We could have 2 2014 picks,and an extra unprotected pick in 2015,16,and 18

[The Walker Wiggle]

On July 31, 2007, Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, cash considerations, Boston's 2009 first-round draft pick (top 3 protected), and the 2009 first-round pick which Minnesota had traded to Boston in the Ricky Davis-Wally Szczerbiak trade of 2006.

Al Jefferson: 15th pick, 2004
Ryan Gomes: 50th pick, 2005
Sebastian Telfair: 13th pick, 2004
Gerald Green: 18th pick, 2005

The 2009 picks were the #6 (Minnesota's own) and #28 (Boston) selections.

So, that's one thing you can do with a bunch of draft picks.

So I'll start attending Coney Island junior high school games and send Ainge my notes?

(Just kidding! Ainge will skip town on this hot mess way before the 2018 pick comes due.)

[rondohondo]

You're absolutely right. This is incredibly exciting. Because we will also be horrible and generating our own lottery picks for the next few years. So that's potentially 6 high lottery picks in a 3 year period, on top of the lottery picks we'll get in '14 & '15.

Obviously it's unlikely we'll keep all of them. But rather they represent a tremendous wealth of riches that will propel us into long term prosperity by the end of this decade. And it could be the kind of long term, dynastic prosperity that we've seen from the Lakers and Spurs.

I know many of the young fans are very displeased at this kind of long term planning and team building strategy. But if you're a lifelong fan who's been around awhile, you know this is the best move for the team. And you don't mind waiting for a master plan of this magnitude to finally come together in a few years. Afterall, this is the Boston Celtics. We've been here for 64 years!! We ain't goin' nowhere. But rest assured folks - the C's will own the future.

I like how in defense of tanking you cite two teams who have remained relevant the past decade without tanking. At all. Yes, the Spurs tanked to get Tim Duncan; but since then they have remained relevant through shrewd management, not the draft. The Lakers haven't tanked, either.

Tanking is by far some fool-proof strategy for rebuilding. It is high risk, high reward. There is a reason most teams that tank get absolutely nothing out of it and remain at the bottom of the league in perpetuity.

I don't like tanking. I think it is fool's gold; the success rate on teams tanking is incredibly low. It worked for the Spurs 15 years ago. Once OKC wins a title we can say it worked for them.

Besides that? The Heat didn't tank. The Mavericks didn't tank. The Pistons didn't tank. It's not nearly the safe, smart strategy people here seem to think it is (boy am I glad that nobody on this forum is the GM, our team would be a disaster).

The heat didn't tank, no they just set up their roster so all the contracts were expiring the same year, really seems like they were trying to win every game .

They then signed 3 of the best players in the league in a city that is a huge free agent attraction.


The pistons signed a bunch of mediocre players ( josh smith types) to big contracts and were screwed for the next 4 years.

Until they sucked and got some actual good players with LOTTERY PICKS (Monroe, Drummond)
Totally same scenario we are in......

[freshinthehouse]

I know many of the young fans are very displeased at this kind of long term planning and team building strategy. But if you're a lifelong fan who's been around awhile, you know this is the best move for the team. And you don't mind waiting for a master plan of this magnitude to finally come together in a few years. Afterall, this is the Boston Celtics. We've been here for 64 years!! We ain't goin' nowhere. But rest assured folks - the C's will own the future.

Well said.  TP+

[LooseCannon]

I don't like starting the season in tank mode.  I am okay with shifting gears towards tanking if the season isn't going as well as planned.

[MetroGlobe]

But tanking worked for us, only 5 years ago!! Of course it's not fool-proof. It's very risky. But it's far and away the best option to get your team back into prominence, as opposed to doing minor tweaks and remaining in perpetual mediocrity.

Remember back to the Walker-Pierce Celtic era. We made some trades here and there, and got a tiny bit better or a tiny bit worse from year to year. But it wasn't until Danny finally came in and flushed away Ricky Davis, Payton, Cassell, etc., and kept Pierce out for 30+ games - with a sore foot lol - that we finally got the lottery pick we needed to get Ray Allen. And that of course is what led to Kevin Garnett choosing to come here.

Without that tank season (which could have landed us Durant or shudder Oden had it gone differently) none of that would have happened.

[rasta1]

I don't like starting the season in tank mode.  I am okay with shifting gears towards tanking if the season isn't going as well as planned.

I fully expect Danny to be packaging all these picks; Humphries; Bass; Lee; Bradley

We are probably going to land the next piece for our rebuild this offseason; I'm guessing Josh Smith

And another piece later down the line...Kevin Love? Aldridge?

Plus I wouldn't be surprised if we waited out Rondo's injury

Also, let's say we win the lottery next year...we don't NEED to keep Wiggins, we can trade him for an all-star

[The Walker Wiggle]

I know many of the young fans are very displeased at this kind of long term planning and team building strategy. But if you're a lifelong fan who's been around awhile, you know this is the best move for the team. And you don't mind waiting for a master plan of this magnitude to finally come together in a few years. Afterall, this is the Boston Celtics. We've been here for 64 years!! We ain't goin' nowhere. But rest assured folks - the C's will own the future.

Well said.  TP+

This guy has much fonder memories of Acie Earl, Pervis Ellison, M.L. Carr, Todd Day, Rick Pitino, Milt Palacio, Travis Knight, Ricky Davis, and Jerome Moiso than I do.

That one year we signed late-career Dominique Wilkins, I suppose that was so surreal it was fun.

[CoachBo]

I know many of the young fans are very displeased at this kind of long term planning and team building strategy. But if you're a lifelong fan who's been around awhile, you know this is the best move for the team. And you don't mind waiting for a master plan of this magnitude to finally come together in a few years. Afterall, this is the Boston Celtics. We've been here for 64 years!! We ain't goin' nowhere. But rest assured folks - the C's will own the future.

Well said.  TP+

This guy has much fonder memories of Acie Earl, Pervis Ellison, M.L. Carr, Todd Day, Rick Pitino, Milt Palacio, Travis Knight, Ricky Davis, and Jerome Moiso than I do.

That one year we signed late-career Dominique Wilkins, I suppose that was so surreal it was fun.

NO kidding. I got a big laugh of that, along with the misplaced faith in Ainge's spotty drafting record.

[rondohondo]

Still don't get why people think this is a horrible trade? Now that they would be taking Terry back for Wallace , it isn't that much salary the c's are taking on. Plus we could use the stretch provision to make wallace's salary cheaper towards the cap over a longer period of time.

A pick in 2014, and unprotected picks in 16 and 18 (When KG and PP will be long gone , and Deron Williams aging). Those picks have a huge chance of being lottery picks .

It is a great deal for a rebuilding team

[Roy H.]

Sweet!  Eight shots at landing the next Fab Melo (or JuJuan Johnson, or Marcus Banks, or J.R. Giddens.)

[rondoallaturca]

Still don't get why people think this is a horrible trade? Now that they would be taking Terry back for Wallace , it isn't that much salary the c's are taking on. Plus we could use the stretch provision to make wallace's salary cheaper towards the cap over a longer period of time.

A pick in 2014, and unprotected picks in 16 and 18 (When KG and PP will be long gone , and Deron Williams aging). Those picks have a huge chance of being lottery picks .

It is a great deal for a rebuilding team

Terry makes half of what Wallace does, and has twice the trade value. There's no way to cut this. This is a BAD trade for a rebuilding team.

Instead of collecting assets that don't have to hamper our long-term plans, Ainge decides to get a washed up player who has an awful contract of $10M for 3 years, which instantly hampers us for 3 years. We have Rondo, Green, and a plethora of other players who can contribute. It wasn't that hard to retool and be competing again in a couple years. Now we have to wait at least 3 years, and likely 5.

And the assets we gained in exchange for taking Wallace's awful contract? Three first rounders, none of which are guaranteed to be lottery picks. We couldn't even nab Marshon Brooks?

I agree with Bill Simmons. This is one of the worst trades Ainge could have pursued, and I need a drink now.

[rondohondo]

Sweet!  Eight shots at landing the next Fab Melo (or JuJuan Johnson, or Marcus Banks, or J.R. Giddens.)

or al jefferson

a trade chip(s) to add the next Ray Allen

Do you honestly think the Nets are going to have a long run as a contender ?

Did you just want the c's to keep PP and KG so we can get booted in the 1st or 2nd round , and then get nothing for them ?

I love KG and PP too, but it is time to move on . Yes it sucks not being a contender anymore , but we all knew it was coming soon. I mean we just lost Doc , what made you think Danny was going to keep it together?

[DoverCeltic]

Only part of this trade to dislike is Wallace...couldnt do anything else?

[LooseCannon]

Still don't get why people think this is a horrible trade? Now that they would be taking Terry back for Wallace , it isn't that much salary the c's are taking on. Plus we could use the stretch provision to make wallace's salary cheaper towards the cap over a longer period of time.

A pick in 2014, and unprotected picks in 16 and 18 (When KG and PP will be long gone , and Deron Williams aging). Those picks have a huge chance of being lottery picks .

It is a great deal for a rebuilding team

Terry makes half of what Wallace does, and has twice the trade value. There's no way to cut this. This is a BAD trade for a rebuilding team.

Instead of collecting assets that don't have to hamper our long-term plans, Ainge decides to get a washed up player who has an awful contract of $10M for 3 years, which instantly hampers us for 3 years. We have Rondo, Green, and a plethora of other players who can contribute. It wasn't that hard to retool and be competing again in a couple years. Now we have to wait at least 3 years, and likely 5.

And the assets we gained in exchange for taking Wallace's awful contract? Three first rounders, none of which are guaranteed to be lottery picks. We couldn't even nab Marshon Brooks?

I agree with Bill Simmons. This is one of the worst trades Ainge could have pursued, and I need a drink now.

This is exactly the sort of trade that a rebuilding team should make.  I preferred to keep KG and PP, but if you're going to rebuild, do it right.  Accept not being a contender for a few years and rent out cap space to teams by trading for their bad contracts in exchange for picks and young players.  And be willing to take on bad non-expiring contracts. 

Your shot at speeding the rebuilding process up involves getting lucky with some of those picks and drafting players who can be packaged with Wallace's contract (which gets less horrible as time passes).  Because that is what Wallace is, a contract, not a player.

Anyone who thinks rebuilding is a matter of acquiring a 2014 pick that is guaranteed to be in the lottery is being rather foolish.

If Gerald Wallace concusses himself out of the league next season due a forced medical retirement, how does that affect the Celtics?

[PAOBoston]

First off, thanks to PP/KG for all the memories. Pretty sure 34 and 5 will be retired someday.

I'm not sure what some you expected to get in return for a 36 year old Pierce and 37 year old Garnett. I think Ainge was lucky to get 3 unprotected first rounders from a sucker like the Nets. The Nets might have a nice season next year but I dont think the Nets will be in contention by 2016/2018. Those should be great picks. Also, Humphries is an expiring deal which can be flipped for other players/picks.

The Wallace contract looks bad in light of the way he played last year but I have a tough time believing Wallace completely lost it at the age of 30/31. I think playing on the Nets with Williams/Johnson had a part in that. Either way, he could also be used in a deal.

It sucks to see players we all got attached to in PP/KG go but this is the right move. You build around superstars. To get those superstars, you either have to draft them or have acquired assets to trade for them. This trade gices us the tools to do both.