Celtics pass the Blount

Your Uncle Buck has received about a dozen emails this morning regarding the Celtics trade of stiff Center Mark Blount (pronounced Blunt/above left) and Ricky Davis and about 10 other guys for Michael Olowokandi (above right), Wally Szczerbiak and some other stuff from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Celtics sent Davis, Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed, and two conditional second-round picks to the Timberwolves yesterday in exchange for Olowokandi, Szczerbiak, Dwayne Jones of the development league, and a conditional first-round pick likely to be exercised in 2008. UB is sad to see Davis and his often high flying antics leave town, but you have to be pleased they were able to dump Blounts blown up contract.

"You stink!"

Banks (above left) never panned out like management hoped, besides Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers see more potential in rookies Orien Greene and Ryan Gomes and the development of Delonte West has limited Banks' playing time.

Blount who was one of the high spots on the Celtics two years ago got himself a six-year, $38 million contract. Since then he's been a major bum, most recently being benched. The 7-foot Olowokandi, who is a former #1 over all draft pick, averaged 6.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 23.5 minutes in 32 appearances (24 starts) for Minnesota this season. He is in the final year of his contract and is owed $5.9 million. Don't expect to see him much more than you saw Blount, as this end of the deal is really nothing more than a salary dump.

The addition of Szczerbiak will replace Ricky's production, bringing his impressive field goal percentage (50 percent) and 20.1 points per game to Boston. In 40 starts with Minnesota this season, the 6-foot-7-inch Szczerbiak averaged 38.9 minutes. After this season, Szczerbiak has three years and $36 million remaining on his contract. Over all this appears to be a productive deal for the Celtics. They dump Blount's money, pick up a better player in Szczerbiak than they had in Davis and worse case they got a 1st round draft pick out of the deal (yeah like those are worth a lot)...

"Outta my way, I'm going to get the new Wally Saucerback jersey!"