The Celtics are gambling. Big time.

Their last few wagers have come up golden. They bet on Jim O'Brien when they easily could have gone for the established retread. They bet that O'Brien could rein in the less team-oriented instincts of Antoine Walker. They bet that O'Brien could get Walker and Paul Pierce to lead them defensively as well as offensively. They bet on Tony Battie and Kenny Anderson. And last season, they cashed in each and every time, going to the Eastern Conference finals.

	Vin Baker, right, gives the Celtics a true low-post threat.

But this is the equivalent of hitting on 16.

Vin Baker is a once very good power forward with a contract too big for his production, coming off a decent season for the Sonics, which followed a couple of putrid ones. The Celtics are gambling that he can bring more than his 17 points and eight boards a game east to give them the true low-post option they didn't have last season and haven't had since McHale left town.

They're betting that Baker's weight problems and near-depressive mental conditions are a thing of the past. They're wagering Paul Gaston's money -- Baker makes $12.375 million next season and $43.875 million the three years after that. Walker makes $12.375 million next season and $28.125 million the two years afterward. Pierce makes more than $10 million next season, the first of his six-year, $79.2 million deal.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Boston Celtics.

Basically, bringing in Baker is it for Boston for years to come. The Celtics may avoid paying the luxury tax next season -- they're perilously close -- but Baker, Walker and Pierce eat up more than $34 million of the $40.27 million cap, and the Celtics' other major players -- Battie, Tony Delk, Kedrick Brown, Eric Williams and Shammond Williams -- add another $15 million. I can't imagine Gaston will give the green light to either re-sign Rodney Rogers or use the $4.5 million exception to bring in someone else.

And, having moved Joseph Forte in the deal, Boston has now dispatched two-thirds of its three first-round selections from a year ago (Joe Johnson went to Phoenix in the deal that brought Rogers and Delk at the trade deadline last February).

More importantly, I think Boston is messing with the chemistry that never developed under Rick Pitino but blossomed under O'Brien's touch last year. Anderson was an important cog; he outplayed Eric Snow and Chucky Atkins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and he could score when necessary. Now, the Celtics hand the point either to Delk, a good but streaky offensive player, or Williams, who was beaten out by Earl Watson to back up Gary Payton in Seattle down the stretch last season. Baker better come with major defensive intensity from Minute One next fall if he's going to please O'Brien, who I hear may not have been the strongest advocate of the deal.

	Baker better come with major defensive intensity from Minute One next fall if he's going to please O'Brien, who I hear may not have been the strongest advocate of the deal.

Meanwhile, the Sonics have to make a minimum commitment (Anderson makes $9.1 million this upcoming season, the last of his $50 million contract, while Forte is on his rookie contract; Potapenko has three years and $17 million left on his deal) to get rid of Baker's huge numbers. After re-signing center Jerome James last week, Seattle only has a little more than $26 million committed for the 2003-04 season. If the Sonics can re-sign Rashard Lewis without breaking the bank, they should be a major player in next summer's mega-star free agent class, able to add to their young nucleus of Lewis, Vladimir Radmanovic and Desmond Mason. (File this under your hat: Jason Kidd has a very strong relationship with Sonics owner Howard Schultz.)

With Baker gone, the Sonics can't dump the ball inside, true. But they wanted to get Radmanovic more minutes in the worst way. And their strength isn't pounding, anyway; it's getting out and running, with those young legs and vets like Bones Barry taking GP's dimes.

Maybe Baker, now a stone's throw from his Connecticut roots and close-knit family, will get back to his Milwaukee form that landed him a couple of all-star appearances. Maybe he'll dominate in the east; after a steady diet of being guarded by the likes of Shaq and David Robinson, Baker won't face anywhere near the size in the Atlantic Division that he did out west. You root for a guy like Baker, who seemed confused by life the last few years while working extremely hard the last couple of seasons to get his reputation back.

But the C's are doing more than root. They're putting their money where Baker's mouth is.

David Aldridge is an NBA reporter for ESPN.