I find it hard to call getting rid of Semih a mistake until we see him do something this year, since he did nothing after being traded last season.
His performance while injured, and playing for the Cavs? I'm comfortable calling the Semih trade a mistake just based on his performance before the trade. 'Gody was whatever, but trading away Semih was more or less the biggest unforced error this season.
I think this is a creative new way to defend Ainge. There's no question about what the worst Celtics move was this season: The Trade will go down one of the worst moves in NBA history. What's truly astounding, though, more than The Trade itself is the near total lack of heat Danny has had to face. One would think proud Celtic fans would be ticked off that he essentially gave up on the season.
This is never going to get old. I look forward to arguing about The Trade for the next thirty years, as time scrubs away all details, and the legend of Kendrick Perkins -- AKA Bill Russell Jr. -- ascends into myth.
We'll all regale each other with stories of how you could count on one hand, the number of pre-Trade bench players that could make it to the court without assistance from a crutch, walker, wheelchair, or stretcher. Perk's primal scream would have obviously cured them, but they couldn't hear it from Oklahoma.
We'll laugh at the non-stop parade of hilarious freak injuries that all happened at the worst possible times. Shaq's Achilles injury that never healed, and didn't respond after enough cortisone injections to numb an elephant. JO fracturing his wrist in the first round of the of the playoffs. Our third-string Center's awesome bone bruises at the end of the regular season, right when we needed him. Our former double-double machine pick-up who turned out to have as much wind as you can find perhaps in outer space. And then there's my favorite, where Dwayne Wade breaks our point guard's arm. If Perk was here, everyone would have just beasted through all that.
We'll shake our heads at the horrible scoring droughts that doomed our title chances. If only we had a one-legged center who could thunder down 5 PPG in 25 minutes of floor time, and Nate's laser-accurate three point shooting, we would have blown the Heat out of the building by double digits with nobody on the floor except Perk, Avery Bradley, and maybe Doc and two of our tallest cheerleaders.
Or you know, maybe it's just that some days you're the dog, and some days you're the hydrant.