http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yfn6hzo

Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, and our 1st round draft pick for Shane Battier.

Why for Houston:

Battier is a proven winner and great role player for the Rockets, but is on a team with no chance of winning. They are without their best player (Yao) and their next two best players are the Human Question Mark (T-Mac) and Trevor Ariza, who's probably a bit overrated because of his strong playoff performance. Battier is on the books for nearly $7 million for this season and next. Getting rid of his contract for expirings could make Houston a big player in the much anticipated 2010 free agency. Not to mention they would get a late 1st round pick out of the deal.

Why for Boston:

Battier is a winner. Just look at his plus/minus numbers. He's a great defender, one of the best role players ever, in my opinion. The acquisition of Battier would all but assure us banner number 18, as this is what our squad would look like:

Perkins / Wallace / Williams

Garnett / Davis / Sweetney

Pierce / Battier / Walker

Allen / Daniels / Giddens

Rondo / House / Hudson

Much Better than acquiring Nocioni at the deadline, in my opinion.

Boston is looking like a champion team if they just re-sign Glen Davis and pick up a serviceable backup point guard. However, it seems as though the door is open for a trade that could keep us in the top echelon as well as building for the future. I'm proposing a sign-and-trade of Glen Davis, Tony Allen, and Brian Scalabrine for Keyon Dooling, Yi Jianlian, and Sean Williams.

Here is the trade presented with ESPN Trade Machine. Rajon Rondo would of course be replaced by Big Baby, who would be making $4-5 million. Since he is a base-year compensation player (see Jeff Clark's piece) his outgoing value is only half of his actual contract in a sign-and-trade, which is roughly Rondo's salary for next season.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=nwg2u6

The Celtics squad for the 09 -10 season would look like this going into training camp:

C Kendrick Perkins / Rasheed Wallace / Sean Williams

PF Kevin Garnett / Yi Jianlian

SF Paul Pierce / Marquis Daniels 

SG Ray Allen / Eddie House

PG Rajon Rondo / Keyon Dooling

Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens would battle for the scraps of time left over at the 2 and 3 and Lester Hudson would be picked up as a third point guard, probably spending most of his rookie year playing for the Maine Red Claws.

I can't think of any better way to maximize the potential of both Yi Jianlian and Sean Williams than to give them Garnett and Wallace as mentors. In his rookie campaign, Sean Williams showed that when he's locked in, he's a beastly defender. His trouble was a lack of discipline; he didn't memorize the Nets' defensive schemes and as a result was often lost on that end. Can you imagine what wonders could be worked with KG, Sheed, and Perk keeping him focused? Oh yeah, and did I mention he went to Boston College? Clearly, he's bright enough to learn Tom Thibodeau's sets.

Yi is similar to both Garnett and Wallace in that he's not really a wide-body, but has good size (and strength, based on recent photos), and nice shooting touch. If he could channel their intensity, learn to finish at the rim and defend, we're talking potential all-star (with all the Chinese votes).

New Jersey is a willing trade partner because they get the player they supposedly covet (Big Baby), a swingman who gives them toughness (Tony Allen), and a former fan favorite (Scal). Also, they dump Keyon Dooling so they're really only paying $500k to $1.5million the next two seasons for Big Baby.