Exactly. Lol Besides our very own Rockets, there is... Durant trying to carry Seattle. How will Oden do in his first season in Portland. Garnett/Pierce/Ray Allen in Boston. Rashard in Orlando with Dwight. Will Atlanta finally break away from their title of dreg of the NBA with Al Horford and Acie Law IVIXIXIVI? Will Isaiah Thomas go ahead and trade for Juwan Howard to complete his quest for highest percentage of horrible contracts on one team? (jkin all you New York fans out there) League pass will be interesting indeed.
It's a Celtics insider deal. McHale and Ainge ex-Celtics. Although right now, I can't see why the Celts would trade Al Jefferson who is young and still coming up for KG. Al Jefferson is easily going to be a 20-10 player.
Ok, I ask you this; Do you believe that what Al Jefferson will give the Celtics in 2-3 years justifies not trading for what Kevin Garnett will give them right now? They can seriously challenge for a title out the east. With this trade alone, they have catapulted from bottom half of the conference to top 2 or 3 at the very least. I feel that Al Jefferson will put up the numbers, but he will have the type of impact Zach Randolph has or early Juwan Howard had. Great numbers, but do they really lift you to the championship level? Not to mention I have never heard anything about his defense. That is my take on Al Jefferson. Going back to my question, what do you think?
This reminds me a lot of our big 3 (34, 4, 22). They are aging but can still play. The Celtics traded nearly everything to put the 3 together. They are left with no depth, few prospects, and no legit 2nd tier players. They must rely on role players and specialists (Scalabrine=Bullard for example). I love the trade though. I liked the Ray Allen deal too actually. Going to be an exciting team to follow. Hopefully their games get picked up on national TV on a regular basis.
Al Jefferson is a lot more hype than reality. He can't get his against just anyone, like a franchise guy will, and his stats are inflated some by being the only real second option on an East team. Second rate Jermaine O'Neal. This isn't so awful a deal for Minny, though. Bring in any one all-star and this will still be a crummy team, only with less box office draw. Better to nuke the place and go with youth. They now have: Al Jefferson, Randy Foye, Corey Brewer, and Gerald Green on rookie deals. Not bad. Next year, Theo and Ricky Davis come off the books and *could* be used this Feb if they wanted to. They also avoid what would be an ugly divorce if KG opted out next summer. The Marc Blount, Marko Jaric, and Troy Hudson nightmare deals are going to keep them over the cap though, and AJ will want an extension next summer. Boston's going to be awesome, especially if they get a real PG. They'll be paying serious lux tax for years, so I hope they get at least a trip to the Finals out of it. Detroit could still give them trouble, but they should ace Miami and Cleveland with no problem. Evan
If the city can get past the Sox/Pats love fest and start supporting the Celtics again I could see Boston as the new veteran FA hotbed (assuming KG extends). I could see guys taking small contracts for the chance to play on that team.
LMAO.....Ainge is an idiot......He just traded the whole franchise for KG.....If the Celtics dont make the ECF in 5 years then this trade would be a waste.
they'll make the finals so no it's not a waste. how do we know green or telfair will be stars. jefferson will be a stud but he will never be KG. cavs?? celts are better pistons?? older and defense is not as good. celts are better. bulls?? possibly, but celts have 3 legit true stars to take over a game. heat?? shaq is old and wade by himself can only make the heat a .500 team so yes, i put them in the finals
its actually pretty smart...hes gonna be an instant contender in the east...if cleveland can make it with just lebron, boston will easily make it with THREE STARS PAUL, RAY, AND KG
I can see this making Celtics a favorite in the East now... KG has no excuse now....If he cant make it to the finals in the East with 2 all stars then he has no business being compared to Tim Duncan.
It isn't just three superstars, it's three superstars in their PRIME. If this goes through, Boston will be scary.
You are crazy. He didn't trade his two best player (Piece, Allen). He traded Al Jefferson, a good upcoming player probably overrated from his stats somewhat because his team was so bad (see EMJ's Zach R post), a probable late 1st round pick, and a group of mostly scrubs, for one of the league marquee players. Now I wish we could get them Rafer, who really would help them. But it is pretty difficult. Rafer + JL3 + Novak for Green + Scalabrine. Add in Poe and the rights to Landry?
I don't know. I'm just not sold on them being title contenders yet. They have serious depth issues, and worse still, they don't have a real coach. They definitely vaulted themselves into the playoffs, that's for sure. If they were to hire JVG as coach, then I might be forced to actually consider crowning them.
I do believe that you have a good pt. I would basically rate Al Jefferson along the same lines as a Shawn Marion and maybe even Amare Stoudamire. Al Jefferson was a rebounding beat for the Celtics last year. I put him on my fantasy team when he was inserted into the lineup as a starter around the middle of December. He was a major force and scored many 20 pts games. He's still developing and I think this guy is going to be a force for many years to come. Trading for Garnett does mean that Ainge must produce an ECF champion or his job is toast. Ainge has nothing to lose and I can see why he did it. He did it for his own job security. If he didn't make this trade and they kept playing with this core of kids with another crappy season, basically Ainge is out the door.
