Keep telling that to yourselves, guys. But after awhile even the most hard-headed of y'all are going to have to start to recognize a pattern here...
It wasn't about Joe Smith or Marbury or this or that...it was the well-reasoned hunch that SOMEBODY helpful would be bought out after the trading deadline and that the Cs--being championship contenders--would be there to scoop up Veteran Free Agent X. So, here we are, after the madness of the trading deadline, with a whole host of potential free agents to choose from....
But, sure, keep using the rationale that Danny's on a great 3-year run of luck...that's certainly plausible, no matter how unlikely. If that's what it takes to get by, so be it...
Well, I agree with a certain portion of your premise - there is nothing wrong with hoping for some help via players who are bought out during the year, particularly when you have a championship-caliber roster of veteran players who have good relationships with and reputations among the types of veteran players who are likely to help your team if and when they are bought out. It is fine to hope for those additions. But I see a couple of problems.
First, being in a position to take the help is one thing - relying on it is just a bit dangerous when you have a relatively limited window and a chance to now with a great but aging core. Like Roy pointed out, if the Smith trade had not been miraculously rescinded, who is the answer to our center problem? PJ didn't change his mind. Mourning didn't want to come. We passed on Mutumbo apparently. Do you really think Mikki Moore, Chris Mihm or Calvin Booth would have been a suitable #2 center? And what happens if Marbury keeps up his childish behavior and refuses to give up $2 mil so NY won't agree to a buyout?
Second, and maybe I'm putting words in Bill's mouth here but it seemed like he was saying that getting Smith and Marbury would justify every decision Ainge made in the offseason because he was always planning on picking up guys midseason. The fact is none of the moves the Celtics made in the offseason helped our position to sign newly bought out free agents right now. Paying Patrick O'Bryant for 2/3 of a season didn't help toward getting Joe Smith or any other free agent who could be bought out. Using salary cap money and a roster spot to allow Sam Cassell to be an assistant coach and joke teller didn't help toward getting Stephon Marbury. That we've cut the ties with those guys is pretty good evidence of that fact.
Maybe not signing Posey helped - if we have to use some MLE money to get Smith (I don't think that will be the case, I think we'll go veteran's minimum if and hopefully when we get him). But other than that, having Posey wouldn't have hurt. And while it would have been one less roster space, we hopefully wouldn't have signed Allen, so we'd have the roster spot right here. I just don't see how signing a risky backup point guard and fortunately getting a solid backup center who should be bought out after the trade that would have made him unavailable was rescinded proves that letting Posey go was a good idea. And I definitely don't see how it makes the decisions to give money to POB, TA and Cassell any better.
Bottom line, to me - Things working out, whether through luck or subsequent good moves, doesn't mean that bad moves didn't happen. And it certainly doesn't mean that those who commented on bad moves and were proven right should have to apologize because something good, but completely unrelated, happened later.
(This is different from my still-standing and oft-disputed contention that Raef and Roy for Ratliff and Telfair was and still is a terrible move, as in that case, the moves were related to a later move that in the eyes of many justified the original bad move.)
