Too Attached to Players

[gift]

Most understood the cost down the road getting KG and Allen. One ring in 4 years was not worth it.

i share your disappointment in only 1 ring with this core.  when we first got allen and garnett i wanted at least 2 with 3 being a real possibility.  if it weren't for injuries and a little bad luck, 3 might have happened.  2 championships was minutes from happening.

however, the worst case scenario now is that we go back to what we were before ray and kg.  how is that not worth it?  what did we lose?

the worst thing to be in the nba is a mediocre team.  you don't get the best draft picks, you most likely don't have a lot, if any, cap space or flexibility, and yet you still don't have any real shot at a championship.

ainge has set this team up with a real shot at a chamionship for the last 4 years, and when this year is over, the celtics are set up well to either quickly rebuild, or get extremely lucky with some free agents/other moves and remain a contender.

i'd only be worried if we still had garnett, pierce and allen locked up at their current salaries for another few years.

[mgent]

One ring in 4 years was not worth it.

i WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree with this.  after everything we went through as a fan base since the 90's....1 title is definitely worth it!  

I'm with you bro.  It might not seem like it because our team has never won just 1 ring before, but imagine the alternative.

I feel absolutely privileged to been able to watch this team.  And not just because of the banner, which would've been 2 banners if not for the refs, or 4 banners if not for injuries.

We got to watch KEVIN GARNETT and RAY ALLEN on the same team as our boy Pierce.  We had the best mobile defender ever, and arguably the best shooter ever on OUR TEAM.  I would never give these years back.

[FLCeltsFan]

In over 40 years of being a Celtics fan the first player I really got attached to was Kendrick Perkins.  Danny broke my heart when he traded Perk.  I'll never be convinced that wasn't a mistake for the franchise. I miss him as a Celtic and will always cheer for him on the Thunder.  If Danny had been a little more attached to Perk, the Celtics would be in a much better place today.  

But, that being said,  I'm still a Celtics fan and still rooting for them and want Banner 18 this season!!

[angryguy77]

Most understood the cost down the road getting KG and Allen. One ring in 4 years was not worth it.

i share your disappointment in only 1 ring with this core.  when we first got allen and garnett i wanted at least 2 with 3 being a real possibility.  if it weren't for injuries and a little bad luck, 3 might have happened.  2 championships was minutes from happening.

however, the worst case scenario now is that we go back to what we were before ray and kg.  how is that not worth it?  what did we lose?

the worst thing to be in the nba is a mediocre team.  you don't get the best draft picks, you most likely don't have a lot, if any, cap space or flexibility, and yet you still don't have any real shot at a championship.

ainge has set this team up with a real shot at a chamionship for the last 4 years, and when this year is over, the celtics are set up well to either quickly rebuild, or get extremely lucky with some free agents/other moves and remain a contender.

i'd only be worried if we still had garnett, pierce and allen locked up at their current salaries for another few years.

"two minutes and Joey Crawford from happening" would be more appropriate.

The op seems to forget how close we were to having title #2. Had it not been for KG's knee, we could have repeated. Had it not been for game altering refs in the 4th quarter, we would have won 2 titles in 3 years(yes, i will always be bitter about that-screw you crawford).

It's a lot of "ifs", but they are legit and not the fault of the trade.

Had it not been for the trade, we could be looking 30 years without a title.

[Chris]

Let's see, one ring in 4 years. 5 to rebuild depending how much old furniture we keep around. That's 9 years with a Snake Oil Salesman's guarantee. We may court that 2 decade trendline again. History does repeat.

The thing is, we weren't going to contend anytime soon had we not traded for KG and Allen.  Was Jeff Green and Al Jefferson going to lead us to a title?

They were able to take a respite from 20 years of "rebuilding", and got 1 championship, a second finals appearance, and a couple other very good teams that fell short because of injuries.  

Now, we are potentially back where we were in 2005 and 2006.  We will have a few decent assets, and are looking forward to cap flexibility.  Now, we will need luck to get to the top again, but that was always the case.

One thing I have learned being a fan of a losing franchise for most of my life is that you can't take the good years for granted.  You need to take them when you can, and then be prepared to make the moves to get back there as soon as possible.

Yes, there were some mistakes made, but that is no different from any other franchise.  But we are still in a solid position to rebuild or reload, and who knows, we may not even have to bottom out first.

[CFAN38]

Danny broke my heart when he traded Perk

I agree but the injury's where becoming to much and a long term deal to perk would have been scary.

[Roy H.]

I saw nothing inflammatory in my post. Just some cold facts.

Too much Kook Aid makes one think everytnings just fine.

In terms of inflammatory, please read our rules:

Do not label fellow posters in a way that is likely to provoke a negative response.  Dependent upon context, examples include, but are not limited to, "fake fan", "bandwagon fan", "not a real fan", "hater", "homer", "koolaid drinker", etc.

[kozlodoev]

"Kook aid" is TEH worst typo to make 

[Jon]

One ring in 4 years was not worth it.

i WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree with this.  after everything we went through as a fan base since the 90's....1 title is definitely worth it!  

Yep.

Perhaps people should talk to Knicks fans who haven't won a title for 40 years or Sixers fans who haven't won one in 29 years.

Winning one title is absolutely worth any negative side effects.  

Furthermore, what exactly was the alternative?  Build around Big Al and Jeff Green (who was the #5 pick we traded for Ray).  Both are good players, but we'd be nothing more than a perennial first or second round exit with that team.  

Finally, what does this have to do with being "attached" to players?  Danny isn't holding onto the Big Three out of sentiment, he's holding onto them for two reasons:

1) We're still competitive.

2) We haven't gotten our doors knocked down with offers.  Contrary to what some believe, OKC isn't going to give us Durant for KG's expiring deal.  The best we might get is a few "decent" players.  The only issue is that we'll have to take back 23 million dollars worth of "decent" players to make such a deal work.  And why on earth would we want to do that and totally screw our cap flexibility?  

Because contrary to what some believe, the best value in the Big Three is to likely let them expire to get cap room.  

[Roy H.]

"Kook aid" is TEH worst typo to make 

Haha.  Not sure it was a typo.

[Donoghus]

I'm probably too attached to Pierce. Man, its going to be a miserable day when he either hangs 'em up or, godforbid, suits up for another team.


Other than that, never really gotten too tied into any Celtics player since the days of the original Big Three.

[Roy H.]

I'm genuinely surprised that some fans think the trade wasn't "worth it".  22 years between titles is long enough; I'm surprised that some wanted to wait even longer.  We have had a solid four year run of title contention; isn't that the best case scenario of rebuilding?

As for becoming "too attached", I'm one of those fans who would rather watch three Hall of Famers in their twilight years, rather than trading them for a bunch of mediocre players and/or draft picks.  There's something to be said for Paul Pierce staying a career Celtic, or KG and Ray adding to their Celtics legacy.  What trade is Danny going to make that is going to put us solidly on the road back to a title?

[Jon]

I'm genuinely surprised that some fans think the trade wasn't "worth it".  22 years between titles is long enough; I'm surprised that some wanted to wait even longer.  We have had a solid four year run of title contention; isn't that the best case scenario of rebuilding?

As for becoming "too attached", I'm one of those fans who would rather watch three Hall of Famers in their twilight years, rather than trading them for a bunch of mediocre players and/or draft picks.  There's something to be said for Paul Pierce staying a career Celtic, or KG and Ray adding to their Celtics legacy.  What trade is Danny going to make that is going to put us solidly on the road back to a title?

Exactly.

I think there's this myth that was likely started by Danny when he made his comments about trading the original Big Three that we could trade our current Big Three for what would be the core of our next dynasty. 

And that's always been just that: a myth. 

Even going back two years, who exactly would've wanted any of the Big Three? 

Contenders?  Sure.  But what are they going to give up?  They're not going to deal their core stars and most don't have the young talent that would help us in the future.

Rebuilding teams?  Nope.  Why do they want a KG or Ray?  Sure, they might offer us a collection of overpaid scrubs.  But a team like Sacramento isn't/wasn't going to give up a building block like Tyreke Evans for an aging superstar that wouldn't be around by the time the rebuilding process was complete. 

So what exactly can Danny do?  Sure, if a great trade comes along, we should make it.  But we're likely faced with either letting the Big Three expire or trading them for mediocre, overpaid players (remember, if the other team is over the cap, we have to match salaries...do you really want to take on as much salary as the Big Three are making). 

[Chris]

Another thing that drives me nuts is that Danny's comments about trading bird and McHale was not necessarily a philosophical statement.  He was speaking about specifics.  The C's were offered incredible offers for those two that Red turned down out of loyalty/sentimentality.  Danny said that he never would have turned down those offers.

The difference here is that Danny has not been getting those offers for his aging stars. 

[Lord of Mikawa]

I'm genuinely surprised that some fans think the trade wasn't "worth it".  22 years between titles is long enough; I'm surprised that some wanted to wait even longer.  We have had a solid four year run of title contention; isn't that the best case scenario of rebuilding?

As for becoming "too attached", I'm one of those fans who would rather watch three Hall of Famers in their twilight years, rather than trading them for a bunch of mediocre players and/or draft picks.  There's something to be said for Paul Pierce staying a career Celtic, or KG and Ray adding to their Celtics legacy.  What trade is Danny going to make that is going to put us solidly on the road back to a title?

I'm glad we had this four years. For the first time in my life, I actually have a team that I feel good cheering for. I hope KG and Ray can retire as Celtics. Some of the fans are a little ungrateful and I wouldn't trade them away for some average players that won't even put effort out.