Pierce - the happiest guy in Boston right now...

[ScoobyDoo]

Jeff Green will be such a critical piece to our championship run this year. Think about how the east has changed and also think about all the guys that Pierce would have had to potentially battle, basically by himself at the 3 spot, to get us to the promised land, if we hadn't landed Green.

Possible Eastern Conference playoff opponents:
Indiana: Granger, George, Dunleavy and Posey

New York: Carmelo, Walker and Azubuike - Anthony is exhauting by himself.

Philly: Thaddeus Young, Nocoini and Kapono

ATL: Marvin Williams, Joe Johnson, Heirich who plays some SF at times.

Orlando : Turkoglu and Richardson

Chicago: Deng, Korver and Brewer

Miami: LeBron and Mike Miller

It doesnt' get any easier out West with possible contenders:

Lakers: Artest and Barnes or Odom at times.

Dallas: Peja, Marion and Stevenson

OKC: Durant and Sefalosha

With Daniels very unlikely to come back, how would you like to be Pierce heading into the playoffs for four rounds of rock 'em sock 'em basketball with no legit back up?

In Green he has an adequate back for the first time since Posey. As Green is 6'9" he can match up well with LeBron, Hedo, Odom, etc. This will allow Doc to get Pierce away from defending LeBron in spurts, for example, which will take a huge load off his legs. 

Can you imagine the beating of going from playing Granger, to Melo to LeBron to Artest or Durant?

Pierce = happiest guy in Boston right now.

Look for Pierce to get some much needed rest down the stretch as they put Green through the paces to get him up to speed.

Pierce should be well rested and locked and loaded for the playoffs.

Great move to get green.   
   

[FrDrake]

I agree with you.  DA looked at the matchups and decided he'd rather roll the dice with a Shaq / Jermaine / Kristic poo poo platter against Bynam and Gasol in the Finals than watch PP get worn down defending the likes of 'Melo, Lebron, (possibly Durant), Deng, and Joe Johnson. 

[ScoobyDoo]

Eactly....

Pierce has taken a beating the last few season since Posey left. He just hasn't had any help at SF.

We're looking at going though all the best SF combinations in the league if we want a title.

The thing I really like about Green as our choice is that he can put some pressure on these guys because of his size.

He can match up well with other stretch 3/4's like Turkoglu, Odom, Durant and LeBron for that matter. He's not as good as any of them but he at least has the size to compete against them physically.

This is critical. 

[CeltsAcumen]

If I can play devil's advocate for a second:

Can you imagine the beating the Celtics will take if they have to play Dwight Howard, Chicago and then Los Angeles if Shaq and JO do not come back healthy?

I would think having Krstic as your only C going into the playoffs is far worse than Paul Pierce having to lock up guys he plays on a regular basis.

See it works both ways.  
 
Further, its not like the Celtics only option was to move Perkins, they could of moved a player and gotten help for Pierce without trading Perkins.   Perkins deal was financial, not bc DA wanted to move Perkins.

You have to give this trade at least a month before we

[Roy H.]

Does Pierce know he's happy?  Because he sounded pretty upset.

I do think that if Green plays to his potential, he's going to make Paul's life a lot easier.

[droopdog7]

If I can play devil's advocate for a second:

Can you imagine the beating the Celtics will take if they have to play Dwight Howard, Chicago and then Los Angeles if Shaq and JO do not come back healthy?

I would think having Krstic as your only C going into the playoffs is far worse than Paul Pierce having to lock up guys he plays on a regular basis.

See it works both ways.  
 
Further, its not like the Celtics only option was to move Perkins, they could of moved a player and gotten help for Pierce without trading Perkins.   Perkins deal was financial, not bc DA wanted to move Perkins.

You have to give this trade at least a month before we

If Krstic is our only center over 7ft, then yes, we will have some trouble.  But Murphy would help that.  And I trust that DA feels confortable that one or both of the O'Neals will be there when we need them.

But you are leaving out one name, especially when it comes to Howard.  This move tells me that DA and Doc trust BBD to gaurd some of those big guys.  If you have been watching, you'll remember that Baby does a pretty good job of guarding taller guys.  And if we do face Orl, we will see plenty of BBD on Howard (and I am perfectly confortable with it).

[FrDrake]

If I can play devil's advocate for a second:

Can you imagine the beating the Celtics will take if they have to play Dwight Howard, Chicago and then Los Angeles if Shaq and JO do not come back healthy?

I would think having Krstic as your only C going into the playoffs is far worse than Paul Pierce having to lock up guys he plays on a regular basis.

See it works both ways.  
 
Further, its not like the Celtics only option was to move Perkins, they could of moved a player and gotten help for Pierce without trading Perkins.   Perkins deal was financial, not bc DA wanted to move Perkins.

You have to give this trade at least a month before we

If Krstic is our only center over 7ft, then yes, we will have some trouble.  But Murphy would help that.  And I trust that DA feels confortable that one or both of the O'Neals will be there when we need them.

But you are leaving out one name, especially when it comes to Howard.  This move tells me that DA and Doc trust BBD to gaurd some of those big guys.  If you have been watching, you'll remember that Baby does a pretty good job of guarding taller guys.  And if we do face Orl, we will see plenty of BBD on Howard (and I am perfectly confortable with it).

The Magic are a nonfactor since they made the terrible Turkaglu / Richardson / Arenas trades.  Who cares if Howard blows up for 30 and 20.  The rest of his team stinks.

[ScoobyDoo]

Ha Ha Ha, major TP to Roy H. - That is funny.

On a serious note though - I know all these guys got hurt big time with the Perkins trade. I hated the trade even though I thought it was the right trade to do.

My favorite all time Celts are Bird, KG, Jo Jo White, McHale, Cowens and Perkins, yes Perkins. Not as talented, but I just loved what he did and how he did it.  

But I think it's going to be critical for Pierce to have back up. Let's "hope" he's the happiest guy in Boston - after getting over losing Perkins...  

Great point you raise Celtsacumen and agreed we will lose some toughness in the middle.

At the same time , I'd rather take my chances with Shaq, Jermain, Krstic, Murphy, Big Baby and KG in the middle against other team's bigs than watch Pierce play 40+ minutes a night for four straight playoff series against some SF's in LeBron, Melo and Artest, who, IMHO, are every bit as physical for their positions as Dwight Howard is at Center - with only someone like Anthony Parker behind him rather than a bigger Jeff Green.

But there are good arguments both ways. I think we've lost some toughness for sure but I think when Ainge is done after buyouts, we will be far more talented overall.

A little less tough but more talented.  

[Brendan]

If I can play devil's advocate for a second:

Can you imagine the beating the Celtics will take if they have to play Dwight Howard, Chicago and then Los Angeles if Shaq and JO do not come back healthy?

I would think having Krstic as your only C going into the playoffs is far worse than Paul Pierce having to lock up guys he plays on a regular basis.

See it works both ways.  
 
Further, its not like the Celtics only option was to move Perkins, they could of moved a player and gotten help for Pierce without trading Perkins.   Perkins deal was financial, not bc DA wanted to move Perkins.

You have to give this trade at least a month before we

I'll have to disagree there: I think BBD and KG are both viable options against some of those big men. Especially Gasol. Also Perk isn't exactly healthy either - the Celts were counting on two of the three getting better. With Green sliding into combo forward role, that means BBD is more available at C. Worst case scenario they could do an eight man rotation of:

BBD / Kristic
KG / Green
PP / Green
RA / West
Rondo / West

With some buyout guys signed as PF/C insurance and G insurance and Wafer as wing insurance. Before this move they didn't have this flexibility since BBD was the only viable PF on the roster besides KG. (I think they would have targeted another big either way, but now they'll go after a guard that can play point instead of a wing that can play SF - so the trade doesn't really effect their buyout approach.)

Its easy to speculate the Celts could have made another move, but I don't see any rumors that would bring in nearly the quality of player of Jeff Green*. I know Roy has said a bunch of times they could have gotten Parker, but frankly I'm not a fan of his performance, and think he's more Wafer role material than heavy rotation guy. The optimal guy to get was always a power-3/stretch-4 type combo forward to play behind KG and PP off the bench. I think the fact that its a long term gain for DA's plans was a factor, but not the deciding one. And realistically the Celts know what Perkins wanted as an extension, they also have some guesses about the new CBA. Since Green is a restricted FA they will likely get to run him out there for one more year and then make a decision on him with a clear understanding of the new CBA, FA landscape, and their core's ability and desire to make another run or two at the championship.

* (and I say this as someone who has never liked Green, and always thought Presti made a mistake picking him. Later I realized Ray Allen + BBD would have been better for SEA than West, Wally, and Green, but at the time I just thought Green was no number five pick)

[LooseCannon]

Does Pierce know he's happy?  Because he sounded pretty upset.

I do think that if Green plays to his potential, he's going to make Paul's life a lot easier.

If Green plays to his potential, Paul Pierce is going to be shoved to the bench by the end of his contract if he doesn't retire or allow himself to be traded.  Do you think he is happy about that?

[droopdog7]

Does Pierce know he's happy?  Because he sounded pretty upset.

I do think that if Green plays to his potential, he's going to make Paul's life a lot easier.

If Green plays to his potential, Paul Pierce is going to be shoved to the bench by the end of his contract if he doesn't retire or allow himself to be traded.  Do you think he is happy about that?

This would likely have happened reagrdless of whether we traded for Green or not.  PP shouldn't expect to be starting at the end regardless.

[BballTim]

If I can play devil's advocate for a second:

Can you imagine the beating the Celtics will take if they have to play Dwight Howard, Chicago and then Los Angeles if Shaq and JO do not come back healthy?

  Would you pin your entire playoff run on Perk standing up to that beating for 30+ minutes in every game of the postseason without any recurrence of injury?

[footey]

Does Pierce know he's happy?  Because he sounded pretty upset.

I do think that if Green plays to his potential, he's going to make Paul's life a lot easier.

Paul is a good actor.

[ScoobyDoo]

Won't Pierce be only 35 in the last year of his contract? Unless he has some kind of major setback injury wise, I don't see Jeff Green pushing him to the bench.

I could see a scenario where Pierce still starts but is playing more like KG does now..about 25-30 minutes, Green comign in earlier.

But I would see Pierce, at that point in his career and with a  few rings, as being graceful about it, much like KG is currently being graceful about playing only 25-30 minutes a night rather than stud minutes of 35-42 a night...

I would think Pierce would welcome it actually.

You can start Pierce to the end of his contract no problem. You just bring in the young gun earlier in the game, the rotation. I just don't Pierce will decline that much.

He's a great athlete and he takes care of himself. Pippen and Jordan were still studs at 35, much like Kg and Ray are right now.

[ScoobyDoo]

Also a good point BBallTim. I would have loved to have kept Perkins.

At the same time, I'm more confident in the center by committee route we've taken than pinning the majority of the pounding on Perkins who just injured his good knee, perhpas in part because his bad knee is still a little weak. That is very common coming off an injury like Perkins had.

No guarantees either way but again, I like my chances with Nenad, Shaq, Jermaine, KG, Murphy ( Hopefully ) and Baby manning the middle at different times.