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.