What are the Celtics Doing?
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by user Tyduffy
ESPN has been salivating over a potential blockbuster four team extravaganza. The deal essentially would send Kevin Garnett to the Lakers, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum to Indiana, Jermaine O'Neal to Boston, and Boston's #5 pick with Al Jefferson to Minnesota.
Let's see what team is getting screwed in this deal. The Lakers get a top ten player in Kevin Garnett and suddenly become contenders. The Pacers get a good player and a potentially dominant big man. The Timberwolves get a high draft pick and one of the best young low post scorers in the game. The Celtics get aging star Jermaine O'Neal.
Why would the Celtics even consider making this trade? Al Jefferson is 22 years old and averaged 16pts 11reb a game. Jermaine O'Neal is a very old and oft-injured 28 who averages 19pts 9reb. Why would the Celtics trade Jefferson straight up for O'Neal let alone throwing in the #5 pick as the cherry on top?
Furthermore, why were the Celtics even considering trading for Garnett initially? Yes, pairing KG and Pierce together probably gets the Celtics the crown in a putrid Atlantic Division and into the playoffs. But does that get them past Chicago, Miami, Detroit, or the Lebrons in the Second Round? No.
The Celtics need a real rebuilding plan that is not "let's tank the season and pray we get Oden and Durant" or "let's try to make a sweeping trade to make us instant playoff contenders." If Paul Pierce was the cornerstone of a championship winning team, he should have been able to get the Celtics at least a playoff birth in the East. Nothing he has done in his career has shown that he is that type of player. If he isn't, why are they attempting to build a team around him?
Paul Pierce is a good to very good scorer. He is not a player who is going to lead the team to the finals or even a respectable playoff position. If you are trying to rebuild the franchise, it should start by trading him for either cap room, young players, or both. Unless your goal is so that he can retire his #34 with the Celtics as the one loser on a banner of winners, there is no sense in keeping him. Keep the #5 pick and get a Corey Brewer. Pair him with Al Jefferson and the pieces from a Pierce trade and go from there.
The sad fact is that Danny Ainge does not know what he wants to do. Does he want to rebuild? Does he want to be a playoff contender now? There has not been any coherent plan to rebuild the franchise. The so-called plan changes every year with the result that the NBA's most successful franchise has spent the last four years floundering like a fat kid stuck waist deep in mud. It has gotten so bad that Ainge may be close to getting bamboozled by Kevin McHale. He is even starting to make Isiah look competent.
Whatever the Celtics end up doing next year, it is safe to say that it won't lead them any closer to being a legitimate contender. In the corporate NBA where dollars and cents matter more than wins and losses, they won't risk trading their biggest attraction for the long-term benefit of the team. The Celtics will rejoin that loveable bunch of 20 teams who aren't good enough to win a title and not bad enough to improve through the draft. Danny Ainge will inexplicably keep his job, and those who can actually remember the Celtics winning a title will move comfortably into middle age.
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