Know your role and shut your mouths. When this deal goes down you officially have zero, zilch, nada to complain about. You have three very good sports teams that represent you. Your precious Red Sox are currently the best team in baseball. The Patriots are heavily favored to win it all due to actually being good on paper as opposed to ‘how are they doing this with these guys?‘ good. And now the Celtics have leapfrogged their way back into relevancy in the NBA. This has to be dream come true for Stern to have the Celtics relevant again. I just think it’s funny that three black guys are going to lead the charge.
First let me talk about Minnesota’s side of the deal, since apparently everyone wants to just talk about how great it is for Boston. Nevermind that it is obviously great for Boston. Minnesota will get a bunch of players that could go either way; they could be good or they could be bad. Al Jefferson could still be a beast, a more inconsistent beast but a beast nonetheless. They have the tools to be a running team but if they try any sort of half court offense with the BBall IQs of Ricky Davis, Rashad McCants, Gerald Green and co. I look for a disaster. Minnesota is now young and athletic and while they lose KG they gain some sort of depth. I mean, McHale is going to take a MLB (Major League Bullet) for this one but this is pretty much how you rebuild. Get young, get picks and go from there. He pulled the trigger and it will eventually cost him his job but Minnesota should thank him some day.
Onto the Celtics. Obviously an amazing trade. Simmons attempted to compare this new “Big Three” to the trio of Hakeem, Clyde and Charles Barkley in Houston. I agreed with some of the points but here is the thing about that team. Two of the three guys already had a ring when they came together. Sure they were hungry and still excellent players, but there is no comparison to a superstar who is hungry for that first ring. They will do anything to get it. In Boston, they have three guys that are all at the phase in their careers where they want to win. Scratch that where they need to win. And they have all been close at one point and found themselves far, far away as of late. Ray Allen went to one Eastern Conference Finals in Milwaukee. KG was a Sam Cassell injury away from the Finals and Paul Pierce couldn’t get past the Nets. You can’t tell me this isn’t the most unique and ideal set-up for a title contender. I mean night in and night on, Boston is going to have three of the best five players on the court.
Simmons made this point and I think it is a good one to counteract against Coup’s point. Boston not having a bunch of bench players could be what Doc Rivers needed. He will now be forced to have a clear rotation not because of someone telling him he has too but because he just doesn’t have enough players to mess around. All the bench are young guys who can give energy and effort, they now won’t even have to think about scoring except for a layup or a dunk. Think about the difference of those guys coming into and playing with only Paul Pierce as their scorer. Now think about them having two of the three big weapons out there. This is going to make everyones life easier.
Out in the East right now it is Detroit and Boston hands down as the top two on paper. Everyone is saying that Rondo is going to struggle. Rajon Rando is doing so many cartwheels it is not even funny. All he has to do is bring it up and pass it. “Oh…I think I’ll hit Paul on the wing. Maybe I’ll Ray on the wing this time. I’ll throw it to KG at the high post.” Simple simon people.
Coup I hear what you’re saying about no bench…but Cleveland changed everything. If the Cleveland Cavaliers can make it to the NBA Finals with LeBron James and a bunch of shit on a platter how do a hungry KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen not make it? And mind you I like Boston’s bench a lot more than I like Clevelands. Boston is a lot younger and athletic. Cleveland didn’t even use their bench.
Last thought on Minnesota…they get a bunch of guys with something to prove. Al Jefferson is going to want to show Doc Rivers that he is as good as people said he was. Gerald Green is out to prove that he has a brain and knows how to use it. Sebastian Telfair is…auditioning for Europe? Ryan Gomes is pretty damn good actually and Theo Ratliff is going to try and squeeze one last payday out. I called it, Theo is going to have a good year if he gets time in Minnesota. Coup I know you remember Theo when he first got here. The Rattler, blocking everything, he almost won me over on my boycott over the Blazers trading Sheed and Bonzi. But I called he would get hurt eventually and he did. Was never the same either. Remember that Minny.
Thank god the East could be semi-relevant and YOU GAVE ME SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT!