The price we paid for Banner 17

[bobdelt]

A lot of people here are mad at Danny, begging him to make moves. The fact is, he can't. The only movable asset is really Perkins (injured) and BBD. His hands are tied. This is the price we pay for winning a ring. These next 2 years are not going to be easy, and we're not going to be able to rebuild overnight.

I doubt we can move Rasheed's contract for anything - it still counts against the cap until a buyout is negotiated. In the summer of cap space, we have none. We have no flexibility. Sign and trades are nearly impossible to pull off, especially this summer when so many teams have cap space.

The only things left are desperation moves (i.e. beasley and bad contracts). Now Beasley might be a gamble I'd take on, but that's it. A poor desperation move will only hamper rebuilding even more.

So I'm hoping we stay put, let our big contracts expire. Acquire some young assets, and hope for the best in the lottery and free agency in a couple years.

[misha]

Still worth it.

[dark_lord]

Still worth it.

most definitely! 

[Jeff]

worth it

[Papatrichs]

I'm not getting younger...

[the_Bird]

The "price we paid" is looking to be less and less.  The assets that we gave up  have all depreciated substantially since the trades.  We gave up the half-crippled Big Al, who I still think can be a franchise cornerstone, but whose value is essentially nil today.  We gave up Delonte West, whose own issues are deep and well-documented.  We gave up the rights to Jeff Green (which likely would have been the rights to Yi...  ugh).  We gave up on Gerald Green, who's out of the league, and Ryan Gomes, who's been rumored to be a buyout candidate.

In retrospect...  really wasn't all that much to give up for a helluva three-year run (hopefully four).

As to not having any cap flexibility now...  well, if we've got to suffer through two years of decline, I can live with that.  Best-case, we'd only be a fringe playoff squad had we not made the trades.

[clover]

The "price we paid" is looking to be less and less.  The assets that we gave up  have all depreciated substantially since the trades.  We gave up the half-crippled Big Al, who I still think can be a franchise cornerstone, but whose value is essentially nil today.  We gave up Delonte West, whose own issues are deep and well-documented.  We gave up the rights to Jeff Green (which likely would have been the rights to Yi...  ugh).  We gave up on Gerald Green, who's out of the league, and Ryan Gomes, who's been rumored to be a buyout candidate.

In retrospect...  really wasn't all that much to give up for a helluva three-year run (hopefully four).

As to not having any cap flexibility now...  well, if we've got to suffer through two years of decline, I can live with that.  Best-case, we'd only be a fringe playoff squad had we not made the trades.

Great post!

[Redz]

The "price we paid" is looking to be less and less.  The assets that we gave up  have all depreciated substantially since the trades.  We gave up the half-crippled Big Al, who I still think can be a franchise cornerstone, but whose value is essentially nil today.  We gave up Delonte West, whose own issues are deep and well-documented.  We gave up the rights to Jeff Green (which likely would have been the rights to Yi...  ugh).  We gave up on Gerald Green, who's out of the league, and Ryan Gomes, who's been rumored to be a buyout candidate.

In retrospect...  really wasn't all that much to give up for a helluva three-year run (hopefully four).

As to not having any cap flexibility now...  well, if we've got to suffer through two years of decline, I can live with that.  Best-case, we'd only be a fringe playoff squad had we not made the trades.

yes indeed...wasn't there a pick or two involved with the T-Wolves as well?

[Papatrichs]

The "price we paid" is looking to be less and less.  The assets that we gave up  have all depreciated substantially since the trades.  We gave up the half-crippled Big Al, who I still think can be a franchise cornerstone, but whose value is essentially nil today.  We gave up Delonte West, whose own issues are deep and well-documented.  We gave up the rights to Jeff Green (which likely would have been the rights to Yi...  ugh).  We gave up on Gerald Green, who's out of the league, and Ryan Gomes, who's been rumored to be a buyout candidate.

In retrospect...  really wasn't all that much to give up for a helluva three-year run (hopefully four).

As to not having any cap flexibility now...  well, if we've got to suffer through two years of decline, I can live with that.  Best-case, we'd only be a fringe playoff squad had we not made the trades.

I'm truly dumbfounded that Danny has a man crush on Yi.

[Bahku]

I don't get it ... the endless trade threads ... talk of "desperation moves" .... panic about it "all being over" ... our future is limited and grim!

Man, this team just missed ANOTHER championship by four points! And I can argue that we were legitimately robbed of it ... so what the heck is all the worry about?!?

These guys are still one of the best teams in the NBA ... AS IS! And four months rest and training isn't going to change that!

Chill out, people ... we are ready for another deep playoff run right now ... with no chnages at all! I'm honestly stunned at the amount of "What are we gonna do now?" talk ...

Did this team somehow become impotent overnight or something?!? We have an awesome team as it stands, and if changes are made because of our draft picks, then we can assess them realistically.

But EVERY other team in the NBA would love to have made it as far as we did this year ... and people want to give up the ghost?!?

Sorry ... don't get it. The price we paid for Banner 17 was an incredible team, that almost won us Banner 18, (due to questionable circumstances), and give us a great shot at it next season!

We didn't pay anything, IMHO ... we were given a gift!

[StartOrien]

Banner 17 or a team of Yi, Delonte West, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Minny's pick (Kevin Love)....

[Jon]

I don't get it ... the endless trade threads ... talk of "desperation moves" .... panic about it "all being over" ... our future is limited and grim!

Man, this team just missed ANOTHER championship by four points! And I can argue that we were legitimately robbed of it ... so what the heck is all the worry about?!?

These guys are still one of the best teams in the NBA ... AS IS! And four months rest and training isn't going to change that!

Chill out, people ... we are ready for another deep playoff run right now ... with no chnages at all! I'm honestly stunned at the amount of "What are we gonna do now?" talk ...

Did this team somehow become impotent overnight or something?!? We have an awesome team as it stands, and if changes are made because of our draft picks, then we can assess them realistically.

But EVERY other team in the NBA would love to have made it as far as we did this year ... and people want to give up the ghost?!?

Sorry ... don't get it. The price we paid for Banner 17 was an incredible team, that almost won us Banner 18, (due to questionable circumstances), and give us a great shot at it next season!

We didn't pay anything, IMHO ... we were given a gift!

This is true.  I'd blame 3 things on our championship loss:

1) Perk's injury.

2) General exhaustion by PP and Ray.

3) Poor officiating. 

At least 2 of those 3 things are fixable for next season. 


Also, 1 title is worth pretty much any cost.  I think we as Boston fans (both with this decade's success in Boston and the storied Celtic past) are spoiled and think that prospects + cap room + the fact that we're the Celtics = Dynasty.  In reality, many teams get those opportunities and fall short.  Think of all the teams that did things right and got lucky with the draft and still fell short.  Even if we had prospects, we'd be much more likely to be Malone's Jazz than Jordan's Bulls, and we'd have to be pretty [dang] lucky to even be Malone's Jazz. 

I also agree with the OP's statement about not having a lot of assets.  I'd also argue that re-signing Ray for two years would give us a lot of assets in 2012.  By then, he and KG would be expiring deals (and maybe PP depending on what we do) that we could trade or let expire for mega cap space. 

What does this all mean?  Make another run at #18.  There's little we can do to rebuild right now, so let's re-sign Ray and TA, and then use the MLE and LLE to get a strong wing who can take pressure off of PP and Ray and a replacement for Sheed. 

[Greenbean]

Banner 17...priceless.

Seriously though, compare roster before and after 07-08. Delonte West is the ONLY contributor on a wining team from the players we traded away. We will still be a top 5 team in the East next year and financial flexibility is only 2 years away.

I agree with you no panic moves but i beg everyone that posts here not to even consider the thought that maybe we would have been better off not trading for Ray and KG.

[jjbay7]

I don't get it ... the endless trade threads ... talk of "desperation moves" .... panic about it "all being over" ... our future is limited and grim!

Man, this team just missed ANOTHER championship by four points! And I can argue that we were legitimately robbed of it ... so what the heck is all the worry about?!?

These guys are still one of the best teams in the NBA ... AS IS! And four months rest and training isn't going to change that!

Chill out, people ... we are ready for another deep playoff run right now ... with no chnages at all! I'm honestly stunned at the amount of "What are we gonna do now?" talk ...

Did this team somehow become impotent overnight or something?!? We have an awesome team as it stands, and if changes are made because of our draft picks, then we can assess them realistically.

But EVERY other team in the NBA would love to have made it as far as we did this year ... and people want to give up the ghost?!?

Sorry ... don't get it. The price we paid for Banner 17 was an incredible team, that almost won us Banner 18, (due to questionable circumstances), and give us a great shot at it next season!

We didn't pay anything, IMHO ... we were given a gift!

this was same logic used after 1987 champ series and celtics aging players. that cost us another 20years to bounce back! alot of things is timing. and like one notable person said "this summer will make and break franchises and determine teams for this decade"

[Jon]

I don't get it ... the endless trade threads ... talk of "desperation moves" .... panic about it "all being over" ... our future is limited and grim!

Man, this team just missed ANOTHER championship by four points! And I can argue that we were legitimately robbed of it ... so what the heck is all the worry about?!?

These guys are still one of the best teams in the NBA ... AS IS! And four months rest and training isn't going to change that!

Chill out, people ... we are ready for another deep playoff run right now ... with no chnages at all! I'm honestly stunned at the amount of "What are we gonna do now?" talk ...

Did this team somehow become impotent overnight or something?!? We have an awesome team as it stands, and if changes are made because of our draft picks, then we can assess them realistically.

But EVERY other team in the NBA would love to have made it as far as we did this year ... and people want to give up the ghost?!?

Sorry ... don't get it. The price we paid for Banner 17 was an incredible team, that almost won us Banner 18, (due to questionable circumstances), and give us a great shot at it next season!

We didn't pay anything, IMHO ... we were given a gift!

this was same logic used after 1987 champ series and celtics aging players. that cost us another 20years to bounce back! alot of things is timing. and like one notable person said "this summer will make and break franchises and determine teams for this decade"

Not really.  There was a plan in place: unfortunately Bias and Lewis died. 

More importantly, it wasn't holding on to the Big Three that hurt us, it was stupid drafts, stupid signings, stupid trades, and just general bad luck (not getting the #1 pick in '97--had that happened, no one would be talking about holding onto the original Big Three and Pitino would probably still be president of the C's). 

Most importantly, what exactly can the C's accomplish this summer?  They have no cap room and KG still has two years left on his deal, so he's hardly a commodity.  Most teams interested in Ray Allen will either just straight up sign him or won't have what we want in return.  The fact of the matter is that Ray is only useful if you're close to contending.  Most teams in that boat don't have a ton of young players to deal. 

The C's will need to make some smart moves in the future.  But not this summer.  It'll be partially next summer, but even more so in the summer of 2012 when KG comes off the books.  And let's also remember, in today's NBA, cap space cleared by the Big Three can be just as valuable as trading them.  So by no means do we have to deal anyone to make anything happen.