster space, the Celtics instead made a dramatic move last night that will alter their starting lineup and provide a better complement to their best player.
Davis had been leading the team in minutes and was fourth in the league at 41.6 per game. He also was the team’s No. 2 scorer at 19.7 behind Pierce’s 25.6, but the team felt the two were too similar in the way they played. Szczerbiak is a better spot-up shooter from the outside who can stretch defenses and allow Pierce more room to work inside. And with Pierce playing more at shooting guard, there also is the possibility he will draw smaller defenders.
ESPN's writer have taken the position that the trade does little to help either team, but most believe the Timberwolves got the better end of the deal. Marc Stein is underwhelmed by what this does for Boston:
Put a marksman of Wally's class in a mix with Pierce and Boston's three promising youngsters (Delonte West and power players Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins) and McHale's buddy Danny Ainge just might have the start of something.
Emphasis on start, but a little something nonetheless.
The press in Minnesotta, by contrast, has been panning the trade pretty hard. And for sure, if my team had Kevin Garnett I'd be pretty upset at the crap the Timberwolves have assembled around him. Tom Powers of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press vents his frustration:
This is the second straight season in which McHale has taken drastic measures to try to right the ship. Coach Flip Saunders was fired last winter in an effort to shake things up. That didn't work. Now McHale is bringing in an entire new platoon of players.
Clearly he is running out of chances to get the job done. The logical question is: Why is the team always on the verge of keeling over in midseason? Why aren't the proper changes made at the start? Surely McHale must have known at the onset that this was a scraggly bunch.
Well, it doesn't appear that the Wolves got much better — or worse. The early line is that we can categorize this one as change for the sake of change.
Mark Blount isn't a big presence in the middle, as his 4.5 career rebounding average will attest. Besides, Target Center always has been a graveyard for centers. The Wolves are cursed at that position. Ricky Davis for Wally Szczerbiak? For sure, all that's going to do is tick off a large segment of the fan base. Wally was extremely popular here. But he always was a scapegoat, too. Now they won't have him to kick around anymore.
And then all the other pieces of the trade have to do with youth and potential. After watching some of the draft choices that have passed through here, I no longer believe in youth and potential.
Ouch.
Update: I would be remiss if I didn't point out that YaySports! has declared the Celtics 36% more handsome as of this morning.
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