Five years ago today, our world changed.

[mef730]

Five years ago today, we got one of the biggest Woj bombs in Celtics history:

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/350446567091744768

With Kevin Garnett's permission, in conjunction with the saucer people, under the supervision of the reverse vampires, the Celtics traded two of the greatest players in their history (plus Paul Pierce) for a poo poo platter of players and a handful of draft picks that would likely be in the late-20s:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1686631-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-reportedly-center-of-potential-celtics-and-nets-trade

The #fakenews was quick to point out the one-sidedness of this trade. How the Celtics could trade the core of the Big 3 and a hero like Jason Terry was beyond comprehension. And why they would accept a bunch of players that Brooklyn didn't want, plus some draft picks that would likely be useless, made them look even worse. There was little question who won this trade.

Bleacher Report gave the Nets an A, calling Brooklyn "a bona fide contender next season, and maybe the season after." And hey, a few years from now, they'll have the cap space to build around future stars Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson. The Celtics move was "pragmatic," although they had to take on Wallace's contract and received "mediocre draft picks." The Celtics got a B.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1687344-celtics-nets-blockbuster-trade-grading-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-to-brooklyn

Sports Illustrated also gave the Celtics a B, although they only gave Brooklyn a B+. They did note the outside chance that  Brooklyn would bottom out, "or at least take a step back," at some point.

https://www.si.com/nba/point-forward/2013/06/28/boston-celtics-brooklyn-nets-trade-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-grades

And with their fear of grade inflation, ESPN gave Boston a B- and Brooklyn a B. These picks would allow Brooklyn to fight for the second spot in the east and challenge the Heat in the playoffs. Boston could rebuild, but first, they'd have to get rid of the Wallace contract.

http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/page/TradeGrades-130701/nba-grading-summer-trades

The NBA Reddit thread also weighed in. Somebody noted that they didn't have a coach (We're still waiting to see how that kid from Butler turns out.). Another pointed out that "Bill Simmons might kill himself on air." A Timberwolves fan told Bostonians, "Sounds rough, see yall in the 2237 Eastern Conference Finals." And another fan noted that these picks could someday have value, saying, "[if] the celtics get wiggins or parker, it will be beyond worth it." Sadly, we missed out on both.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1h82h1/kevin_garnett_will_agree_to_trade_to_brooklyn_and/

And finally, Nostradamus himself let us know how he felt, saying that the Celtics got "$.35 on the dollar."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJzx-PeG8zs

Thus, in memory of this trade, and with the powers granted to me by the saucer people and the reverse vampires, I hereby declare June 27 to be Billy King day in the state of Massachusetts.

And a shout-out to the media and peanut gallery: They were all right. This really was a one-sided trade.

Mike

[BitterJim]

The reddit comment about us not having a coach wasn't a shot at Brad, we literally didn't have a coach until July 3rd

[gift]

From the time the trade was made I was very optimistic about those Nets picks. Didn't want to see Pierce and Garnett go, but I understood that it was the right move.

I wasn't excited about Brad Stevens at first because I didn't recognize his name. When I realized he was the Butler coach, I became very optimistic about him as well.

What I didn't expect was for the Celtics to compete so quickly while stocking talent with the Brooklyn picks. I thought the combination of high lottery picks for the Celtics, followed by [potentially high] picks from the Nets would give the Celtics multiple chances at either star players and/or trade assets. I didn't imagine the Celtics would build a winning culture that would attract free agents and use mainly the Nets picks to draft lottery talent.

[bdm860]

You're leaving out some of the best material, the insight of our own!

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=66010.0

Found this tweet scrolling through it (h/t to celticinorlando)

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3m
That rumored Celtics-Nets trade is so bad for Boston that Doc Rivers just quit on the Celtics again.

[Moranis]

You're leaving out some of the best material, the insight of our own!

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=66010.0

Found this tweet scrolling through it (h/t to celticinorlando)

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3m
That rumored Celtics-Nets trade is so bad for Boston that Doc Rivers just quit on the Celtics again.

Nice, I thought I was ok with the trade when it first broke, and found my first post in that thread before the trade was finalized

brooklyn has #22 and is looking to move Brooks for #26.  Get both of those picks as well as maybe 2015 and 2017 and then it might be worth it to take on Wallace's deal.  Now if we can unload Bass and Terry in the deal as well, that wouldn't be bad.

[mef730]

The reddit comment about us not having a coach wasn't a shot at Brad, we literally didn't have a coach until July 3rd

Yup! The whole thread was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Mike

[mef730]

You're leaving out some of the best material, the insight of our own!

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=66010.0

Found this tweet scrolling through it (h/t to celticinorlando)

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3m
That rumored Celtics-Nets trade is so bad for Boston that Doc Rivers just quit on the Celtics again.

Ah, the classics! TP.

Mike

[greece66]

More here .

[johnnygreen]

The reddit comment about us not having a coach wasn't a shot at Brad, we literally didn't have a coach until July 3rd

When I read what the OP said about not having a coach, I assumed he was referring to the Nets. Didn't they hire Jason Kidd at some point after the trade? Also, wasn't that Kidd's first coaching gigg too? To me, the hiring of Kidd was the biggest mistake imagineable, especially after making that blockbuster deal.

[fairweatherfan]

I'm gonna check the thread in a minute but if I remember right I was pretty bummed about losing KG and especially Pierce but realized it made sense to cut bait and start rebuilding.

The biggest thing most people didn't anticipate was how good the picks would be. People could see how old the Nets were, so it made sense they might be decent, but they were willing to spend and most people figured at least Deron Williams would still be relevant in his early 30s. Not so much haha.

It really is remarkable how every single key player they sought out for that wanna-be superteam, starting with Wallace, promptly turned to sludge, or turned out to be kinda crap all along (Lopez). And how dearly they paid to watch it happen. There'll be a good book or long oral history article on that ~3 year stretch someday soon.

[Donoghus]

Some real ghosts of Celticsblog past in that thread.

[manl_lui]

If Danny takes Wallace's awful contract then he should be fired.

from one of the old celticsblog post

lol, o man that was so long ago, we endured quite a bit up until now

[BitterJim]

The reddit comment about us not having a coach wasn't a shot at Brad, we literally didn't have a coach until July 3rd

When I read what the OP said about not having a coach, I assumed he was referring to the Nets. Didn't they hire Jason Kidd at some point after the trade? Also, wasn't that Kidd's first coaching gigg too? To me, the hiring of Kidd was the biggest mistake imagineable, especially after making that blockbuster deal.

The Nets already had Kidd by then, and had started to poach assistants from us/Doc

[BitterJim]

You're leaving out some of the best material, the insight of our own!

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=66010.0

Found this tweet scrolling through it (h/t to celticinorlando)

Bill Simmons ‏@BillSimmons 3m
That rumored Celtics-Nets trade is so bad for Boston that Doc Rivers just quit on the Celtics again.

I'm gonna give you a TP now just for being the first person (I think) in that old thread to say that the Nets picks might be good

[CelticSooner]

I still can’t believe the C’s got those picks unprotected. I knew that haul was a good one because KG and Pierce were basically done.

My first post on the subject:

Now this is the kind of trade you make to rebuild the right way.

Gives Pierce and KG a nice landing spot as well. It's a win-win for all involved.

Ainge makes fools out of all. Got me with Tatum over Fultz.