By Lifelong Boston Celtics Fan, Brendan Sullivan
The mythical Kevin Garnett-for-half-of-the-Boston Celtics-roster deal is official. Had you told me during last season's 18-game losing streak that come August 1st we would not only have Ray Allen and Garnett on our roster, but also STILL have Paul Pierce, I would have laughed. Knowing the Celtics’ luck, there was no way I would have believed it. With all of our eggs placed in the Greg Oden basket for the NBA Draft, it was easy to forget there were other means to improve a team besides relying on a shaky lottery system. Like the move or not, Danny Ainge chose his own fate with this trade, cashing out on his emotionally taxing youth development program while he could still sell high.
I think that this move is smarter than some may think (or for me, smarter than I want to admit for an Ainge move). This past season the Celtics were a showcase of young talent, essentially a D-League team. With Pierce out, the Celtics were not expected to win many games, so the youngsters got the necessary nothing-to-lose minutes they needed to show off their individual talents. Cohesive as a team they were not, but promising as individuals they certainly were. While the franchise itself (the logo, the fans, the banners, the forefathers) nose-dived to unfathomable lows, the value of the youngsters climbed to an all-time high. "Big Al" Jefferson put up a serious run at the Most Improved Player award, Gerald Green scored national recognition by winning the 2007 NBA Dunk contest, and Ryan Gomes finally gained a well-deserved reputation as a player wise beyond his years. The young guns were the silver lining, the asterisk next to the abysmal 24-win record.
The second we got sucker-punched with the #five overall pick in the draft, it was clear that MAJOR changes would have to be made. The dream of a savior falling into the Celtics’ lap was obliterated. There was too much frustration among fans, players, and the media mounted from a season of losing, a season of injuries, and a missed chance at Oden and Kevin Durant. The youngsters' potential was not enough because the team was not performing as the sum of its talented parts. First, we lost out on Tim Duncan, then on Oden. History was repeating itself.
The trade for Ray Allen was not enough to silence the negativity and rumblings about the Celtics continuing mediocrity, though few stopped to think that trade turned out to be more strategic than anything. Without Allen in town, Garnett was not coming to Boston, and the Celtics weren’t dangling Al Jefferson in front of other GMs. Adding Allen gave them a bit more veteran respectability (no offense to the Kandi Man and Scalabrine).
Then came KG.
Come November 1st, Garnett will be the best player to don a Celtics uniform since Larry Bird. Hyperbolic as it may sound, you can’t really deny it. This trade will pull Celtics fans back together, get the C’s some national recognition, and more importantly, get them back. For me, a lifelong Celtics fan, I am so used to feeling sad about the Celtics that I cannot resist basking in the surreal glory of becoming the Eastern Conference favorite overnight.
But before I finish my fifth bottle of Andre, I admit that KG did come at a dear price and Danny Ainge has some serious thinking to do (gulp). As many have noticed, the Celtics essentially have no bench. When the initial reports came out that trade talks for Garnett had resumed and the price would be Jefferson, Green, Telfair, Ratliff, and some draft picks, I immediately reminded myself that "at least we still had Gomes." Having Gomes to anchor the bench was a great pacifier for me amid the chaotic shakeup. Then reports came that Gomes was being "thrown in" - a term not appropriate to describe Gomes' level of talent and poise - and I started to really worry. How the Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin McHale finagled Gomes in addition to two first round picks along with the other half of the Celtics team, I just don’t know.
