In a move that surprised no one, the final roster spot came down to Dwight Powell and Will Bynum with Powell winning out. Bynum's 3 million dollar contract simply didn't justify his production the last couple of seasons. You don't put up Tyler Zeller numbers and expect Roy Hibbert money.
With that, the roster is now set:
C - Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller, Vitor Faverini
F - Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger, Dwight Powell
F - Gerald Wallace, James Young, Jeff Green
G - Marcus Thornton, Avery Bradley, Evan Turner
G - Rajon Rondo, Marcus Smart, Phil Pressey
While this roster may not scare too many people, a big trade could propel them to the top of the standings. A team desperate to unload a star at the deadline would fall into the Celtics hands who has complimentary players and draft picks at their disposal.
Also, it was put in writing that Rondo had a "79% chance" of playing in the season opener. Whether he plays or not is up in the air but the bottom line is he's not going to be out until December/January like last year unless he's more hurt than what the team is telling us.
Still, the final pre-season game against Brooklyn was against scrubs but anyone who paid attention saw that without Rondo, the ball movement was distrubuted and everyone got in on the action. When Rondo has the ball, he gets it before anyone else. When he's out, its everyone pitching in. This could be the fork in the road for coach Brad Stevens because what will guarantee more wins, keeping Rondo happy or making the team effort. It doesn't matter if Rondo has a triple double or 7 guys have 10-15 points, the bottom line is to win.
Remember this is not the New York Knicks where if Carmello isn't in the spotlight, he pouts and the team suffers. The Celtics during their dynasty years prided themselves on winning the game by any means necessary. That's why Chamberlain had the stats and Russell had the rings. Hell up until Lebron James teamed up with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller....that's why James had the stats and Pierce had the rings.
Which brings me to my next rant. Its payback time on the Miami Heat and their "fans". For a bit of reference, the Sixers were still nasty in 1969 after they "traded" (more like gave away) Wilt Chamberlain. They still had Billy Cunningham and most of the same crew that took a 3-1 series lead on the Celtics the year prior in the Eastern Finals. Without Chamberlain though, they were beatable. Fast forward 46 years later to the Miami Heat. They're still pretty good with Bosh, Wade, Chalmers, Haslem, Ray Allen and company...but they're not the same without Lebron James. If the Celtics and the rest of the NBA want to cream the Heat to stick it to their fairweather fans, this is the time to do it. All those Dwayne Wade commercials with the morons in the Miami Heat jersies, the "Not one, not two" speech, the "decision", the 4 straight finals appearances, its payback time. While the Heat ruled the roost for those four years, other teams loaded their guns to beat them, which San Antonio and Dallas managed to do. Also, the flip side is, now we see who the true Heat fans really are. If the arena is still packed every night without Lebron James, then those fans are the ones I respect. Otherwise, they go by the way of the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls ruled the world from 1991-98 but they didn't do a damn thing before or anything since. In fact, they lost to a far inferior Sixers team in the playoffs after Derrek Rose went down (the second time). That's a different story for another day. If the Celtics have any pride, especially their fans, they'll want to pound the Heat into the ground to show that they may have been on top for four years, but the Celtics have been doing it a lot longer.
The season opens Wednesday night with the exact same Celtics team against a much different Nets team than the one they creamed in their final exhibition game. One that's rested and playing Deron Williams, Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett and Joe Johnson. It'll be a good test to see if the new look Celtics with Zeller, Smart, Young, Turner and a returning Wallace can hang with a still good Nets team that happens to be missing Paul Pierce.
Which leads to my next rant. Its sad Pierce couldn't end his career with the Celtics because Ainge treated him like he himself was treated in 1989, but if this is his final year...the Wizards? Really? Its not like the Wizards are the same incompetent suckbags they were in 2011, but at least the Nets were in the title hunt last year. With Pierce, this year they'd still be a playoff team (barring key injuries) but the bottom line is it would be a shame to see Pierce go out a loser with the Wizards. Maybe somehow Ainge will bring him back next year on the veterans minimum just so he can retire here. Which leads me to my final rant.
One things for sure, no matter how popular a player is in Boston, with Ainge around he will NOT finish his career here. He himself was jettisoned in 1989 while McHale and Bird were allowed to retire in Boston after several crippled seasons.Whether this is his revenge for not being allowed to stay or his way of doing business, as long as he's around eventually a guy like Pierce, Rondo, Smart, etc will be gone eventually. Its a shame because even though the Celtics COULD have traded Bird, Parish and McHale while their values were high, it was better for morale and the big picture that they weren't. Even though Bob Cousy and Dave Cowens came out of retirement with other teams, they, along with the Jones boys, Russell, Tom Heinsohn, Jim Luscutoff, Don Nelson, John Havlicek and others finished their careers here. In fact, the last one to have any sort of linneage with the team that retired here was McHale in 93. Antoine Walker spent 7 years here before being shipped to Dallas, Kenny Anderson spent 5 years before being exiled to Seattle. Tony Battie spent 5 1/2 years in Boston before being shipped out to Cleveland. Eric Williams spent the better part of 7 years in Boston before joining Battie in Cleveland. Kevin Garnett lasted 6 years before being sent to the Nets. Pierce himself lasted 15 before being sent to the Nets. This will be Rondo's 9th year in the league and rumors of him being traded have been going on for two years now. To be fair, unlike Pierce and Garnett, none of the others are 1st ballot hall of famers. I'm sure if Jared Sullinger is the real deal, he'll last about 10 years barring injury. Only question is as his career winds down, if Danny Ainge is still around, how long will he be around until he's traded? Retiring with the team is out of the question.
For the final part of the post, its time to discuss "the trade". Pierce, Garnett and Jason Terry to the Nets for their 1st round pick in 2014, 2016 and 2017, Marshon Brooks, Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries. So far, Bogans and Brooks has turned into Tyler Zeller and the pick in 2014 turned into James Young. That's basically a younger Pierce and Garnett (in size ONLY) in Young and Zeller although KG was a forward (despite playing center in 12 and 13) and Zeller a center. Whether or not Young can be a star depends on how hard he's willing to work and Zeller can never be KG in both personality and skill but he could either be a good backup to a real center or step up and become the next Robert Parish, who didn't flourish until Bill Fitch got a hold of him. The jury is still out on the trade because Wallace is still with the team and they have two picks left. Wallace was the team's mouthpiece last year until he was lost for the season and Humphries was the classic "right player, wrong year" as he had a good year but for a team that went nowhere. If they had him in 2012 against the Heat or 2010 against the Lakers, maybe there would be another banner in the rafters. Still, so far the Nets pretty much gambled their future on Pierce and Garnett and they failed to defeat the Heat last year. Now Pierce is gone, Johnson and Garnett are another year older, Lionill Hollins replaced Jason Kidd so who knows if Deron Williams can be contained or not, plus if Lopez gets hurt again then what? I said before the year started that the Celtics should have taken this year;s pick and not 2016. Remember the Ted Stepian rule? Well I would have gone 14, 15 and 17 but instead Ainge went 14, 16 and 17. In my opinion, if the Nets go in the tank this year they'll have money coming off the books and will have a lottery pick and the ability to sign a free agent. They could turn it around or at least servicable enough where their pick in 16 would be middle of the pack like last year. Still, if James Young pans out or is traded in a package for a star, middle of the pack isn't as bad as it sounds. The Celtics still have the Clippers pick this year which is going to be useless because Donald Sterling is gone and the Clips may actually get over the hump.
Its going to be an interesting year regardless. Last year their gameplan was to tank, everyone knew it as much as the front office denied it. Well they tanked and they got Smart out of it. This year they may suck but at least they're going to be fun to watch. Maybe Ainge has something up his sleeve or maybe he'll let it play out. After all, the core of the 1970's Don Chaney, Jojo White, Cowens, Steve Kuberski and Tom Boswell (having Havlicek and Silas helped too) maturing together netted them 2 titles. Best case scenario, the core of Olynyk, Sullinger, Smart, Young and Pressey all drafted within the last 3 years nets them superstars in a trade or they become stars themselves. Let's see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment