Celtics

Do you bleed green?

The one, the only

Classic. Just Classic.

The Boston Celtics are, no doubt, the single most storied team in Boston’s history.  To be honest, it’s nice to have one team from YOUR city that really just flat out dominated for an entire 15 year chunk of time.  Those Yankee fans can shove “26 time world champion” stuff in your face all day, but then all you have to do is say “Look man, I get it.  But do you guys have a basketball team?  Oh, yeah, the Knicks.  Yeah, because I’m pretty sure they have…um…2 NBA Titles?  We’ve got 17.  17, read it and weep baby!” Yep.  It is nice.

Looking back, though the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, K.C. Jones and Jo Jo White may be over, it is definately exciting to have been part of the fanbase of a 2000-2010 “rekindling” of the old style.  With the acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, one might say we have formed a kind of “second Big 3″ back in Boston.  Both Allen and Garnett have contributed tremendous amounts of enthusiasm, emotion, energy and pure play to this ball club, and they were both crucial parts of the 2007 NBA Championship trio led by longtime Celtic great Paul “The Truth” Pierce which broke the 16 year championship drought in Boston (the last time the C’s had won before the 2007-08 season was 1986).

But now, the question begs: is the Celtic team which takes the floor on a night to night basis really ready to dominate in today’s NBA?  There’s no doubt that they are a top playoff competitor, and a top overall team, in the mix with others like Cleveland, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Orlando.  But you look at the starting five that take the floor: Pierce, Garnett, Allen, Rondo and Kendrick Perkins.  Paul Pierce, I have no worries about.  He is becoming an established veteran, and has certainly embossed his image in this Boston locker room.  Considering how aggressive of a game he plays, his injuries have really stayed under control.  Talk about resiliency.  This guy is like an iron horse (we all remember the playoffs of 2007-08 when the C’s were up against the Cavs and Pierce went down late in the 3rd quarter after falling scarily on his knee, only to come back 10 minutes later and sink back to back 3’s).  Kevin Garnett is playing his 15th year in the NBA, and though it is different to think of him in this sense, we cannot forget that the guy is straight out of high school.  He’s 33 years old, and has been plagued season after season by crippling knee injuries.  He is just coming off of a 10 game absence now, and anyone who has been watching the C’s knows that he looks older and older every time he takes the court.

That is in no way to say that KG is a lapdog from here on out in his career.   But we as fans do have to remember that there is a lot of mileage on that body.  So will we see the KG of 2007? Probably not.  Athletes don’t get younger, its a fact.  But you’d be surprised how many more fantastic jumpers we’ll see out of KG before too long.  Look to see him make a comeback right around playoff time after a rough regular season.  But hey,  I’d rather have him figure out what his body can take effectively in a game during the regular season than during the playoffs when it actually counts.

RayRay is a little different story.  Allen is 36 years old, and you have to wonder if the end of the road in Boston approaches quickly for him.  Though he is undoubtedly one of the most consistent 3 point shooters in the game and ever to play on the parquet in Boston, all good things do come to an end.  After a trade proposition from Golden State in which Allen would go there in exchange for 26 year old superstar Monta Ellis among others, trade talks in general have flared up among the local media and fans have begun to wonder if Ray Allen is playing his last games in Boston.  From a pure strategy standpoint (if I’m Danny Ainge), it makes sense to construct some kind of a deal which would send Allen to a team in need of a Veteran in the locker room (example A: Golden State), and get a young player who has a lot of talent and needs a place to succeed under a guy like, say, Doc Rivers maybe? (example B: Monta Ellis).  What I’m trying to say is, the C’s should jump on this deal.  Though Celtics fans may be sad to see Allen go, he is becoming a wild card as far as consistency in the playoffs and in games that really matter, and he is also getting old.  The C’s already have their veteran presence with Pierce and Garnett.  And adding Monta Ellis would enhance the younger overall roster that Boston has begun to put together (primarily in terms of the bench players).

Whichever way the Celtics head in the new decade, it will without a doubt be a different team than those we knew in the original dynasty, and will even differ from the lineup we see today.  I forsee the “Big 3″ being made up of some new faces pretty soon.