KG To the Celtics Pisses Me Off

First off, I just want to preface a few of my biases. 1) I hate Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers and 90% of the stuff they do pisses me off. 2) Al Jefferson has been my favorite Celtic since his rookie season and he's the only sports jersey I have bought since I got a Michigan jersey during the title run in 1997. Ok now that I have stated my biases lets vent.

This deal sucks. No doubt in my mind that this deal is the wrong deal for this franchise and essentially leaves the team with three aging once superstars and nothing else. Thus only looking like a contender when they flat out aren't one.

KG What Changed Your Mind

Can we not ignore the fact that only two months ago Garnett wanted absolutely nothing to do with Boston? This deal was set months ago but KG didn't want to deal with the wintry weather. He vetoed the deal, aka gave Boston a big middle finger, why should we ignore this fact, I certainly refuse to.

So what changed your mind KG? Did Ray Allen change your mind? The addition of a 32 year old who has had less playoff success than yourself really changed your mind? Or did you just come to the realization that Boston was the only other option than Minnesota? Was it that Phoenix just wasn't going to happen and that if you wanted to get out of the shit factory which is the Timberwolves franchise and actually make the playoffs next year you were going to have to succumb and agree to head to the Northeast? Maybe it was Allen, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the latter reason had a very large part in your decision.

I'm sure the 125 million dollar 5 year extension plus the extra 6.75 million dollar trade kicker didn't hurt the decision much.

Big Al vs. KG

I'm not going to make the case that Jefferson is as good as KG, I'm not that biased but let's look at essentially the difference between the two last season and for the future.

First lets state the biggest advantages of getting KG and slotting him into the roster instead of Big Al. There are three primary reasons why he will be a better player over the next few seasons. First off, Big Al is not a good defensive player at this stage of his life he needs to work on his footwork and man on man defense and his propensity to pick up stupid fouls. KG is a big time upgrade in this category. Secondly KG is a much better passer, Big Al was slowly improving his passing skills the second half of the season but KG has the ability to average 5 assists per game. Finally KG will supply a better veteran presence and should meld well with Pierce and the newly acquired Ray Allen.

Ok and now onto the Big Al point of view. Over the Entire Season Big Al averaged 16 and 11, but that doesn't really state the entire argument. Post all star break Big Al averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds. KG's averages last year? 22.4 points 12.8 rebounds. And while you may say that he was the focal point and that he experienced double teams every time he touched the ball, then apparently you didn't watch much of the Celtics last year. Big Al was the only person in the low post that could score, he often faced the same double teams. And he put up basically 20 a game with almost 3 less shots per game.

One major difference between Big Al and KG's scoring is the fact that as his age has increased KG has become much more of a finesse, jump shooting, big man and much less of a low block, post up force whereas Big Al does almost all of his scoring on the low block. Another major difference, well age obviously. Big Al is 22 and could potentially get better whereas KG is 31 and probably has seen his best years pass him by. Could Jefferson potentially become a 25 point 12 rebound per game guy in 08-09? Sure, I can see it. Will KG average 25 and 12 per game in 08-09? Almost certainly not. In fact KG for all his glory has never averaged 25 points per game. His numbers peaked in 03-04 when he averaged 24.2 and 13.9. Throw in the fact that KG will be signing a 5 year 125 million dollar extension therefore locking him up at 25 mill until he's 36 and trading Big Al for KG straight up could be seriously questioned.

6 For 1 is Typically a Bad Thing

Here's the main problem with this deal, in addition to giving up Jefferson which intensely pains me, the Celtics are giving up all of their chips. They give up the expiring contracts of Ratliff and Telfair, they give up Green who is the only other player on the roster to potentially become a 20 per game scorer, they give up Gomes, a potentially valuable backup and they give up a 1st round pick. Essentially they are trading 6 pieces for an additional 3 points 2 rebounds 2 assists and better post defense from their power forward and a very a bloated contract.

The Franchise in the Near Future

So where does this leave them? People are saying that now they should be able to contend wih in the crappy Eastern Conference and maybe that will be the case but color me very skeptical. Surely the Celtics would have one of the most talented cores in the entire shitty conference, their Big '3' would surpass the Nets Kidd, Jefferson, Carter trio, however the remainder of their roster is putrid.

Their starting point guard would be Rajon Rondo who for the most part is too green to be the starting point guard of a championship contender. His jump shot needs work, and hell, he committed a lot of turnovers in the summer league. Their starting center would probably be Kendrick Perkins, who makes Tony "Brickhands" Battie look like he has Hakeem Olajuwon like touch. Compare that with the Nets other two starters Nenad Krstic and Jamaal Magloire and it isn't even a close who wins that battle.

Their bench? Well thats just terrible and consists of only one veteran and who happens to suck (Brian Scalabrine), one guy coming off major knee surgery (Tony Allen), and a ton of youth including Big Baby, Leon Powe, Gabe Pruitt, and Brandon Wallace. So who's contributing on this teams bench? My guess is no one.

So do you honestly think three past their prime stars can single handedly carry a franchise to a NBA title? I don't. At best I see a finals appearance in the next two years, and maybe thats good enough for some fans but I'm of the championship or bust mentality.

Franchise in the Distant Future

Well not that distant think 4 to 5 years and beyond. They will still have Paul and KG on their roster and incredibly bloated salaries for players that are well past their primes. And since they should expect to make the playoffs in the next few seasons and have traded away all of their potential burgeoning stars they will have nothing to look forward to. Perhaps in years 4 and 5 with KG the Celtics will still be good enough to make the playoffs but that just means come years 6 and 7 when KG is gone they will immediately revert to being the worst franchise in the NBA.

The bloated contracts of KG, Pierce and Allen give them no financial wiggle room, it will lead to garnering no solid draft picks and they essentially are guaranteed to be in the tank starting with the 2012-2013 season. I understand this is far down the road, and perhaps you are of the mindset that you should only care about winning now, but if the roster isn't good enough to win a title now, which I don't think it will be, then the Celtics are essentially solidifying the fact that they won't add any more banners until I'm in my mid to upper 30s at the earliest.

The Worst Part About this Deal

What's the worst part about this deal? Unless there are mass injuries there is no way the Celtics won't make the playoffs in the next few seasons, almost insuring that the incompetent duo of Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge will remain the brain trust. First off, their track record the past few seasons has been far from impeccable, Rivers doesn't have a solid record and Ainge has made some very poor trades, see Brandon Roy for Telfair package.

But here's the part that kills me, ever since they drafted Big Al they have essentially had it out for him and for that I blame Doc Rivers. When Big Al was a rookie he was still the Celtics best low post scorer yet Doc never gave him consistent minutes. Just look at his gamelog for his rookie season one game Big Al scored 19 points in 18 minutes the next game he played 8 minutes? He would get a few double digit minute games in a row and then there would be a token single digit minute game. The next season was much of the same and last year it took him over a month to be thrust into the starting lineup and injuries forced him to play Big Al a ton of minutes.

However its evident that Doc just doesn't like Big Al that much. He came out in the press and said that the Celtics fans were overstating Big Al's ability. In addition Danny Ainge has floated Big Al's name out in almost every trade scenario for the past two seasons. Why would you constantly include your best young player in every single trade offer? Why are you that set on getting rid of the guy and at the very least shattering any faith he has in your franchise.

Conclusion

This has been my longest rant ever at SimonOnSports and I guess it's simply built up hatred for Danny and Doc and their overwhelming desire to trade my favorite Celtic along with every other chip of value for a 31 year old aging superstar that they are going to incredibly overpay. One that I've never been that fond of. I don't think the deal is the right move, I don't think they will win a championship and even worse I think it means I'll have to see those two asses roaming the sidelines for the foreseeable future. Damnit, this sucks.