Wowee Zowee

We got out of work at 3 today and I knew there would be some news by the time I got home, but THIS? Ahem...OMFG! Say whatever you want about Danny Ainge, but you can't say the man doesn't have balls. Today he completed a trade to bring back none other than Fatoine Walker to Beantown. Details are still sketchy so this deal may still be in the negotiation stages. ESPN is reporting Toine to the Celtics for Gary Payton, Tom Gugliotta and Michael Stewart, BUT rumblings on the internets are saying the C's are sending the Cleveland pick they acquired from the Jiri Welsch deal earlier today instead of Payton. Either that or Payton was involved in the deal along with the Cleveland pick but the hawks are going to release Payton and he will resign with the C's. Got that? As I write this, there is nothing on Celtics.com about this deal which leads me to believe that it's not completely done yet.
Assuming we get to keep GP, this could be a great deal for Boston. Our biggest weakness has been rebounding and Toine can definitely do that. The big question is will he play within the offense and take good shots or will he camp out at the three point line and keep up his old habits?
Pros: PP had his best years playing with Toine and now we can bring back our high/low set between those two that was good for a few easy buckets each night for PP.
Cons: IF Payton is gone and doesn't return, the C's are without an experienced PG which didn't exactly work for them a few years ago (JR Bremmer anyone?).
For the sake of argument, let's assume Payton comes back(I have a hard time believing Danny would ship him to Atlanta like this), look at out line up:

PG: Payton/Banks/West
SG: Allen / Davis
SF: PP/ Reed
PF: Walker/Jefferson
C: LaFrentz/Blount/Perkins

That's a pretty solid. Davis and Walker can also play the SF and West can play SG. Could be interesting. Tomorrow's game against Utah sure will be.
I'm withholding judgment until the details of the deal are worked out. But this might be a good move for the C's. If Walker doesn't work, we let him walk over the summer. If he does, we will be a tough out in the Playoffs (especially if we have GP).
Word out of Boston is that Toine will get #8 back and Al Jefferson will now wear #44. Hopefully Walker won;t eat into Al's minutes too badly.
One thing is for sure, Walker will put butts in seats in Beantown.

Other deadline deals:
B Diddy to the Warriors and Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis to NBA Siberia New Orleans. Great deal for the Warriors since they didn't give up any of their young players. But will B Diddy stay healthy? Playing near home could be a distraction for him.

The Mavs added Keith Van Horn for Alan Henderson, Calvin Booth and cash. Probably my favorite deal of the day. KVH will back up Dirk and will fit right in with the Mavs system. Dirk has needed a proper back up for a long time. KVH can come in, just be a role player and do his thing, a situation where he usually thrives. Expect his numbers to go up. The Bucks get two ending contracts that will give them extra flexibility to resign Mike Redd and maybe grab another free agent this summer. Their not making the playoffs anyway.

It wouldn't be a trade deadline without the Knicks taking on more salary, but at least they got some picks this time. They made two deals today. One sent Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer to the Spurs for Malik Rose and a first-round pick. They Knicks also traded Vin Baker and Moochie Norris to the Rockets for Maurice Taylor and a first-round pick. Taylor is a nice player with a huge contract and Rose is basically a smaller Kurt Thomas with an even bigger deal. Not sure how this helps New York. They have like 6 power forwards on their roster now. But at least they got some picks in the future without giving up too much. But who plays center now? Thomas? And for the record, these deals added $32 million to the Knicks payroll in the next few seasons. Yikes.

And just for the heck of it, here's a shot of Mr. Pink on my lap while I wrote all of this.

PS - My iPod shipped today!