by Rick Valente
Of all the things that Danny Ainge could do at the trade deadline, staying put was the absolute worst option. But for some reason, that's exactly what he did as the clock ticked past 3:00 PM EST, keeping the Big Three intact for the rest of the season. I could understand if Danny were to make a deal to make this team better suited for a playoff run, hoping to add a couple pieces and maybe get lucky enough to make in improbable trip to the finals. I could see if Danny wanted to trade guys like Ray Allen or Kevin Garnett at a discount in order to get something for the future. I can't understand how Danny Ainge can possibly believe that the Celtics, who can barely beat a Golden State Warriors team without Stephen Curry or Monta Ellis, have a shot to win a seven game series against Chicago or Miami. I have a better shot at taking home Jessica Beil... and Jessica Alba... and Jessica Simpson on the same night.
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Now the Celtics are in the worst place you can be in the NBA, No Man's Land. If the season ended today, the Celtics would be the 7-seed in the East, and would undoubtedly lose badly to the Miami Heat. That would most likely produce the 17th pick in the draft, and they also have the Clippers pick that could realistically fall anywhere from the 20th to the 26th spot. Even the 17th and 20th spots (best case scenario) will not drastically change your roster if modern NBA history has anything to say about it. Who are the best players drafted 17th or later from the past three years? Dejuan Blair, Ty Lawson, Eric Bledsoe and Landry Fields. Those guys aren't world beaters, and getting one of these players assumes you're taking the best player available in the draft, not a given at all.
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| The Big Three are still in Boston. |
If the Celtics, for example, traded Ray Allen to a contender for a first round pick (reports surfaced that offers like this were out there for the Celtics) they would have three first rounders to work with. Then we would be able to talk about getting into the top-ten of this draft that is supposed to be the deepest in years. It would actually add something meaningful to the roster that free agents would be enticed by. Rondo, Pierce, Bass and Bradley aren't going to have many free agents jumping at the chance of playing with them, but add in a top-ten pick that would be a top-five talent many other years, and you have at least sweetened the pot. It just makes no sense to me why Danny Ainge thought that there was absolutely nothing that he could do in order to improve this team's chances of getting back to the Finals. Did he oversleep today? Did he screw up the west coast time difference?
The only possible explanation that I can muster to justify this course of action is that maybe Danny doesn't want to seem disloyal to the players that he will try to attract to his new nucleus this summer. After trading Perkins, Ainge got the reputation around the NBA as being a guy who would trade anybody on the team no matter what that player had done for the C's up to that point. If you wanted to get a big name or two in free agency, you want to make them feel secure in signing that lengthy contract, without them having to worry about being shipped off to Oklahoma City every time mid-March rolls around. It's a theory, but still, I'm more inclined to believe that a player will avoid a mediocre roster rather than a "heartless" GM that is offering to pay him mounds of cash.
I know this might sound like slander to all those blindly loyal to the Big Three, and I completely understand how you could be happy that the boys are together for another run. With that said, Danny Ainge is getting paid to win as many championships as he can while he is involved with the Boston Celtics. I get a feeling that a lot of people happy to keep things the way they are didn't watch a whole lot of Celtics games from the mid-90's through 2006. From somebody who did suffer through countless hopeless Celtics seasons, trust me when I say this last stand isn't worth it.
No matter when it comes, it will certainly be sad to see KG and Ray leave Boston, as I have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for what they did to revive basketball in this city. But all good things have an expiration date, and at the absolute latest, that expiration date was today. Now we have a team that isn't championship bound, and isn't lottery bound. So enjoy this playoff run while it lasts, because there is no guarantee when the next one will come.
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