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| If the Celtics want to contend in the coming years, then it's time to deal Garnett and Pierce |
By about halftime of Sunday's epic Celtics, Heat game, Boston had met a crossroads. Yes, the team was locked into an important game with the Eastern Conference's leaders, but the game had become an afterthought. Even though most of the Celtics locker room was uninformed to the dire situation, the outcome of this game wouldn't nearly have the impact on this season and Boston's future as much as these coming days will have. And so on the heels of what probably was the best Celtics win of this season, major decisions are lurking in the shadows.
Don't be delusional Celtics fans, this current Rondo-less team has no chance of getting any higher than a seventh seed nor do they have a chance to exit the first round. Danny Ainge will have to make moves. There will be no sitting back in his office chair waiting for Jason Terry to return to form or for Avery Bradley to magically morph into Rondo. Garnett won't wait, Pierce neither. With Brandon Bass and Jason Terry struggling and Jeff Green still floating in the unknown (is he good? is he a bust? is he a devastating injury away from never playing again?) Ainge can go two ways. One, he can try to make a trade to pick up a mid-level point guard who can at least facilitate the ball. If this is his decision, I still don't think it makes them a formidable squad even in the weak Eastern Conference. My question is can they even make that move? Do they have any pieces they'd really be willing to give up? Sullinger looks like he could be a solid NBA player. I wouldn't give him up. Is Fab Melo's 11/7 worth anything? How about Jeff Green's inconsistent play and heart concerns? It's just hard to see them picture them making a move to improve without a heavy future cost.
That leads me to option number two and it's one I thought they should have done after last season's Game 7 loss in the ECF. Pierce and Garnett are on the decline, Jason Terry looks like a big bust (though I thought it was a good off season signing) and the Brandon Bass/Glen Davis trade is haunting Ainge every night. This team needs a complete re-haul. Ainge needs to clean house immediately. I was almost 100-percent sure Garnett was going to hang 'em up after last season, so he'll surely call it a career after this year unless he's traded to another contender. Pierce still has years on him, but his worth is already less than it was at the start of the season. If you can package Terry and/or Bass in a deal with Garnett or Pierce I'd call it a successful trade. I'm also not sure clearing cap space is as important as getting solid young players/draft picks with the decreasing value of this year's free agent class (pretty much Dwight Howard and Josh Smith). Either way, moves must be made.
I understand that the blow-up-the-team scenario sucks, but this team is going to slide even further into oblivion if they just let this train-wreck continue without a shining light somewhere down the road. You obviously never want your team to give up players who still have superstar abilities, but this team was already struggling even with Rondo. Sometimes you just have to let go. These guys won you a championship and you don't want this situation to be like it was in the late 90s. Boston handled the Mchale, Parish, Bird twilight years poorly and basically landed itself an eight-year playoff drought (made it in '94-'95 with a 35-47 record???). If Ainge can get good value out of Garnett and/or Pierce along with the dumping of Terry and Bass' contracts then he might be able to save face from the nightmare-inducing Perkins-Jeff Green trade.
Rest assured Ainge is getting calls from probably every GM in the league, so it's up to him to pull the trigger on it and get this done. I admire Doc Rivers' attitude, "You can write our obituary, but I won't." But don't worry Doc, Danny Ainge will write it for you, like he should.
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