First, a moment for Bill Walsh. A great, great loss to the football community. He will be missed.
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For once, I agreed with Stephen A. Smith. The man took hold of Skip Bayless’ ass today and handed it right back to him on First Take. Of course this deal is great for the Celtics, they are relevant again and a top team in the East. The only way to explain what Kevin Mchale was thinking however, was that he wanted to help his own team, just like Mr. Simmons explains it here (for the record, Simmons was spot on today).
I have always thought that Boston’s “talent pool” was overrated, but apparently Mchale doesn’t follow me. Apparently he likes Telfair and Gerald Green, neither of whom seem nearly smart enough to play well on a consistent basis. Gomes I like, he’s the type of guy who would fit in well with the second unit of the Spurs, but then we come back to Jefferson, whose reputation precedes him. He’s good, but he’ll never be a superstar. His peak is a good season from Elton Brand without the defense. Hopefully he won’t suffer from shock when he realizes he actually has to play against good power fowards from now on. And sure, Ratliff’s contract will give them a little cap flexibility, but who in their right mind would want to play for that organization?
Minny fans should be thanking whoever it is that they thank on Sunday that they at least got two picks back in the deal, one of which was their own damn pick. Sure in a couple years this team could be in the playoffs, but I see them peaking as one of those middle of the line postseason teams like Denver; the team that always seems good until they get to the playoffs and prove they don’t belong with the elite.
But my lord is this good for Boston. Not good for the city mind you, they’ve already got enough winners than they know what to do with, but for the revitalization of the history at the Garden (well, we’re led to believe it’s all still there since the floor style is the same and all). Before the draft I hated the Ray Allen deal because it sacrificed the future to become a mediocre team and I said Ainge better have another move up his sleeve otherwise he’ll be going over the edge. And boy did he.
But enough with the praise, you don’t need me to tell you that having three all-star veterans together makes you a good team, in the Eastern Conference no less. Here are some things to take a look at now with the Celtics.
-They have NO bench. None, nada, zip, zilch. The big donut. This matters for two reasons, Doc Rivers won’t be able to afford to rest the oft-injured bodies of Pierce and Allen so much because he’ll have to point at a D-leaguer to do so. Two; when you get to the postseason, those important games often come down to your 6-9 guys giving you some sort of a lift and Kendrick Perkins just isn’t going to be the guy to do that. Scalabrine’s hustle is also nullified because, in my opinion, the league is going to start cracking down on the ridiculous number of flops and charges.
UPDATE: John Hollinger agrees with me (Insider needed).What is going on, first Stephen A, then Simmons, now Hollinger. If Jay Marrioti agrees with me tomorrow, the world may be ending. Check back with me tomorrow. Then again, this isn’t a difficult trade to analyze, so don’t start loading up the fallout shelters just yet.
-Doc Rivers is their coach. Let Simmons break down why he’s a bad coach as much as you like, but he’s a bad coach. Mike Brown showed us just a few months ago what happens to bad coaches in long series’ against good coaches…they get torched.
-No dependable point guards. Rajon Rando won’t be it, if ever, for a few years. I know we’re supposed to believe that the big three all have this desire to win no matter what the cost, and with KG I believe that, but you always need someone there to control the ego’s. That’s what point guards do. Chemistry is never guaranteed.
-Not nearly enough perimeter defense. KG can lock down one side of the post, but the hot commodity these days is having a defensive stopper, and the Celtics don’t have one (unless they get their hands on Ime Udoka…I said it first).
-The continuing trend of the summer, the East is firing off in every direction, while the West is silently and surely reloading.
-Now we find out just how good KG is. I’m betting really, really good.
-They are now the Phoenix Suns-East. Expect all the bandwagon fans to come out of the woodwork, for one thing, but with no future AT ALL (at least the Suns have Amare), they have a limited window to win it all. But they have a chance. If they don’t, and their back in the gutter in two or three years, what then. Personally, I say this year is there best chance since they won’t have the cap room to pick up above-mid level free agents along the way and because if lightning is going to strike in a bottle, it’s not going to wait a year to do it. For Boston, it’s either happening right away or not at all.
Of course, even with all this, the Celtics are a lock for 55 wins, barring injury. I raise my glass to Danny Ainge for actually sticking to a plan for once. Can you think of two of a city’s teams having such great back-to-back offseasons like the Celts and Patriots. I’ll put it this way, I don’t want to hear anybody in the city of Boston moaning about their teams for quite some time. Life is good for sports fans in Beantown.