Before the ink dried on the KG trade contract, sports fans and journalists began to question the merits of this goliath move by Boston and Minnesota. There is no question that in my mind that Boston overpaid for Kevin Garnett, but it brings up an age old question. It is the same question the Lakers have been faced with since the departure of Shaquille O’Neal and it is a question that every franchise will face at some time in their future. Should you build for the future by developing young players or should you try to win now by trading for high priced free agents?
Danny Ainge is being criticized for trading away Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, and two first round draft picks. No one really cares about his trade of Theo Ratliff or Sebastian Telfair, but overall this trade was brilliant. Ainge has been a terrible GM up to this point. Some of his draft picks and trades have been very questionable, but he had amassed some very good young talent. Al Jefferson is capable of a double double every night and is a wonderful talent along with Gerald Green. Ryan Gomes also added depth to the Celtics bench, but the simple fact is that Boston was not winning with these guys. By trading for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics are guaranteed to win more games than they have in the past five years while they were developing all of that young talent. The name of the game is winning. If you lose as a coach or GM, then eventually you will be fired. The Celtics are now very relevant in the East and they will win more games.
The Timberwolves are now loaded with young talent, but will they win in the West? They have lost Kevin Garnett which was bound to happen after this year anyway, so Kevin McHale did a masterful job of swindling Danny Ainge into giving him essentially an entire team for one player. McHale now has enough pieces to trade for a Shawn Merriman or another free agent in the future. One would assume they will let Ratliff go and Telfair’s days are numbered. With two more draft picks the Timberwolves are in a great position for rebuilding, which is something they had to do once KG departed. The problem is that McHale wasn’t winning in the West with KG and the players he received from Boston were not winning in the East with Pierce. What makes anyone think that the T'Wolves will win with this Celtic team minus Pierce in the West? Still, for McHale it appears to be the best he could get for KG from anyone.
The first knock against the Celtic GM is that the players he acquired, Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, are aging while Jefferson, Gomes, and Green are all very young. Kobe and Iverson are also aging, but wouldn’t you trade for one of those guys if they were available. Mitch Kupchak took a lot of heat for not pursuing an aging Jason Kidd, but the fact is that superstars tend to stick around longer than young talent that never develops. Garnett, Allen, and Pierce are not that old and Ainge now has 5 years to develop more raw talent or trade for new players in the future.
The second problem some have with this trio is that their combined salary is around 60 million and that leaves very little room to work with under the cap. To me this is a moot point, because teams like New York and Dallas spend well over the salary cap. Their payrolls are the two largest at 89 and 83 million respectively. Spending more does not guarantee a playoff spot, (Just ask the biggest spender of all, Isiah Thomas, and let's see what it brought him), but for the Celtics if they open up the checkbook and bring in a few roll players this team should be very good.
So do you win now or win later? It all depends on your team and your situation. Boston needed to win now and it appears they will. Minnesota, because of the eventual loss of Garnett, needed to rebuild which means they will win later. Without the trade both GMs would be on the hot seat this year, but now both will get a temporary reprieve. Boston overpaid for KG which makes McHale look brilliant, a hard thing to do these days, and Ainge pulled off acquiring two superstars. The Celtics will win more games in the East than they did last year and they should make the playoffs where they will have a chance to advance. Winning will put fans in the seats, sell more merchandise, and cure all that ails this once proud franchise. I say it was a Win-Win for both teams.
SoCalSportsFan
*The Boston Red Sox did not win a World Series until they finally opened up their pocket books and started spending like the Yankees. It also appears they are well on their way to winning another title, but they had to spend 100 million on Dice-K to get there, and they are still spending like mad picking up Eric Gagne. Sometimes, spending does equal wins.*
I have no idea why this is showing up under MLB as everyone can plainly see it is listed under the NBA. Fox always messes my entries up, that is why I routinely post under NFL first.
this was a great move by the wolves. forget that KG was all but gone next summer regardless of what happened this coming season had he not been traded.
i look at it like this: the wolves werent going anywhere this year (or maybe next) with or without KG or these young guys they acquired for him. the west is still loaded with dallas, SA, phoenix and now denver, utah and houston improving for a run.
in a couple years, when jefferson and all the others are really coming into their own, the suns will be old (nash is already), mark cuban may have pulled all his hair out (and started making crazy trades trying to get that elusive title) and tim duncan and bruce bowen arent getting any younger (or any rest, since they're always playing until the end of may). that's the perfect time for the wolves to potentially challenge the likes of houston, utah and denver (who shouldnt be the same as AI will be old and even more ####ed up) for a spot in the top 4.
from the C's standpoint, i've been told they have a trade exception and a mid-level vet exception they can use. that's all fine and dandy, except there arent really any FA's out there at this point, and who can they trade for?
their current 9 man roster, already lacking at both PG and C, wont be improving much beyond the "big 3" in my opinion. and as phillip has already said, there are still road blocks in the east with shaq, the bulls and pistons for the next couple years most likely. i dont like their chances.
I think this shows up under MLB because Eric Gagne was one of your tags. This has happened to me in the past - I think sometimes posts get slotted according to various keywords, not just a specific "MLB" or "NBA" tag.
Cuz, that is what I said in my post, McHale made a great move. The TWolves are looking up for the future, but Ainge did a good job too to get three superstars on one team.
Bmoy, you are probably right. I vote clueless.
Lilphil, we will have to agree to disagree. The East will be very competitive, but I don't think Chicago will improve on this year. I think the East got tougher with the Celtics improving, Heat, Pistons, and Cavs as the top four. Orlando is much improved and Wizards can hang with anyone when Gilbert is stroking the ball. Chicago drafted Noah, but he is not an impact player, but more of role player just like Tryus. Ty didn't impact them this year, neither will Noah. Good players, but have more value in a trade scenario.
my main point is that the celtics wont win the east, they need to face one of these teams
now for the bulls, ty wasnt productive early due to the fact he came out his freshman year
noahs a junior so he will be somewhat more productive
hinrich will get his rest and no fiba(well it seems so at this point)
gordon is still a young man and will improve and well we know how much deng can improve(if he stayed all 4 years in college this is his rookie season)
now tyrus thomas, he showed what he can do late in the season and in summer league he showed a jumpshot(open jumper in SL is the same open look in the nba)
if he knocks them in constantly, he has more room inside to go for the alley-oops
one problem last year was nocionis plantar fascitis
bulls might have had an extra 3 wins and taken the 2 seed
so if everybody stays healthy i think the bulls will be the team to beat
great write up socal. the celtics have been in a rebuilding process for about 15 years now. the jokes over. ainge pulling the trigger on this one was great. winning begets winning. players will come. the future is now!
and know this. gerald green the dunk machine, is not the player everybody likes to think he is.
Last edited by JoshQPublic on August 5th at 2:34 PM.
I hate to break this to Wolves fans, but you didn't make out nearly as good as you think you did. You got a bunch of players who were good on a bad team with "upside" in return for a player who everyone knew was gonna walk next season.
Believe me, you won't be a winning a championship in 5 years with this roster unless you bring in another star.
The Celts made a genius move. I would trade away all the trash the Celts traded for a GREAT chance to compete for the East crown any day of the week. The future is now, not five years from now.
Believe me, "depth" isn't all that big of a deal when you have three guys that can completely tear up the oppisition. Worst case scenerio, the Celts only get as far as the second round this year, they'll have a brand new midlevel exception next season and a vet exception to work with.
Jermaine isn't anywhere near KGs level. The points and boards may be similiar, but that's because KG earns his in the Wild Wild West and Jermaine gets his for free in the Easy #### East.
Mercury, depth is over rated. Most teams have a good sixth man off the bench, and that is about it. The superstars win games. If ARenas, Kobe, or Wade don't play, teams lose. Billups, Pierce, or LeBron are out, they lose.
BLady, I will check it out. Thanks for stopping in.
Phil, this was a good deal for Boston.
Josh, Lakersfan, glad we agree on this one. KG is so much better than Jermaine. As for Gerald Green, he would be fine to have as a role player, but Ainge really only gave away Al Jefferson, but he got KG back. You have to give up something to gain a super star. The only area that I think Danny gave up too much was in giving away the two draft picks. I think he could have done this deal by insisting on only one, and keeping one for the team.
Phil, why do you think you are better off keeping Jefferson with 16 and 10 instead of 22, 12. KG's numbers are better and he is a perennial all star. Jefferson is still a rookie that is not a star yet. KG gives the Celtics an instance chance at success. I don't think they will win it all, but I agree they make it into the second round automatically unless injuries, but that is true for Cavs, Pistons, and Heat. If any of their big guns go down, so does the team.
I think it shows up under MLB because you have MLB players mentioned in your "subjects". That is why everyone's posts go under NFL, if they have any team or player, it will end up there. MLB must be another notch down the totem pole... needs to be fixed by FOX I guess... that is why on my posts that include multiple subjects, I just put "Other", so that no one gives me a hard time... ha ha.
Anyway, this was a great read and a great post.
As you mentioned about the Sox in the end... teams like them and the Yankees (in how baseball is today), they can "win now AND win later" because they have the money to spend.
As for the C's, I'm on the fence about this deal. I like the trio, and think they will be much improved, but Ainge gave away way too much in order to make it happen.
hey there was a coach some years ago that coached a team that ended the season not winning a single game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its was sad becuase it was hard loseing that last game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!anyway so in the locker room he said im very proud of each and everyone of you guys you all played hard all year!!! but you must rember some thing guys!! ok rember you cant win them all oooooops
It's a bit ridiculous to say that McHale came away from this looking "brilliant".
1) He put himself in a situation where he had to trade KG due to all the bad moves he has made in the past.
2) He waited until after the draft to make a trade, a huge mistake because it meant that teams had less assets to trade them.
3) He essentially traded KG for Al Jefferson, the right to badly overpay Ryan Gomes next year (because that's what McHale inevitably does with his role players), a dunk contest trophy, a draft pick that he had earlier traded away in a moronic deal, and a draft pick in the mid-20s.
Now, I agree that McHale had to make this move. He had to move KG and start rebuilding before KG left and he got nothing for him. However, he was in that situation because of his complete and total incompetence. He made the best of the bad situation he created for himself, I hardly think we can call him brilliant for that.
socalsportsfan
Aug 5, 2007
6:18 PM Phil, why do you think you are better off keeping Jefferson with 16 and 10 instead of 22, 12. KG's numbers are better and he is a perennial all star. Jefferson is still a rookie that is not a star yet. KG gives the Celtics an instance chance at success. I don't think they will win it all, but I agree they make it into the second round automatically unless injuries, but that is true for Cavs, Pistons, and Heat. If any of their big guns go down, so does the team.
________________
are they better off? yes, but i would have gone for something cheaper
they will be a 2nd round team(unless they face cavs bulls pistons heat) but then defense wins championships and 2 out of 5 starters wont cut it
xphoenix, I agree with you that McHale has been a general ####, but I disagree that not trading before the draft was bad. He got 7 players for one, those are great numbers. I think he came off looking brilliant, but then again, I still think he is an ####. He should have insisted the Celtics keep Telfair, but in the minds of many I do think he came off looking brilliant. Everyone else thinks he should have gotten just one or two players for KG, but he got an entire team.
Phil, Celtics are better and they may beat the Bulls and or Pistons. I still think the Heat are the favorite when healthy, but three superstars trumps two in almost every situation.
Nice....I love my Celtics, and am thrilled at this trade. It seems to be the Timberwolves are in a rebuildng phase and they know they can't give KG a ring with no supporting cast, so why not trade him for the future. Good moves on both sides. \Nice post.
"Ainge now has 5 years to develop more raw talent or trade for new players in the future."
Best comment of your blog. Sorry for pasting, I always hate when people do it to me, but I'm with you on this cut/paste thing. The Celts haven't drafted or proved worthy of developing talent for over 20 years outside of Pierce. Not too mention, the most unnoticed pickup for the Celts was the acquire of Eddie House. The Arizona State kid who averaged over 20+ in college. He is cat quick and MAY be able to fill in nicely as the point for the Celts due to his ability to shoot the ball. Could prove to be the icing on the cake for the Celtics, but don't say you heard it here first.
Danny Ainge is being criticized for trading away Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, and two first round draft picks. No one really cares about his trade of Theo Ratliff or Sebastian Telfair, but overall this trade was brilliant. Ainge has been a terrible GM up to this point. Some of his draft picks and trades have been very questionable, but he had amassed some very good young talent. Al Jefferson is capable of a double double every night and is a wonderful talent along with Gerald Green. Ryan Gomes also added depth to the Celtics bench, but the simple fact is that Boston was not winning with these guys. By trading for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics are guaranteed to win more games than they have in the past five years while they were developing all of that young talent. The name of the game is winning. If you lose as a coach or GM, then eventually you will be fired. The Celtics are now very relevant in the East and they will win more games.
The Timberwolves are now loaded with young talent, but will they win in the West? They have lost Kevin Garnett which was bound to happen after this year anyway, so Kevin McHale did a masterful job of swindling Danny Ainge into giving him essentially an entire team for one player. McHale now has enough pieces to trade for a Shawn Merriman or another free agent in the future. One would assume they will let Ratliff go and Telfair’s days are numbered. With two more draft picks the Timberwolves are in a great position for rebuilding, which is something they had to do once KG departed. The problem is that McHale wasn’t winning in the West with KG and the players he received from Boston were not winning in the East with Pierce. What makes anyone think that the T'Wolves will win with this Celtic team minus Pierce in the West? Still, for McHale it appears to be the best he could get for KG from anyone.
The first knock against the Celtic GM is that the players he acquired, Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, are aging while Jefferson, Gomes, and Green are all very young. Kobe and Iverson are also aging, but wouldn’t you trade for one of those guys if they were available. Mitch Kupchak took a lot of heat for not pursuing an aging Jason Kidd, but the fact is that superstars tend to stick around longer than young talent that never develops. Garnett, Allen, and Pierce are not that old and Ainge now has 5 years to develop more raw talent or trade for new players in the future. 
The second problem some have with this trio is that their combined salary is around 60 million and that leaves very little room to work with under the cap. To me this is a moot point, because teams like 
