"The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
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The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA. Danny Ainge should have been fired long ago, and this team should be run by a GM with the job security to build for the future. Just as he did a year ago, Ainge traded away a top 7 pick, which could have been another building block for the future (Jeff Green, Yi Jianlian, and Brandan Wright were all available). When a GM is in the position where they make moves to save their job so they can win now, they should be fired before going any further. That is, unless the team's overall goal is to fill seats and make money instead of winning championships. As great a player as Ray Allen is, he can make a good team great, but he can't make a bad team great, and the Celtics are too far away to mortgage the future on a 31 year old SG. The decision to go young but hold onto Paul Pierce never made sense, and now they have mortgaged two drafts on winning now, when they are still too far away. 30 year old GM Sam Presti and Seattle fleeced Boston on draft night.
Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
I don't agree with that assessment. I don't think you can rebuild a team with just young guys. Who do they learn from? Even if Doc was a good coach, he can't be the only one to teach. Young guys learn from the veterans, too. Yes, the older guys will decline and retire, but they will have left their mark. Plus, there is absolutely no shortage of young guys on the team. They acquired Allen, but they also got rid of Wally. They gave up a pick, but they got another one. All they really gave up in youth was Delonte.
And last I checked, the NBA is still a business, so yes, it is about making money and filling seats. By getting Allen, more people will watch and may actually care. It may also entice other players to come here who wouldn't have considered it before. Getting Allen was more than just about Allen. Sure, the fifth pick could have turned out to be something special, but it's just as likely it may not have been.
I think both teams came out ahead. Seattle is truly rebuilding and have a future superstar to do it with, so it wasn't that big of a risk giving up Allen for the fifth pick. The fifth pick was not nearly a sure thing to produce a future superstar, so keeping it would have been a gamble for the Celtics. Now we have two proven All-Stars to start winning with and to help the young guys along. Guys like Jefferson, Rondo, and Green can still be the future of the franchise (provided they don't get traded), but in the meantime, they can learn alongside a couple of the best in the game while the franchise continues to make money. I don't think the Celtics got fleeced at all. If they'd given up Jefferson, Rondo, Green, or Theo's contract, then it would be a different story.
Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
danny definitely should have been fired long ago...thats a given...no other job in the world would let you take over a succesful anything and make it unsuccessful for 5 straight years and still keep your job...but the grade is unfair...last year he deserved an F giving up roy for telfair just to correct his own mistake of lafrentz...this year he needed to correct another of his many mistakes in szczerbiak...but this time he actually got a good player for the mistake...i have no problems with the trade...especially if/when it lands us garnett
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Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
I hope Matt wasn't the author of those, because if he did write those he just jumped the shark with several miles to spare. Boston sucked. It wasn't winning a title in five years with this crew and there was no one on the board at 5 that was going to change that. What the hell was Ainge supposed to do? Replicate Chicago and blow up the youth movement for another youth movement so that they'd suck for four to six years and land lots of high lottery picks? This team sucks a whole lot less today than it did a week ago, that's for sure.
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Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
There was no savior at the 5, and we have enough youth. If we are keeping Pierce we needed a vet to help. We got one. A 7-time allstar vet at that. That's a smart move.
Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
Hmmm... so every team has a chance to win a championship every season huh? This isn't football. Basketball is as much about luck then it is about anything else. To win a championship it usually takes lottery luck. Of the few teams who won a title since the 90's began that had top 5 players.
Jordan was drafted by Chicago (Pippen traded for)
Hakeem was drafted by Houston
Duncan was drafted by San Antonio (Ginobili/Parker also drafted)
Shaq left for LA via FA (however Kobe was drafted and traded to LA)
Even teams like Utah and the New York were lead by Ewing and Stockton/Malone (all drafted by their respective teams)
The only team in the last 20 years that has won a title that wasn't lead by a top 5 player, was a team put almost primarily together via trades and free agency (Billups - FA, Wallace - trade, Wallace - trade, Rip - trade, Prince - draft)
I mean at least the Celtics are trying to make the playoffs. Until the Celtics have a top five player their best bet is to have a bunch of quality players on their team so they can have depth to a) either trade for a star b) play the best team ball in the league and give them a chance to make the playoffs.
Not everyone can compete for the title. It's too hard in basketball.
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Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
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The decision to go young but hold onto Paul Pierce never made sense, and now they have mortgaged two drafts on winning now, when they are still too far away.
Telfair and Ratliff are now considered saviors? Obviously last years trade was for financial reasons.
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The Cavs made it to the finals but had no draft additions this year after trading away their first rounder to Boston back in 2005 for Jiri Welsch.
Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
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Originally Posted by ehmunro
I hope Matt wasn't the author of those, because if he did write those he just jumped the shark with several miles to spare. Boston sucked. It wasn't winning a title in five years with this crew and there was no one on the board at 5 that was going to change that. What the hell was Ainge supposed to do? Replicate Chicago and blow up the youth movement for another youth movement so that they'd suck for four to six years and land lots of high lottery picks? This team sucks a whole lot less today than it did a week ago, that's for sure.
NOT a good barometer for success.
I suppose the general theme is that, at some point, you need veterans to push the kids over the top, in terms of making and having success in the playoffs. I agree with that. It's just that Danny Ainge doesn't really know what he's doing. He's made panic trades at the last 2 drafts and the panic Szerssezszbereiak trade in the middle of the season a couple of years ago. What more does he have to do to show he doesn't know what he's doing?
Ray Allen is a nice player. He'd be a great complimentary player for the next three years. Except Boston wants to turn on the wayback machine and pretend it's 2001 and Allen's just entering his prime.
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Re: "The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
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Originally Posted by narrator
NOT a good barometer for success.
I suppose the general theme is that, at some point, you need veterans to push the kids over the top, in terms of making and having success in the playoffs.
Or, you know, kids that actually have a chance to win in the NBA rather than a vast collection of late first round picks and second round picks? I understand that this will come as a shock to some Celtics' fans, but youth movements go belly up all the time. In a 30 team league, in fact, you have to count on them failing because the draft isn't a great tool for rebuilding. Let's look at it in this light, shall we? Jefferson was, in absolute terms, a mid first round pick, or a borderline lottery pick. Yet 30 years ago he would have been a late first round pick. Thirty years ago Ryan Gomes would have been a 3rd/4th round pick. The fact is that the odds of landing NBA stars with those picks are pretty remote. Relying on the draft is a loser's game. That's why teams spend so long on the lottery treadmill.
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Originally Posted by narrator
Ray Allen is a nice player. He'd be a great complimentary player for the next three years. Except Boston wants to turn on the wayback machine and pretend it's 2001 and Allen's just entering his prime.
Ainge had two choices, deal Pierce, blow up the youth movement (because there's no sense in hanging onto potential roleplayers when you're 4-6 years from playing meaningful games) and enter his fourth rebuilding project in five years. And hope that the fans still turned out to watch the Celtics roll out 20 win seasons until they finally had enough talent to compete in the NBA. Or try and improve the produc
"The Celtics are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA."
