Some more thoughts on the big trade....

So next year we should be hearing (if the lottery balls fall in correct place) "The first pick of the 2008 NBA draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selects...". I feel bad though for the remaining fans of that franchise. They were in the western conference finals, they had the league MVP. And then Kevin McHale happened. Seriously he should have stuck to counting bolts in the Boston Garden floor with Woody, Sam, Cliff and Norm. They fire the coach who had a 500 record for a coach that brought them down to around 300 record. Al Jefferson will still get stats, but really, who cares. Is Al Jefferson going to do what Kevin Garnett couldn't? Jefferson is going to be on the court with Mark Blount and Randy Foye and Ricky Davis. I would guess Gerald Green gets the 5th spot but it does not matter. That line-up will get raped and abused all 82 games. And this is the sad dark road that the Timberwolves are going to take, cause they might be better next year after time to gel and more experience, but really who are they learning from? The vet on the team is Ricky Davis, who is going to be perhaps the biggest ball hog seen in the NBA next year. Plus they are in the West. Are they going to be better then the Suns/Spurs/Jazz/Lakers/Nuggets/Portland/Warriors/Mavs? They will have some money for free agents, so perhaps they can grab someone big, but even then McHale has not shown the ability or knowledge on how to spend money. As any Raptor fan could have told them, Mike James was going to be a bust. Do some research and it would have been easy to see. They do have lots of draft picks next year, but a young, unexperienced team does not need more youth. It needs experience and leadership...someone like..oh let's say, Kevin Garnett. Was that really the best way to make this team better? The only choice they had was to stay the same or to blow up the team and get worse for the near future? Seriously, who ever owns these franchises needs to learn how to run a franchise properly cause they keep getting the stars from the 80's who could play basketball (Jordan, Isiah, Bird, McHale) to run a team that requires management and business skills more then it does knowledge on how to break a guy down off the dribble. I will hold out one year for the Wolves, see what they do with the money next year, but as for this year, I predict 23-59.

As for the Celtics, the only thing holding them back is injuries. If Garnett/Allen/Pierce are together healthy in the playoffs, they could beat any team in the west in a 7 game series (and the Bulls/Raps/Pistons/Heat can beat them, bottom line is it will be tight). But the Celtics will need all three players on the court. They won't do it with just Garnett and Pierce, or Pierce and Allen or Garnett and Allen. As a three man HEALTHY unit, they are equal to the top 3 man units like Nash/Marion/Amare or Parker/Duncan/Manu. And in the East coast, that is enough to be a top level team easy. But the Celtics are so weak from a depth stand-point, that if one of those three does not make it because of injuries then this team is no better then the Howard/Lewis lead Orlando team. Remember, Ray Allen had surjery on both ankles and he is in the low 30's. Pierce had some wierd elbow injury last year. Garnett is heathy, but generally every player gets some type of season destroying injury at some point in ones career. His clock is ticking. So bottom line is that a healthy Boston line-up in the playoffs is deadly. But to get to that point will be a challenge and a half.

Last point I want to talk about is the Celtics future. They traded a lot of youth to get these vets. It is almost like Danny Ainge admitted that his plan of going young was not working so he went the complete opposite way. Here is the thing IMO about these Celtics.. Danny Ainge still has not much of a clue on how to run a successful club, he just has a tad more idea then McHale. Ainge is going to be paying out the ass for many years now with the luxery tax, that getting any type of depth will require some amazing scouting and bargain basement deals. Boston will be good enough record wise which means no high draft picks. Lets then say that Allen has one more good year on his shaky knees. Well, like I said, they are not doing much with just Garnett and Pierce. They don't have the depth to make up for any lose nor do they have the money to find anyone. They got nothing to trade away except for the healthy 2 of the big three. And when Garnett declines and Pierce declines, then who do that have ready in the shadows to replace them?

Now look, I am more in the here and now. The one year at a time theory. Let's worry about 2-3 years IN 2-3 years. As for right now, they are good...REALLY good. But they need to stay healthy to be that good. And on top of that, they are still not the Spurs or the Suns or even the Bulls or, yes this is right, The Raptors. So was it worth it? Again, Boston can worry about that in 2-3 years. AS for now, no matter what, Boston fans can at least be thankful that they are not Minnesota fans.