The original "Big 3" trade

[Slugger]

Time for a bit of revisionist history my friends.

There has been alot talk about trading one/two or all of our current big 3.  Whilst i'm not comparing todays trio to that of yesteryear, it got me to thinking about the time Danny Ainge said that the original big 3 (namely Larry and Kevin) should have been traded as they were beginning to break down.

Alot of people in here, i have noticed, agree with his statement.  They feel that if we had begun to rebuild as Bird and McHale started to age, then we would not have gone through the very lean period during the 90's.

The question i'm about to ask will take people back a few years, so some researching may need to be done. But before i do, i have a few points regarding trading the original Big 3.

 - The trio was the backbone of 3 championships during the 80's, and numerous deep playoff runs.  They bought winning basketball back to Boston after the team had been in the wilderness for several years.

 - Boston was known as a Blue-collar town.  Those kind of people (for which i am one) tend to be very loyal (to a fault)  Would they have have the forsight to see that trading any of the big 3 be beneficial down the track?  Or would the loyalty factor kick in.

 - Two words...Red Auerbach.  The man obviously could have traded any of the trio, yet didnt.  Are we to question his motives?

 - was coaching an issue - Chris Ford?



This leads me to the multiple point question of;

What trades would you have made back then?  If you would have traded them, what sort of talent could you have got in return? And, if you look at the depth of rosters back then, coupled with salaries, was pushing ahead with the Big 3 really a mistake?

With regards to our current Big 3, how much does loyalty (if any) play a part in whether they stay or are traded?  Obviously fans will feel more attached to Pauly then Ray or KG, but does this mean they wouldnt trade him.

The new Big 3 helped bring back winning basketball to Boston.  Are we forgetting how woeful we were in 2007, before KG and Ray arrived.  Basically, how far does loyalty get these guys?

[Fafnir]

- Two words...Red Auerbach.  The man obviously could have traded any of the trio, yet didnt.  Are we to question his motives?

There is nothing wrong with questioning a GM, even a lengendary one.

I'm not sure what moves we could have made, its hard to say 20+ years removed. I wasn't old enough to really remember much about the league back then and its hard to recall exactly who could play back then.

[GreenFaith1819]

Wow - TP for a good discussion thread.

This one takes me back...I remember those days vividly.

To answer the "Original Big Three" question, the only one that was probably worth anything was Chief, being that he was in the best general health at the time if I can remember.

Mchale had his ankle issues, so he would not have garnered much in the trade market IMO.

Larry would not have been traded I don't think...he was the heart and soul. And even with a potential trade, he had his back issues.

I think that if Red did in fact pull the plug on any of the Original Big Three, he could have "maybe" picked up some decent pieces for Parish or Bird, Maybe Mchale too. But what other team would have went in with us on such a trade? And when would it happen? 1987? 1988? I don't think that anoher team would have given us any more than a 1st round pick and a role player back then. Which would have lead us to maybe not making playoffs in the late 80's. Wow.

Funny thing is that Chief ended up playing over 20 years, lol...the man played into 2001 I believe.

The interesting thing is that to my memory the Original B3 did in fact play very well for several yrs after the Bias tragedy (more on that issue later). We had some good talent come in (Todd Day, Kevin Gamble, Ed Pinckney) to name a few. They just did not have the health to make a banner push. And none of those players I named were "SuperStar" talent.

And to explain my previous bullet - I think a reason why Red didn't make a trade for any of the Original B3 was that with the Bias Tragedy, it cast such a cloud over the organization that he didn't have the heart to tell the sports world the news of a potential trade. And I don't know of many people who would, especially after that. Business is business, but there was a time and place for everything.

That would have been basically the same as say a Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal type tragedy, God forbid...one that sets a team back for a long time.

And then throw in the Reggie Lewis tragedy, and that is a heck of a gut punch, times Two.

I'm willing to say that no other NBA organization has had two gut punches like that before, in a span of 7 years.

Now fast forward to today...we have Rondo and Perk. Nuff said. These are two pillars to build around, I think. While we had solid players back in the late 80's to build around, none of them were of same talent level as these two. Now sure Perk is not Chief, but he is getting there and he's only 26.

I'd even say that Glen and Marquis are keepers.

I really believe that we will bring in another Star Level talent within next few years without trading Any of the current B3. Once this team gets healthy we can compete for Banner 18 this year and Banner 19 next.

Funny thing is that the Spurs are in worst shape than us, I believe, and no one is talking about their age or trading Duncan, Parker or Ginobili.

Well, that's my take.