Bob Ryan Pre-Season Kevin Garnett Trade Column

[soap07]

Would someone mind posting the Kevin Garnett trade reaction column from Bob Ryan before the season started? I'm having trouble finding it on the Boston Globe archives. The one where he ended it by saying something like "They just might make the playoffs."

I'm sure he's not proud of that particular column.

[Chris]

I don't have the column, but I would like to point out that Ryan was not alone with that column.  Even the most optimistic prognosticators would have had trouble predicting what actually did happen, and many were not far from Ryan's view.

I am sure he would be the first to say that he is ecstatic to be wrong.

[Roy Hobbs]

Globe article.

Blog.

He did back off a little once the team signed Posey [Link.]

[Big Ticket]

Would someone mind posting the Kevin Garnett trade reaction column from Bob Ryan before the season started? I'm having trouble finding it on the Boston Globe archives. The one where he ended it by saying something like "They just might make the playoffs."

I'm sure he's not proud of that particular column.

Kevin Garnett, in all his hype and fanfare, was still largely underrated while in Minnesota.  The reactions by many to the trade proves it.  People outside of Minnesota didn't know the full effect he had.

Look... you don't win 50+ games in a tough Western Conference with Troy Hudson, Anthony Peeler, Gary Trent, Kendall Gill, Rasho Nesterovic, and a banged up Wally World as your supporting cast unless you are a very special player.  He got his due credit during this time (c. 2002-2004).  I really don't understand why people thought the Wolves decline was due to KG, but they did, and now they know.

(sorry, can't help with the column)

[Cassidy122690]

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2007/08/02/title_for_celtics_far_from_a_done_deal/

Watch the video too. 

[Big Ticket]

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2007/08/02/title_for_celtics_far_from_a_done_deal/

Watch the video too. 

The lesson to be learned by this video?

Vegas odds makers are incredibly efficient at what they do.  Bob Ryan and that other blow hard didn't watch KG in Minnesota much.

[Roy Hobbs]

And?

That's it? Someone actually thinks this Celtics team will win the East and contend for the championship? Really? ...

Tell me something. Did I miss the memo in which David Stern proclaimed that in the 2007-08 season the NBA will be a three-on-three competition? And did I also miss the other memo, the one in which Stern revoked the charters of some NBA Eastern Conference teams, most notably Detroit, Miami, Chicago, Washington, and defending conference champion Cleveland?

Apparently I did. There can be no other explanation for the mass giddiness that has engulfed this region from the minute it was confirmed that Danny Ainge had acquired Kevin Garnett.

Oooh, I forgot. Danny's not done. Isn't that what I heard? He's going to import a veteran point guard. ... All things considered, I'll stick with Rajon Rondo, thank you very much.

And speaking of Rondo, what I am about to say is equally nonnegotiable, as well as being quite scary: Rondo is the fourth-best player on the Celtics' roster. No team in the league has such a colossal drop-off in talent and NBA desirability.

What is the matter with everyone? Are people in these here parts so starved for some legitimate NBA excitement they have immediately abandoned all reason in their quest to anoint the reconstituted roster as a potential champion?

Please, somebody, calm down, take off the green-and-white underwear and take a good look at the rest of the roster. It consists of Kendrick Perkins, Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, Rondo, Leon Powe, Eddie House, Jackie Manuel, and rookies Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Gabe Pruitt, and Brandon Wallace. Over on the side there is free agent Michael Olowokandi.

I can just hear the "No mas!" from the Pistons, Heat, Bulls, Wizards, and Cavaliers right now.

So tell me what's so enticing about this roster. If Danny had kept Ryan Gomes, I'd be far more optimistic. And why did Danny have to relinquish two No. 1 draft picks? Am I the only one who thinks this stuff matters? There is nothing to suggest the Celtics won't once again be a horrible defensive team. There is no guarantee Rondo can run a team and keep order among the star trio. There is no guarantee, for that matter, that Ray Allen will play 70 games, or even 60.

The Celtics are fascinating. They are intriguing. They are a borderline freak show. They'll definitely be more fun to watch.

They might even make the playoffs.

Ouch, Bob.

How'd this season work out for Miami and Chicago, anyway?

[soap07]

Look, my problem isn't that Ryan didn't like the trade. My issue is how arrogant and condescending he was about it. Bob, we're sorry that at the time, some fans thought a trio of Pierce, Allen and KG would make us title contenders. We were such idiots to think so. It's one thing to have an opinion, it's another issue entirely when one, you don't hold yourself accountable for it and two, you state it in such a way to make others who disagree look like idiots.

Bob ended up the moron here.

[soap07]

Guys, watch this video. My lord. I don't even know who the other guy is...he says that the C's got WORSE defensively with the trade.

[Kuberski33]

Did anyone notice that when Bill Russell was asked for a prediction last night, he wouldn't give one?  You've got to be careful with predictions-- especially in this era of blogs and youtube......

[D Dub]

certainly not the only talking head eating their words right now...

[Nerf MVP]

Think of how good this team would have been had we just kept Gomes....


Bob Ryan refers to Rondo as "the point guard" in that video........

Bob Ryan pronounces Jacoby Ellsbury's first name ( Jack-i- be ) really fast like....


Little things like this make me question about what percentage of the topics he expounds upon does he really have any first hand knowledge of?

[Mr October]

Bob Ryan is usually a great writer. i thought he lost it with that article and a couple others around that time. Since then he has sobered up.

I chalk it up as a classic - "Everyone is saying praises nonstop, so I'm going to blast in there with an opposite view and make people's heads spin" article. it was a lame ego/attention thing.

[wiley]

As soon as it was understood the Celtics would get Garnett I predicted that if they stayed healthy they'd win the title, something like:

Celtics + health = championship
health = not likely
championship = not likely

(Health was on everyone's mind because of all the prior season's injuries...)

I didn't think Danny and Wyc would go out and get Ray Allen and Garnett and then let them fail by not adding some complementary players.  

Anyway, this series is not over.  It's fine for people to be on a high
right now, as I am, but they shouldn't forget that we've yet to play a game in L.A.  I mean, how high were we after 2 home wins against Atlanta?  And look what happened.  Admittedly, the Celtics are playing better ball now than they were in the Atlanta series, much less tentative, but L.A. ain't Atlanta, either...

Those who thought my title prediction was out to lunch I accused of underrating Garnett.  And underrate Garnett they did.  A lot of this underrating was in paying too much attention to stats and not enough to intangibles, psychology, intensity, defense, etc...

Well Bob.  Here I am a dumb blogger who got Garnett, and a few other things (like Rondo and Wyc's deep pockets) righter than you....

[BballTim]

I don't have the column, but I would like to point out that Ryan was not alone with that column.  Even the most optimistic prognosticators would have had trouble predicting what actually did happen, and many were not far from Ryan's view.

I am sure he would be the first to say that he is ecstatic to be wrong.

  I think the wages of win guys predicted Boston over the Spurs in the finals. Pretty close since it was pre-Gasol.

  Ryan's article was ridiculous, but not there were others. When we were 13-2, one of the espn gurus had us going 51-31, which was 38-29 for the rest of the year. Even Ryan probably started to figure it out by then.