What the Hell Are the Boston Celtics Doing?
By Jason McIntyre
Boston Celtics fans, this is your life:
GM Danny Ainge shocks the world in July 2013, stealing the best young coach in basketball, Brad Stevens, from Butler. Let the good times roll!
Nine days later, the core of the team from 2007-2012 that went to three Eastern Conference Finals, two NBA Finals, and captured a championship – Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett – are traded to the Brooklyn Nets for a slew of role players and draft picks. Let the rebuild begin!
Thirteen months after drafting Fab Melo in the 1st round, Ainge ships him to Memphis.
Big things happened in January 2014! Two three-team trades in the span of eight days netted … more draft picks. Not much was expected in Year One of the Brad Stevens era, but at least it ended with two promising 1st round picks in June of 2014: Marcus Smart (6th) and James Young (17th). Onward!
In July 2014, Ainge … helped the Cavs land LeBron James by trading for Tyler Zeller (Boston got a 1st round pick out of it). While James Young languished in the D-League, the Celtics traded the last remnant of the Doc Rivers era, shipping Rajon Rondo to Dallas for more draft picks.
Ainge, clearly, was operating out of the new-age Daryl Morey/Sam Hinkie GM manual: Collect all the draft picks. Morey got his superstar in James Harden, then signed Dwight Howard. Hinkie’s still searching for his superstar. Ainge, too.
But everyone was still excited about the possibility of Kevin Love!
That dream died Wednesday when Love inked a 5-year, $110 million deal with the Cavs. He won’t be in Boston Green anytime in the near future.
So what’s the plan?
Amir Johnson! They just gave Toronto forward Amir Johnson $24 million over two years!
Jonas Jerebko! Had a few moments in Detroit, and so let’s give him 2-years, $10 million in hopes he can contribute something to the meek frontcourt.
Jae Crowder! Loved by Stevens for his effort defensively, he’s clearly in the team’s future plans, as evidenced by his 5-year, $35 million deal.
Half-full Celtics fan: It’s only been a couple years, give this rebuild some time! We’ll have plenty of cap room to chase Big Names next summer!
Half-empty Celtics fan: Everyone will have cap room next year. And if this summer has been any indication, almost all of the highest-impact names stayed put (so far) – Love, Dragic, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, etc – as players chase security. Are we going to have to settle for the likes of DeMarre Carroll (a rich man’s Crowder)?
What if the Morey playbook is looking luckier and luckier by the year, and the Thunder just made a catastrophic error in trading Harden? With the cap going up significantly, nobody is going to let a Top 5 pick slip through the cracks again. At what point do the 76ers and Celtics look themselves in the mirror and say, how the hell did we end up in Kings/Timberwolves territory?