Yet again, Danny Ainge has proven that all gamblers lose eventually. Last year, when he shouldn’t have made a trade he gave away fan favorite Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green. Green had hoped to prove his dissenters wrong this season, but we saw how that went. Then this season, when Ainge had to make a trade to salvage the season, he sat on his hands too afraid to break up the Big Three. The Celtics are down to essentially two big men, Garnett and Bass. Wilcox is lost; O’Neal is not expected the finish the season with the team and rookies Johnson and Stiemsma are unproven. Ainge single handily ruined the Celtics these past two seasons.
Expect an early exit from the Green Gang this year. They sit at seventh in the East and probably won’t move much higher than that. If the playoffs were to start today, the Celtics would face the Miami Heat. And they would lose. If they manage to claw their way up one spot, then they would face Orlando is the first round. This is a much more desirable matchup. The Celtics have had Orlando’s number all this season.
But the final test of Danny Ainge will start once the season is in the books. It would have been a storied offseason, but many of the big names are off the list. The Celtics stood pat at the trade deadline probably in hopes of luring Dwight Howard away from Orlando in free agency. They failed. They wanted Chris Paul. He’s gone. Deron Williams will most likely end up in Dallas, or maybe even Orlando to play with his buddy Dwight. Kevin Love will not be joinging us. But there are a few bright spots.
Ainge needs to gamble again and sign Greg Oden. The oft injured number one overall pick is considered a bust, but could be solid coming off the bench if used correctly. The Celtics cannot put their franchise on his back, but if he still wants to prove himself Beantown could be his home.
But Ainge needs a young and reliable center. His choice should come down to JaVale McGee or Roy Hibbert. Both are young and could be explosive, and either would be guaranteed the starting spot. And a starting center paired with Rondo will flourish. The Celtics should also gamble on Kwame Browne, another former number one pick who has failed to live up to his hype. But coming off the bench, he could be dangerous. And with McGee (or Hibbert) and Oden (or Browne) suddenly a team that seemed small has gotten huge.
Next the Celtics have to resign Bass, Green and Pietrus. Green will come cheap and, like Oden, will want to prove himself. And he has to do it here. Bass might have a higher price tag, but he’s proven himself this season. He has seemingly broken the curse of the number 30 (see Bias, Blount, Telfair, Wallace, Murphy, etc.). Pietrus wants to be here and will out hustle anyone at anytime.
As for the rest of the team, the Celtics just need to go on a shopping spree. O.J. Mayo or Eric Gordon could fill out the shooting guard needs, while Kirk Hinrich is a hard working combo-guard. J.J. Hickson could be a solid power forward behind Bass. All these guys with Rondo, Pierce, Green, Pietrus and Bass could be very promising.
Things could be better for the Celtics, but things could just as easily be worse. This will not be a year for banner 18; Ainge has made sure of that. But if the crafty GM wants to prove his worth before he goes the way of the dinosaur, he’ll make a big splash this offseason. He has to. His legacy depends on it.
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