According to prevailing evidence, living and learning are swell partners.

But the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic recently celebrated their collective might by taking separate and presumably calculated risks.

Each of these teams has prepared for even nastier battles by adding a high-profile — and high-maintenance — employee.

Our roll call brings in Rasheed Wallace, Shaquille O'Neal, Ron Artest and Vince Carter.

Individually, these baggage-haulin' hotshots may be capable of altering the imbalance of power that resulted in a Lakers title a couple months ago. Or, as a group, they could end up doing little more than perpetuating the status quo.

However, with each player peeking through the rearview mirror at his prime (in disparate departure rates), the aforementioned riskiness could create worst-case issues for the teams involved.

So, with potential doom and gloom as our objective, let's take a look at how each move could sabotage its corresponding team in the coming season.

Boston Celtics

Rasheed "Raveheart" Wallace will be 35 years old when the C's open a camp designed for a return to the glory road of 2008.

Those who endorsed the trade that brought Vince and Ryan Anderson from New Jersey believe Carter will be provide one-on-one creativity at the end of games and shot clocks. While acknowledging Turkoglu's ability to run an offense as a 6-foot-10 point forward, the pro-Carter crowd credits Vince with similar play-making ability.

But we're registering Carter's potential for defensive lapses as one reason this move may not work out for the Magic. The defense of stellar two-guards is where the emerging Courtney Lee (off to New Jersey) will be missed.

We also are wondering how long it will take Dwight Howard to quit smiling when Vince calls his own number while Orlando's center has a defender sealed on the block late in games.

Well, Jeff Van Gundy checked in as a big fan of the deal.

And we're pretty sure Jeff and brother Stan are quite close.

So maybe there's room for a shot-happy prince in Dwight's Magic Kingdom.

The variables of experience and ring motivation could make acquiring Carter a front-office masterstroke.

But it should be noted that — in all four cases — there's no guarantee that becoming wiser will translate into doing wiser.