Sometimes Good Things Do Happen To Good People
In proof of this, I give you Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Without question, these are two of the nicest guys in the NBA--The Onion sarcastically lauded Allen for being "a decent human being" a few years back--who have been stuck on crappy teams with little hope of making the playoffs, let alone making any noise once they got there.
Well, that's all changed now.
Now, suddenly, three of easily the top 25 players in the NBA--including one of the top 20 players of all time--find themselves all on the same team, while still in their prime (albeit at the tail end), and all in the LEastern Conference.
In other words, they now have what they've always wanted: a legitimate chance to compete for an NBA Championship.
Let's look at the Celtics' roster:
PG: Rajon Rondo
SG: Ray Allen, Tony Allen
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Kevin Garnett, Big Baby
C: Kendrick Perkins, Brian Scalabrine
Are there holes in that roster? Of course. Tony Allen is coming off of major knee surgery, and I've always felt he was overrated to begin with. I still don't think Rajon Rondo is ever going to be a starting point guard in this league. Obviously when you are counting Brian Scalabrine as part of your bench, you have no bench.
But you know what? You still have three players who need to be double teamed in your starting five. Do the math. And these players complement each other perfectly and will make each other better: the dominant low post player, the do everything forward, and the lights out shooting guard. All three are good guys who are committed to do anything to win. All three are good to great defenders and rebounders. All three can pass well. It's perfect.
What's missing? Point guard is by far the biggest whole. If I'm the Celtics, I'm calling Brevin Knight right now and talking him into coming for as cheap as possible. If they get him, then they can make the NBA Finals this season. If they don't and have to roll the dice with Ty Lue or Jeff McInnis, then it's probably just the Eastern Conference Finals. Not a bad turnaround for a team tanking games to get Kevin Durant last season.
The bench will hold the Celts back this year, but not next. Think they'll have trouble convincing a vet or two to sign next year to round out that bench? Think Big Baby--who we've already established will be motivated since he was drafted in the second round--will be out of shape with KG riding his ass every day? Think Rajon Rondo's atrocious jump shot can't be helped when Ray Allen is teaching him to shoot?
This is a team that can easily win the East. And if the Heat/Mavs Finals two years ago taught us anything, its that anything's possible once you get there.
It's been a crazy ride for the Celtics, and did they get tremendously lucky in having Kevin McHale make yet another bad trade? Yes they did. But through (literally) dumb luck, they've managed to put together a team that's going to be entertaining to watch, full of hungry stars who you like cheering for, and who are going to be the creme of the crop in the Eastern Conference for the next three to five years.
You can't ask for much more than that.
Well, that's all changed now.
Now, suddenly, three of easily the top 25 players in the NBA--including one of the top 20 players of all time--find themselves all on the same team, while still in their prime (albeit at the tail end), and all in the LEastern Conference.
In other words, they now have what they've always wanted: a legitimate chance to compete for an NBA Championship.
Let's look at the Celtics' roster:
PG: Rajon Rondo
SG: Ray Allen, Tony Allen
SF: Paul Pierce
PF: Kevin Garnett, Big Baby
C: Kendrick Perkins, Brian Scalabrine
Are there holes in that roster? Of course. Tony Allen is coming off of major knee surgery, and I've always felt he was overrated to begin with. I still don't think Rajon Rondo is ever going to be a starting point guard in this league. Obviously when you are counting Brian Scalabrine as part of your bench, you have no bench.
But you know what? You still have three players who need to be double teamed in your starting five. Do the math. And these players complement each other perfectly and will make each other better: the dominant low post player, the do everything forward, and the lights out shooting guard. All three are good guys who are committed to do anything to win. All three are good to great defenders and rebounders. All three can pass well. It's perfect.
What's missing? Point guard is by far the biggest whole. If I'm the Celtics, I'm calling Brevin Knight right now and talking him into coming for as cheap as possible. If they get him, then they can make the NBA Finals this season. If they don't and have to roll the dice with Ty Lue or Jeff McInnis, then it's probably just the Eastern Conference Finals. Not a bad turnaround for a team tanking games to get Kevin Durant last season.
The bench will hold the Celts back this year, but not next. Think they'll have trouble convincing a vet or two to sign next year to round out that bench? Think Big Baby--who we've already established will be motivated since he was drafted in the second round--will be out of shape with KG riding his ass every day? Think Rajon Rondo's atrocious jump shot can't be helped when Ray Allen is teaching him to shoot?
This is a team that can easily win the East. And if the Heat/Mavs Finals two years ago taught us anything, its that anything's possible once you get there.
It's been a crazy ride for the Celtics, and did they get tremendously lucky in having Kevin McHale make yet another bad trade? Yes they did. But through (literally) dumb luck, they've managed to put together a team that's going to be entertaining to watch, full of hungry stars who you like cheering for, and who are going to be the creme of the crop in the Eastern Conference for the next three to five years.
You can't ask for much more than that.
Labels: Celtics, Kevin Garnett
posted by Michael Pondrom at 9:13 PM
2 Comments:
So as not to focus on the negative, I'll dicuss Minnesota here.
So basically, you've traded KG for Al Jefferson and Gerald Green. You don't really have a good draft pick to show for it.
Let's look at your team:
PG: Randy Foye, Sebastian Telfair
SG: Ricky Davis, Gerald Green
SF: Corey Brewer, Trenton Hassell
PF: Craig Smith, Ryan Gomes
C: Mark Blount, Juwan Howard
Okay, there are a lot of names there. But what have you really got? I'm still far from sold on Foye. I laugh at anyone who still thanks Bassy will be a player in this league in 3 years. I just don't see "Gerald Green: All Star". Brewer has a future. Smith and Gomes are both nice power forwards on talented teams--not the case here. Blount only plays hard in a contract year.
And to top it all off: did you notice that the veteran leader of all these kids is Ricky Davis? That's right, read that again: RICKY DAVIS IS THE VETERAN LEADER IN THE LOCKER ROOM.
Wow. WOW! Good luck with that.
In short, I don't see this team becoming a dynasty in a few years.
Michael
When Tone and I were first talking about the trade, I was like.... wow Boston just raped Minnesota.
But the more I think about it, the more I really feel Minnesota ended up raping Boston.
You left out Al Jefferson in the new lineup, so lets start there. If I said Al Jefferson will average 22/13 next year, that wouldn't sound laughable. He did it the last half of the year with no one around him. Who in the league at age 22 is putting up 22/13 on 50% FG? I mean... that's his bottom? 22/13 for the next 10 years?
Yowza.
As far as a good pick, they did actually get a decent pick... their own (in addition to Boston's), from the Wally trade I believe. That's got to be good for lottery in the West this year.
Randy Foye is an interesting cat. He's a guy that can score by getting to the rim. Iverson can do it, Parker can do it. Which one Foye ends up like.... I don't know. But he's a good young talent for sure.
Gerald Green WILL average 20 a game at some point in his career (probably the season after Davis is let go). Is he an all-star? I don't know, but he's just 21. He has the athleticism and jumpshot. There's a lot of room to grow in the next few years. He might be Quentin Richardson, he might be Rashard Lewis, and he might be Tracy McGrady.
Brewer, as we already know is fantastic.
Craig Smith is one of the diamonds in the rough in the league. If he gets the nod at PF next to Jefferson, I expect him to have a great year. If you doubled his minutes from 18 to 36, he'd average 15/10 on 53% FG.
Gomes is a great bench guy who can fill in from SF-C depending on the matchup.
And of course.... Theo's expiring contract.
Foye, Green, Brewer, Smith, Jefferson is a killer young core. They're gonna end up with massive cap space to sign more help, and of course they have a couple picks to help out now.
People are talking like McHale got abused, but I think Minnesota landed a ton of hope. Boston got what they wanted, and it'll be a fun ride for a while, but when it's over, there won't be a lot of trade value, and the rebuilding will be nasty.
I know I would have kept Jefferson if I was Boston. If nothing else it meant you kept a guy who can produce now and in the future along with all your other assets to keep the ball rolling.
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