The Rest is Gravy

[Neurotic Guy]

Just wanting to share my thoughts as the C's head into a new season as NBA champions.

I still have, with some frequency, a rather jolting thought: "The Celtics are actually the NBA Champions!"  The thought comes to me at odd moments and tends to leave me momentarily curious -- is it true? Did I dream it? Did Banner 17 really arrive just as I'd dared to wish following a 24-win season?  I pause, smile, and sigh happily -- yes...it really did happen.

When Danny traded for Kevin Garnett, I was excited.  I believed we'd have a chance to be solid for the next few years, maybe even contend for a championship.  I didn't really believe it could happen in Year 1. But it did.   

Once the championship was secured, I made the commitment to be forever satisfied that the trade was a grand success (I had already committed on Day 1 that it was the 'right' trade regardless of the outcome). 

Now, somewhere down the road -- could be this season, could be in 3 years -- Big Al, due to a combination of KG decline and AJ rise, will surpass the Big Ticket. I expect it -- it is inevitable. But when it does, I hope I'll remember the joy of Championship #17, the one we waited so long for, and I hope I never allow myself the thought that we should have held onto a Big Maybe (not referencing Al here, just the dubious future of the team) in favor of a New Big Three.

As we head into the 2008-9 campaign, I know I'll root like crazy as always, my anxiety will rise and fall like normal, and I'll feel the pain of loss and the joy of victory, but as far as the current itteration of my Celtics goes, the bottom line for me is...

The Rest is Gravy.

[Redz]

mmmmm...gravy

[JR Giddens]

[Edited]

No need for that.  If you don't like the topic, just stay away from it.
-Dons

[ACF]

Well said, NG. TP for that.
I still have to pinch myself once in
a while. There was so much more to it:
Three superstars who needed a ring to
go down in NBA history. Beating the
hated Lakeshow. Paul showing the world
how to shut the Snake down. The Celtics
winning No. 17 instead of LA grabbing
their 15th title. The so-called Zen Master
not being able to surpass Red, at least
not this time and hopefully, never.
Even the Brothers Grimm or my fellow countryman
Hans Christian Andersen could not have written
a better or more intriguing fairytale.
Like you say, the rest is gravy.
Now, pass the potatoes, please!

[CelticsWhat35]

I agree with pretty much everything you said except the last part.  When you're the most historic franchise in NBA history, and you have the best team in the league, you can't settle for anything less than the championship.  Now I agree with you that no matter what happens in these next few years with the Big 3, the trade was a success because we were able to get a title, which almost definitely wouldn't have happened any time in the near future if we continued with the youth movement.

I wouldn't consider everything that happens from here on out gravy.  If the Celtics don't win another title with the Big 3, I would consider those years pieces of fat around an otherwise delicious steak.  I'm sure if I thought about it more, I could come up with a better anology, but the gravy thing made me hungry and got me thinking about food.