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What has changed: Danny Ainge was not thrilled with the one-man team Boston was becoming and traded away Blount, Banks, Reed and Davis to Minnesota for Szczerbiak, Olowokandi and Dwayne Jones. Since then the team hasnt played much better. Szczerbiak isnt leaps and bounds better than Ricky Davis was, but he is more prone to have a breakout game than Davis did.

This team is mainly where they are because of Paul Pierce, who is having a career year. Pierce gets to the hoop more than any other scoring SG and doesnt need to dunk it to go in. The other Boston players arent score-minded at all but do find their ways. The Celtics are just 5-11 when someone other than Pierce leads the team in scoring.

The Celtics are 4th in the League in field-goal% mainly since the majority of their shots are inside the foul line. But guys like Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes arent efficient enough converting easy layups. And while Kendrick Perkins has outperformed expectations Boston is still severely undersized. They are 26th in the NBA in rebounds and Centers like LaFrentz and Olowokandi dont help.

When Dan Dickau went out for the year due to an injury, Delonte West stepped up and became the primary PG. West is a very good shooter in the mold of Derek Fisher but doesnt enough for the Point Guard position. For instance 4.4 APG from the PG spot isnt getting it down. Also, West tends to wander offensively and doesnt lead it for a good deal of time. As such the Celtics are 29th in the NBA in tunronvers.

Boston plays a ton of close games, which is good because it shows that they can compete, particularly at home. However they are awful closing out games and have lost 14 games this year by 5 or less points. When they arent losing squeakers they get blown out frequently too, so how they perform is often like flipping a coin.

Ainge has said that he is not done making transactions. Boston is 5 games back of 8-seeded Philadelphia but do not have anywhere near the firepower. Antoine Walker helped them last year since he was the score-first guy they desperately needed. Expect players like Brian Scalabrine, Ryan Gomes and Tony Allen to possibly be shipped out within the next few weeks.

Their chances arent tremendous but they are alive. Both Washington and Phili have a pair of stars compared to the one that Boston has. What Ainge will do before the trading deadline could determine their fate. Look for them to make a move at the final playoff spot when Szczerbiak blends in a little more.

There's a subject in real estate circles that no one really likes to talk about or hear about. The dreaded "E" word is eviction. It's not pleasant, but it's a fact of life for a landlord. And it doesn't happen often, but if you are a serious investor, there will likely come a time when you will be confronted with this unfortunate situation, no matter how good your tenant screening or management system is.

Jeffrey Taylor, author of The Landlord's Kit (and no relation to Jordan Taylor), says you should never feel guilty about evictions. He points out that you're not making a profit with an eviction; you're simply cutting your losses. Also, he says, nonpaying tenants are taking money that provides for your family needs; they're stealing from you.

Real estate investment expert Russ Whitney agrees. "Owning income-producing real estate and being a landlord is a business, and you should take a business approach to tenants who don't pay or commit serious violations of your rules," says Whitney, author of The Millionaire Real Estate Mindset. "Enforce the terms of your lease and do it consistently and immediately."

The first step in avoiding evictions is careful tenant selection. The process should include credit references, credit reports, employment verifications, talking to your prospective tenants' previous landlords, etc. Russ Whitney recommends that you not rent to someone who has a poor track record with finances and previous housing. If they've been evicted before, chances are it will happen again.

You can never gather too much data on a prospective tenant. But no matter how much checking and verifying you do, and no matter how perfect that tenant seems when the lease is signed, circumstances can change--and often that change occurs quickly.

Certainly it's understandable that people experience hard times, and you want to be understanding. However, as Russ Whitney says, you are in business, and your expenses continue whether your tenants pay their rent or not.

If a tenant is not paying rent and all your efforts to work with him or her fail, start eviction proceedings immediately. You must show that you are in charge and that you will not tolerate non-payment of rent. Also, if you are evicting for another reason--for various lease violations, for example--you should begin the eviction process as soon as you have issued all the appropriate warnings to cease the objectionable conduct.

Follow the terms of your lease. On the day the rent is deemed late, issue a notice to pay rent or quit. If the tenant isn't out within the prescribed period, you can have the sheriff evict them (in accordance with the specific laws of your state). Unless your tenant is a total deadbeat and used to this kind of treatment, this threat will usually have the desired effect of either getting the rent paid or the tenant out.

When the eviction process is underway, remind the tenant that his credit rating will suffer if the late payments and eviction are reported to the credit bureau, and that you will do that. If you belong to your local Apartment Owner's Association, warn the tenant that you will report him to the Association and that will make it more difficult for him to rent in the area. Also, if you must complete the eviction, they will never again be able to honestly answer "no" when a rental application asks if they've ever been evicted.

An effective strategy to avoid eviction is to "buy" the tenant out. In other words, offer to pay him cash to move out. More often than not, this will be less expensive and less time-consuming than going through a nasty court eviction. But do not give him any money until he and his entire family have vacated the premises.

Finally, a word of caution: learn the methods of dealing with non-paying tenants recommended by your local Apartment Owner's Association, and also the laws pertaining to eviction in your area so you don't do something that will come back to haunt you later.