Co workers, friends anti celtics fans now have another excuse

[Casperian]

It´s time to end this bogus about how McHale gave us KG for nothing because he´s an ex-celtic.

McHale is only the GM.

Imagine you´re Kevin McHale, GM of the Timberwolves, and you have to call Glen Taylor, owner of the Wolves, and tell him:

"Look, Glen, I know I´ve did a terrible job the last 10 years. I´ve wasted the prime of one of the greatest players in the history of the game because I surrounded him with scrubs like Wally and Jaric. But Danny Ainge called me yesterday, and said he would give us half of his 24-win team if we would give him KG. I think that´s a fair deal, and I´m confident I can build this team into a title contender if we do this deal. And after all, I´m an ex-celtic, so you have to understand that I´m a bit biased and feel even if there are better offers for KG, I have to trade him to the Celts....btw, my contract is up, how about an extension? I could also use a bit more money..."

Seriously, how mentally challenged do you have to be to think this actually happened?

Kevin McHale did not give us KG, it was Glen Taylor. The same guy who said that KG wasn´t loyal and would have forced his way out of town...

Seriously...

[guava_wrench]

Out of curiosity, how did the mid-90s Rockets team buy a title?  The first Finals team was mostly home grown, as I remember, and the second one added Drexler mid-season.  Not exactly an off-season spending spree.  Now, they later went out and added Barkley, and then Pippen, but those teams never won.

I think the "buying" a championship thing is ridiculous.  The Celtics went out and made intelligent moves in the off-season.  If money was all it took to win a title, it would be New York vs. Dallas every year in the Finals.

Further, Houston lost when they brought in Barkley.

[Triboy16]

Out of curiosity, how did the mid-90s Rockets team buy a title?  The first Finals team was mostly home grown, as I remember, and the second one added Drexler mid-season.  Not exactly an off-season spending spree.  Now, they later went out and added Barkley, and then Pippen, but those teams never won.

I think the "buying" a championship thing is ridiculous.  The Celtics went out and made intelligent moves in the off-season.  If money was all it took to win a title, it would be New York vs. Dallas every year in the Finals.

Further, Houston lost when they brought in Barkley.

barkley was old. Still decent but not to the standards of our big three.

Pierce , allen and kg believe it or not are still in their primes. Maybe late primes but still able to complete at a high level every single game.

i don't think gasol is a good comparison to what i was posting. Gasol is no where near the level of the big three in terms of stats nor star power like qualities. He is a very good player like rasheed wallace, prince etc. though

Detroit also is not a good comparison because that team has two legit stars in billups and hamilton. Please don't call wallace nor prince stars, no way

I think out of anything danny is a genius, i just don't want the celtics to be rememberd to have won cuz we had three all stars in their primes, compared to hard work and great defense.

I think after the post playoffs alot of people will make excuses we won mainly because we have not two but three high profile stars.

I think the only way people can truly respect our team is that if we win two or three in a row. I don't care if you have 3 or 4 all stars in your team, tahts not easy to do.

[CLeht11]

I really don't see how people can say the Celtics bought this title.  If they argue that, they might as well consider the Celtics champions for the next 3 years.

How can you overlook the Gasol deal, and the fact that they do have Odom and Fisher accompanying Bryant and now Odom.  The Lakers got Pau for a song, Kobe is arguably the best player in the league, and Odom really isn't a slouch either.  They have 3 great players in that startling line up, teamed with a very experienced Derek Fisher.  The only position they lack is the small forward spot, but Walton/Radmanovich can step up at times. 

Comparing that to our Big 3 and the fact that we have an inexperienced Point Guard and Center, and the fact that we have 3 injured players right now - all of them in the starting line up.

People will argue the Celtics buying the title, but the only reason we can't argue the Lakers buying the title is the fact that THEY AREN'T GOING TO WIN THE TITLE!

[Cooldude5t5]

You can not buy a championship in Basketball it doesn't happen. Minnesota received good value for KG and Seattle received great value for Ray Allen. Many experts declared Seattle the winner when it came to the Allen deal. The salary cap makes it impossible to buy a championship, if you could buy a championship the Knicks starting line-up would be the following:
C- Dwight Howard
PF- Duncan
SF- LeBron
SG- Kobe
PG- Chris Paul
Bench: Pierce, Amare, Dirk, and Jason Kidd

[Bahku]

First of all, we haven't won the Championship yet, so this is kinda moot. If we do win it all, though, people who don't like the Celtics or just don't care, will use every excuse in the book to belittle our team and invalidate this amazing turn-around we've had.

That's the way of the world, unfortunately, and no matter how great something seems, there will always be others who are more than happy to steal the thunder or berate it. Frankly, if we win, I'm going to be as obnoxious and exhuberant as I can be about celebrating ... and enjoy every minute of it, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks!

[tmcdon]

Bought?!

The Celtics TRADED for Garnet and Allen, and signed Posey, House, and Pollard as FA.  Boston didn't "buy" anyone.  The Lakers BOUGHT Shaq Oniel, and BOUGHT Karl Malone.  The BOUGHT Wilt Chamberlain, and BOUGHT Kareem.  The Yankees BUY their talent.  When you say that someone, or a team BUYS a championship you're implying that they go to the open market and outbid, with cash or a contract, another team for someone's services, and mostly the team that either originally drafted the player and has had them under contract for an extended period of time.  You offer the player more money to play for your team - that's "buying" a player.  You buy a championship by simply outspending other teams (alla the Yankees) and purchasing the highest talent on the FA market at the highest price.

That is professional sports, folks.  Player are mercenaries and teams spend money to get players to play for their team, it's why we call it "professional" sports - because they're paid.  There are no players in the NBA playing for free, they were ALL paid.  The owners aren't playing for the title, the fans aren't playing the game, the teams aren't made up solely of residents of the city the team occupies, they pay players to play for the team!  Hence your whole team has always been and will continue to be "bought" no matter what professional franchise or what pro sport you are talking about.

[Steve Weinman]

To the OP, I'd reiterate (as I mentioned above) the following to your co-workers: "Find me the last title team whose players worked pro bono, and we'll chat from there."

-sw

Addendum: Their rec league basketball teams are not valid responses.

[RockinRyA]

if the celts win this one im gonna rub it in front of every fakers fan

[dark_lord]

i say let haters hate.   

[lon3lytoaster]

Alright I'm going to make a list...

1. The rims are different here in Boston
2. Tom Thibodeau knows Kobe Bryant too well
3. We actually TIGHTEN the rims in Boston, and in LA for that matter
4. The NBA referees are constantly trying to screw LA
5. Phil Jackson's hip is likely stopping him from making the right decision
6. Kobe was missing "bunny layups" in Game One, and it was unlikely to happen again
7. The team's ownership had to buy a championship
8. Paul Pierce had to fake a torn ACL to distract the Lakers and stop them from covering him the rest of the series
9. Every time Sasha Vujacic touches Ray Allen, it's a foul
10. Andddd now Lamar Odom is allegedly suffering from tendonitis

Is that all?

[CfanMissippi]

Triboy, did these friends and co workers cry with you last year when we lostout in the lottery? I bet not.

If/when we win... were a  Celtic jersey with number 17 on it and apologize for being world champs..

[Nerf MVP]

Alright I'm going to make a list...

1. The rims are different here in Boston
2. Tom Thibodeau knows Kobe Bryant too well
3. We actually TIGHTEN the rims in Boston, and in LA for that matter
4. The NBA referees are constantly trying to screw LA
5. Phil Jackson's hip is likely stopping him from making the right decision
6. Kobe was missing "bunny layups" in Game One, and it was unlikely to happen again
7. The team's ownership had to buy a championship
8. Paul Pierce had to fake a torn ACL to distract the Lakers and stop them from covering him the rest of the series
9. Every time Sasha Vujacic touches Ray Allen, it's a foul
10. Andddd now Lamar Odom is allegedly suffering from tendonitis

Is that all?

No.

11. Bynum got hurt

12. We're tired from fighting our way through the tough tough West while you guys were playing the Hawks.

13.KG was a gift from Mchale to Ainge

14. Aurbach through death has become more powerful now than we could have possibly imagined.

15. Ray Allen wasn't supposed to shoot this good.

16. The 2-3-2 format isn't fair! It should be 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

17. The games are on too early! The players aren't ready!!!

[Hollywood]

I can understand some hatred because this team just came together last year, snowballing after the ray allen trade. You are looking at a totally different roster than last year, so you could argue it doesn't "feel authentic" or "have meaning" compared to having a crop of players that all came up through the celts organization and this year was a culmination of several years of close misses.

I don't buy any of that, but I will say I hate when championship teams fall off the face of the planet the year after. This is sort of like a two year process of validation-if that makes sense.

[zerophase]

"Just like the mid 90's rockets the celtics have bought the nba trophy" stated one of my co workers who isn't a lakers fan just a general nba fan. I had another friend stating "is it fair that even if one of the big three is struggling you have two future potential hall of famers the other team still have to stop"??

Though i love the celtics and i'm in this journey for the trophy as many of you celtics faithful, i sort of can't truly deny these guys points. I like to believe even if we have three great players it is still a team effort, our bench isn't the best in the league so its sort of even with a team with 10 above average players, lastly our defense carried us this far and not only our offense but if we were all objective nba fans , the celtics in the end have 3 future poential hall of famers and a ridicously close semi nba all star team.

i don't like the celts being disrespected when they win it all, cuz they had three superstars and it was a given they would win. The same co worker above stated if we had oden or durant, with jefferson and pierce and only made it to the conference finals that would have been better than now(reputation wise).

Do you guys feel if the celts win this year(never again after that)people will look back and not really remember our great team effort and defense compared to that we had three super stars so it was given we won??

It is an interesting argument post the nba finals

okay, i want to make this very clear. a team cannot just buy a championship. if they could, why won't every team do this? yes the celtics lucked out with getting 3 potentially hall of famers... but then again, its only unfortunate for the losing team. anyone who played in the jordan era was out of luck. do you feel they bought their trophies? we have a great team. be proud. another banner is another banner. i honestly don't care if posey has to break another nose. i want the banner.