Chad Ford ranks Celtics dead last among non-traders.

[ctrey]

Here you go:


14. Boston Celtics
Positive spin: Ah, nostalgia. The Big Three is still the Big Three. And, hey, Danny Ainge was telling the truth. He said he wasn't trading Rajon Rondo and he stuck to his guns.

Negative spin: Ainge sounds like he worked the phones hard but just couldn't seal a deal. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett hit free agency this summer. What exactly is the Celtics' plan for rebuilding this franchise? Celtics fans could be in for another long, painful rebuilding phase.

I know everyone will disagree but Ford gets things right more often than wrong. (He was the one draft guru who loved Rondo, for example) We are big trouble. Namely spending years as a barely making the playoffs type team. That kind of middling existence is dreadful. I have watched The Rockets do it for seven years here in Houston. Trust me it is no fun. I would have rather seen us move boldly in one direction or the other.

I just hope Danny does re-sign KG and Allen next year unless they take under 5 million per year. It is time to find young Athletic players that can force tempo and play to Rondo's strengths. No more undersized 4's and 5's and suspect combo guards. We need at least one player who can take the ball to the rack and finish on the break. I hate watching Rondo blitz up the court and then stop to wait for everybody else to catch up.

If this team could get even a few fast break or easy transition baskets we would win at least another 5 to 10 games during a regular season. Plus do not get me started about having no youth to play back to backs.

I will support this team until they bury me no matter what, do not get me wrong. I just want to see a team that seems headed in the right direction. I am worried we are doing some wheel-spinning right now.

[theswitch]

With our future players, as of right now I don't see us as a fringe playoff team. We'll be picking in the top 5-7 pretty soon.

I'm not going to agree with Ford, though. There's a very clear rebuilding plan, and staying pat wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think he's unfairly ignoring the cap room aspect of the dealing, and I don't think it's "nostalgia" that's the biggest positive of the deadline. It's the fact that we have 3 young, promising players and Paul Pierce under contract next year.

[wdleehi]

Until I hear the great deal the Celtics turned down, I have no issue with them not making a trade.


History has shown to many teams that make panic trades at this point and actually end up in no mans land.  (see the Knicks from the 90s)  

Didn't the Rockets do the panic moves once Yao went down?  Trading shorter contracts for longer contracts.  

[TheReaLPuba]

Hard to blame Ainge though.

Howard kept changing his mind like a crazy woman.

Now that Dwight is not an impending FA things look worse.

So now with the cap flexibility we have, maybe we can add on to what we have with some good to very good role players.

Maybe we overpay for some potential and hope they grow alongside Rondo and draft picks and we become a good playoff team.

Maybe we tank for a few years and get higher draft picks and hit the gold pot....who knows.

Everything is a crap shoot until you have a viable contending team.

Right now we have a team that can still make a run...it may not be an easy or obvious road towards a championship but we still have a chance.

You can't underestimate Celtic Pride and championship experience.

This team maybe on it's last hurrah and all that but we could be the Knicks or the Trailblazers.

[pearljammer10]

Until I hear the great deal the Celtics turned down, I have no issue with them not making a trade.


History has shown to many teams that make panic trades at this point and actually end up in no mans land.  (see the Knicks from the 90s)  

Didn't the Rockets do the panic moves once Yao went down?  Trading shorter contracts for longer contracts.  

Exactly. danny was said to be working the phones and if there was any deal that would have made us better we all know that danny woulda pulled the trigger. im confident that danny did the best he could and didnt make a deal in the best inrest of the team.

[D Dub]

Maybe we overpay for some potential and hope they grow alongside Rondo and draft picks and we become a good playoff team.

I'd like to see said offer go to Javale McGee this offseason, stare down Denver & see if they're willing to match.

Denver may not, with so many budding players ahead of him on their to-be-paid list. 

[LarBrd33]

ranking us dead last is too generous.  I still can't believe we didn't do a single thing to improve our team in the short or long term.  Unbelievable.  We basically are rolling over and dying.  Probably sign another unknown like Stinksma to fill our starting center spot ... and then watch us get ripped to shreds and embarrassed in the first round by the Heat or Bulls...

Then in the offseason KG probably retires, Ray signs with a contender and we replace these hall of famers with someone along the lines of Chris Kaman... so that we can toil away in mediocrity through Rondo's prime.

[MBunge]

"What exactly is the Celtics' plan for rebuilding this franchise?"


The plan is clear as day.  Go into the offseason with Rondo, Pierce, plenty of cap space and a couple of draft picks and see what happens.  Maybe Ainge will sign somebody like Kaman or trade for Okafor and try to put the band back together.  Maybe he'll sign Green and Bass and try to put together a team of young athlets to run up and down the court with Rondo.  Maybe he'll package those picks with Rondo and/or Pierce to bring in a franchise free agent (think Orlando's going to go through this again if they can't re-sign Dwight to an extension?)  Maybe he'll sign some mid-level guys to short term deals that don't go past Pierce's and spend the next 2 years trying to tank our way to a great lottery pick.

You know what happens to you when you have "a plan"?  You wind up in salary cap hell like the Knicks used to be or a franchise that's completely screwed if your plan goes wrong, like New Jersey.

Mike

[CelticG1]

Young athletic teams the key to championships ...........wait a second.....that's not true!!! Fun playoff teams to watch but inevitably fail, because you have to have good jumpshooters who know how to play basketball to win. Being athletic is the most overrated thing in the nba

[LooseCannon]

ranking us dead last is too generous.  I still can't believe we didn't do a single thing to improve our team in the short or long term.  Unbelievable.  We basically are rolling over and dying.

If you think this way, Otis Smith may be the GM you respect the most.

[MBunge]

ranking us dead last is too generous.  I still can't believe we didn't do a single thing to improve our team in the short or long term.  Unbelievable.  We basically are rolling over and dying.

If you think this way, Otis Smith may be the GM you respect the most.

What about Isaiah?  And wasn't Rick Pitino always looking to make a trade to "improve" his team?

Mike

[ianboyextreme]

Here you go:


14. Boston Celtics
Positive spin: Ah, nostalgia. The Big Three is still the Big Three. And, hey, Danny Ainge was telling the truth. He said he wasn't trading Rajon Rondo and he stuck to his guns.

Negative spin: Ainge sounds like he worked the phones hard but just couldn't seal a deal. Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett hit free agency this summer. What exactly is the Celtics' plan for rebuilding this franchise? Celtics fans could be in for another long, painful rebuilding phase.

I know everyone will disagree but Ford gets things right more often than wrong. (He was the one draft guru who loved Rondo, for example) We are big trouble. Namely spending years as a barely making the playoffs type team. That kind of middling existence is dreadful. I have watched The Rockets do it for seven years here in Houston. Trust me it is no fun. I would have rather seen us move boldly in one direction or the other.

I just hope Danny does re-sign KG and Allen next year unless they take under 5 million per year. It is time to find young Athletic players that can force tempo and play to Rondo's strengths. No more undersized 4's and 5's and suspect combo guards. We need at least one player who can take the ball to the rack and finish on the break. I hate watching Rondo blitz up the court and then stop to wait for everybody else to catch up.

If this team could get even a few fast break or easy transition baskets we would win at least another 5 to 10 games during a regular season. Plus do not get me started about having no youth to play back to backs.

I will support this team until they bury me no matter what, do not get me wrong. I just want to see a team that seems headed in the right direction. I am worried we are doing some wheel-spinning right now.

yeah, trading ray allen and paul pierce for some underachieving 
former lottery picks and maybe a first round draft pick would have really boosted along the rebuilding process.

[ianboyextreme]

With our future players, as of right now I don't see us as a fringe playoff team. We'll be picking in the top 5-7 pretty soon.

I'm not going to agree with Ford, though. There's a very clear rebuilding plan, and staying pat wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think he's unfairly ignoring the cap room aspect of the dealing, and I don't think it's "nostalgia" that's the biggest positive of the deadline. It's the fact that we have 3 young, promising players and Paul Pierce under contract next year.

if you guys really think we are gonna be a lottery team in the next couple years you are going to be pleasently suprised.

[Anomandaris]

I have only 1 problem with the " clear cap room for the summer" & build around Rondo" plan....

& that problem is that a lot of teams will have cap room in the summer.

Cap room is very valuable if you're the only one that can offer it, but if a lot of teams have it, not so.

On the other hand, if no good offers were available for the Big 3 ( like a lottory pick) then i can understand Ainge standing pat.  I was always in the opinion that Allen should already have been traded in the summer of 2009 and Pierce in the summer of 2010 to really still get good value back.  I figured 2012 is way to late for decent returns on the big 3. 

So cap space is all we have, now the only thing to do is wait untill we sign a big fish & not get tempted to sign dumb contracts to middle class players.  If nothing lands in summer 2012, then try again in summer 2013 etc...

[LooseCannon]

With our future players, as of right now I don't see us as a fringe playoff team. We'll be picking in the top 5-7 pretty soon.

I'm not going to agree with Ford, though. There's a very clear rebuilding plan, and staying pat wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think he's unfairly ignoring the cap room aspect of the dealing, and I don't think it's "nostalgia" that's the biggest positive of the deadline. It's the fact that we have 3 young, promising players and Paul Pierce under contract next year.

if you guys really think we are gonna be a lottery team in the next couple years you are going to be pleasently suprised.

I think some people are going to be vastly disappointed rather than pleasantly surprised.  I don't see the Celtics being a team with one of the worst five records in the league unless one of Rondo or Pierce either misses half a season due to injury or gets traded for players who aren't really that good.