You know that reminds me of the time 790AM had that general managers call-in special with Dawson, Rick Smith, and Tim Purpurra. David Delati asked Dawson if he tried to move up in the draft the year Gerald Green was available. Dawson basically said he loves local Houston athletes and did everything he could to trade up. I was ready to call in and say, "You mean you decided you loved local Houston athletes after Mirsad Turkan didn't work out for you." But sadly it was a repeat broadcast.
The Celtics were total dogs under Ainge until he traded the #5 pick for Ray Allen and was "given" KG by his buddy Kevin McHale. You also need to check Pritchard's record before saying all he's done is draft Roy. There is a lot more to it. I'll give you some: He TRADED for the right to draft Roy (from Boston and Minny while giving up Telfair and Randy Foye). He stole LaMarcus Aldridge from the Bulls in exchange for Tyrus Thomas in the same draft. He also dumped Zach Randolph's $66 million contract on the Knicks for Steve Francis' $33 million contract, which he then bought out for $30 million. $66 million to $30 million. That SAVED Paul Allen a lot of money. There is more but I assume you get the message. You might want to explain what Paul Allen's billions has to do with any of these moves. He used "cash considerations" to get Rudy Fernandez, but to say that was an obvious move is just silly. In less than 3 years, Pritchard has done a standout job. Whether that continues we'll see. But there is a reason the term "Pritch-slapped" has been coined and it isn't because he's been mediocre in his tenure.
Apparently his style is working. Trailblazers went from lotto team to a possible playoff team. They have a better record than the Rockets. They aren't much better than us with injuries, if we look at Miles and Oden. If Oden gets another foot injury, he could miss as many games as Yao did every season. Moneyball doesn't look at injuries.
I mean to be fair I honestly think Boston may have been even better last year with Jefferson,Gomes,Green,Telfair last year. I mean Telfair and Green wouldn't have played much but Jefferson puts up numbers like KG not offensively I know not defensively but truly with rondo and perkins development and pierce playing like a monster down the stretch I think Boston would've done just as much damage with Al Jefferson
If you honestly believe the Celts would have won the championship last year without the KG trade, I don't know quite what to say. "Better"? I'm speechless. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
i mean they still would have had 3 all star players in a fairly weak eastern conference, the lakers were without bynum......KG's leadership and defense are superior to jefferson but till, jefferson is a monster on the glass and again perkins and rondo developed alot over the previous year and you have to remember how much KG's talking ticks off other teams while jefferson is a quiet guy and you know what they say let sleeping dogs lie, well having jefferson over KG could be a big plus with that but as for the finals.....remember gomes is a solid player man,telfair is playing well too now rondo,allen,pierce,jefferson,perkins with a bench of posey,powe,gomes,tony allen,pj brown,eddie house,telfair,glen davis is still better than fisher,kobe,radmanovic,odom,gasol with a bench of walton,farmar,turiaf,vujacic,ariza
Yea that favor he did for Jerry West a couple of years ago really threw people off the 'genius' trail...
i dont get why you guys keep saying wow and whatnot, have you seen the numbers jefferson has put up the last 3 years and compared them with KG. KG is a better defender but you guys make it seem like Jefferson is chuck hayes and would have made no difference for the celtics last year. What a joke, jefferson is a 20/10 players who blocks plenty of shots and doesn't get the opposing team fired up by talking trash. Jefferson is a stud and yes boston would have been awesome by just swapping jefferson and KG. I know they had the same roster a year earlier but adding ray allen and james posey along with PJ brown late made a huge difference. KG is a superstar but Al Jefferson is not some bum of a player either thats all im saying
The Celtics won last year with one of the best statistical defenses of all-time. Kevin Garnett, the douche he is, happens to be probably the greatest team defender in NBA history, and tailor made for Thibs' system. End of story.
One thing's for sure. Kevin Pritchard is one of, if not THE brightest GMs in the league. To critique his personal character, however, is difficult and the results seem surely dubious. I would say that Daryl is on par with him, but just hasn't had the resources (high draft picks, mainly) to pull off that many eye-dropping trades. Oh right, did I mention that Kevin Pritchard advised the Blazers GM back then in 2005 to draft Chris Paul? Imagine how that one would have played out. LOL.
Nobody is saying Boston wouldn't have been good last season without the KG trade. But they had the best record in the NBA, went 25-5 against the Western Conference and WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. For you to even think they could be better is crazy. I'm a huge Al Jefferson fan as are others here. But he's young and wouldn't have fit the Celts team anywhere near as good as KG. There were times you could see KG & PP look at each other and make up their mind to destory teams. KG is exactly the kind of guy PP needed to kick it back in gear.
Not to nitpick, but there was once this guy who went by the nickname of Dream and his team's entire philosophy (offense, transition, and defense) was built around his abilities to create floor imbalances and mismatches on the offensive end while beating his man down court, controlling the lane, and stopping the opposing team's low post threat on defense.
Kevin Pritchard is hardly brilliant. Rather, he has an owner who's willing to buy draft picks from cash-strapped teams like Pho. When you have those kind of resources, you can make lopsided trades at will.
You're getting "wowed" because your basic premise boils down to the Celtics only adding Ray Allen and running through the EC at a record clip. If you can't see that that wasn't going to happen here's another "wow" for you.
