Officially Wiggins or Bust

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Guys, WAKE UP. There were, are, and would have continued to be plenty of other ways to pile on assets without having to take in a disgusting $10M/yr contract for 3 years. This was a BAD trade, and there's no way to support it.

tell wyc you want danny's job since you are so much smarter! 

What's the best case scenario of standing pat? 

44 wins next season and a 1st or 2nd round exit?

Then what... KG and Pierce retire?  You play yourself out of the best lotto in over a decade... you call for Danny Ainge's head because he didn't get assets for KG and Pierce when they were still around?  Some people just don't get it at all.

If you're going to be "average", you might as well just be "awful"... there's a potential pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you're awful. 

So you'll stink this year... stink next year... and then maybe in year 3 when things come around, you're not going to be hating that 10 million dollar expiring contract that Gerald Wallace has.  You could package that 10 million dollar expiring contract with one of our many young players/draft picks and bring in an impact player.   Like I said... you wouldn't have been able to trade for Kevin Garnett without having Theo Ratliff's expiring contract.  That Wallace contract isn't as big of a deal as people think.  They just want an "instant fix" that doesn't exist in a world ruled by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.  You gotta build your team.  YOu aren't going to get a Superstar in 2013.  You might get one in 2014 though... and then maybe in 2016 you'll be ready to re-enter the discussion.

Yes, I'd rather be in the Playoffs and legitimately competing for a title than practically giving up for A CHANCE of getting a high lottery pick.

With tanking, there will be no morale in the locker room. Even if we get the high draft pick, we will have no foundation chemistry wise, not to mention no MENTORS for our younger )and upcoming) guys this year, no one to look after too. We may get the best talent, but we have no good team intangibles to surround it.

What's wrong with rebuilding after competing anyway? The Spurs seemed to be okay in rebuilding while trying to compete, how come we can't do that? Or is our FO really that not confident in their skills that their solution to be winners in the future is SUCK!?

The sad part of this is, Rondo might want out too. Now there will be NO building blocks.

The even worst part, we got hosed with this deal being stuck to Wallace's contract. Rebuild my rear end, that's a 10 million cap hit we have to worry by next year, where as we could have had KG and Pierce's off.

[rondoallaturca]

Also, to address the topic of the original post, people need to stop getting the idea that we have a chance for Wiggins, or any of the other "consolation" picks. Unless we trade Rondo, this team will be too good to suck that badly.

Okay, so say we do trade Rondo. But there are some truly awful teams out there to compete with for the lottery. Even with Green as our best player, we're already better than Charlotte. Philly and Orlando are pretty bad, too. Then you have Milwaukee, whose entire backcourt has dissipated in a matter of weeks. And in the West, Phoenix is awful, Sacramento is beginning their new rebuild, and a lot of other teams are looking really questionable right now.

Now you argue that we could always trade and move up. If it was hard to do that in this year's draft, imagine what team would budge in next year's.

Bottom line is that Wiggins is NOT an option for us, unless we somehow trade both Rondo and Green so we can absolutely suck miserably. That might be an option, but it's so much less attractive then what could have been a much quicker, less painful rebuilding process.

[rutzan]

to the mathematically un-informed...it's called a lottery for a reason...for all the people getting all excited about these draft picks...do you really know what the odds are...it's called fool's gold for a reason...it's for fools...

[Roy H.]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

Other teams have gotten lottery picks for taking on bad contracts (Kyrie Irving, anyone?).  We take them on, and give up two top-40 picks, for picks that are likely to be mediocre.

I refuse to believe that this deal is the best Danny could do. 

[Kane3387]

Gonna have to suck it up for the next couple years bc were gonna be bad. Assuming rondo sits then really bad next year.

However titles are won with long term vision and that's what this is. Pray for the lotto balls and the further development of sully, olynyk, melo, lee, green, and Bradley.

[fairweatherfan]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

Agreed, reluctantly.  I hate to see Pierce and KG go, absolutely hate it.  Love those guys, and I'll remember them in green as long as I live.  But what's the better alternative? 

Let them stay and retire here with no chance for another ring?  I respect them and their competitive spirit too much to wish that on them.

Do a different trade?  Which one?  We only know of one real option, and it was worse than the one we took and forbidden by the league besides, thanks to Clippers shenanigans. 

Expect us to miraculously start contending again?  Can't live in fantasy land, it wasn't going to happen.  Another ECF run was the absolute, everything breaks our way ceiling scenario with this group.

This is the best of a bunch of lousy options.  If Derrick Rose doesn't blow out his knee we'd've already done this last offseason.  We took another shot and it fell flat.  Now it's time to look toward the future.  So it goes.

[rondoallaturca]

What's the best case scenario of standing pat? 

44 wins next season and a 1st or 2nd round exit?

Then what... KG and Pierce retire?  You play yourself out of the best lotto in over a decade... you call for Danny Ainge's head because he didn't get assets for KG and Pierce when they were still around?  Some people just don't get it at all.

If you're going to be "average", you might as well just be "awful"... there's a potential pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you're awful. 

So you'll stink this year... stink next year... and then maybe in year 3 when things come around, you're not going to be hating that 10 million dollar expiring contract that Gerald Wallace has.  You could package that 10 million dollar expiring contract with one of our many young players/draft picks and bring in an impact player.   Like I said... you wouldn't have been able to trade for Kevin Garnett without having Theo Ratliff's expiring contract.  That Wallace contract isn't as big of a deal as people think.  They just want an "instant fix" that doesn't exist in a world ruled by LeBron James and Kevin Durant.  You gotta build your team.  YOu aren't going to get a Superstar in 2013.  You might get one in 2014 though... and then maybe in 2016 you'll be ready to re-enter the discussion.

Once again, instead of telling others to open their mind and look at new perspective, YOU are the one who needs to realize that you're looking at this extremely narrow-mindedly.

Don't do this Brooklyn trade? Uh oh, we get Josh Smith. Now we're stuck being average!

Don't do this Brooklyn trade? First round exit next year. Now we're stuck being average!

Don't do this Brooklyn trade? KG/PP retire and we get nothing. Now we're stuck being average!

You know what though? That's not true. Who says we have to get Josh Smith? Who says you can't rebuild while being a playoff team? Who says we can't trade KG and/or PP to other teams where we would undeniably get a better haul than this one? Who says we wouldn't benefit more simply from the cap space from KG's and/or PP's retirement?

You know what, you're right. Some people really don't get it at all 

[Kane3387]

Any idea what or if there is any protection on these Brooklyn picks?

[rutzan]

Gonna have to suck it up for the next couple years bc were gonna be bad. Assuming rondo sits then really bad next year.

However titles are won with long term vision and that's what this is. Pray for the lotto balls and the further development of sully, olynyk, melo, lee, green, and Bradley.

you just summed it up...everyone is praying for lottery balls...do people really think that is a strategy...really...

[nickagneta]

I have three problems with the news of the last few hours:

1. Danny Ainge is blowing it up, gathering draft picks like crazy, and wants the fans to trust his ability to judge talent andhe is going to build through the draft. But then he goes out and trades UP in this draft to get the guy with possibly the least upside and biggest bust potential in this draft. That's after picking Melo last year, JuJuan Johnson the year before and JR Giddens another year.

2. His vision is to build through the draft but he has handicapped this team over the next two years with contracts like Wallace's, Bass', and Lee's to add to the contracts of Green and Rondo that come to over $20 million a year. He has no cap flexibility while having a bad team that will have to add a couple a players a year for the next three years.

3. Gambling on winning the lottery has screwed this team twice before. The chances of landing that guy are not good. The chances of replicating what OKC has done, is not good. Talent with experience will beat talent with very little experience, almost all the time in the NBA. Even the elitest of talent takes years to develop enough experience to lead a team to a title and many times, its not with the team that drafted them. So there is the very real chance you could lose then before they get good enough to win you a title.

[LarBrd33]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

Other teams have gotten lottery picks for taking on bad contracts (Kyrie Irving, anyone?).  We take them on, and give up two top-40 picks, for picks that are likely to be mediocre.

I refuse to believe that this deal is the best Danny could do.

I believe it's the best he could do.  KG wasn't waiving his no-trade clause for just any situation... so although it would have been nice to trade him to Golden State for a late 1st rounder, it wouldn't have been easy.   Paul's trade value wasn't that dramatic.  The Cavs theoretically wanted to give us a 2nd rounder and absorb Paul's salary, but we don't know if that's actually true or not. 

Three 1st rounders, letting those guys play together and getting KG to waive his no-trade clause... pretty solid considering both those guys could have retired a season ago and nobody would have been shocked.  And in the same way Ainge traded for Ratliff's contract with 2 years left on it, then used it as an asset when it was expiring... I see the Gerald Wallace contract as an asset 3 years from now when we're finally ready to compete again.   We can handle a couple years of bottom-feeder basketball for a bright future.  Ainge has a pretty good idea of what he's doing. KG is 37 years old.  Pierce is 36.  Is what it is.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Gonna have to suck it up for the next couple years bc were gonna be bad. Assuming rondo sits then really bad next year.

However titles are won with long term vision and that's what this is. Pray for the lotto balls and the further development of sully, olynyk, melo, lee, green, and Bradley.

How can they develop when there are no leaders in that locker room, they we're traded away? We don't even have a coach.

We are risking the development of those guys for this ridiculous tank job. A year of Olynyk having KG and Paul mentoring him is greater value than ANY picks we got for this trade. And now we are stuck with 3 years and 10 million a year of nothing.

I get the rebuilding part, but Danny can't be this stupid! Does he really not trust his GM'ing skills that the best thing he can think of to win in the future is to get this awful value for our veterans who can offer more? 

[LarBrd33]

FYI,  if Pierce doesn't retire... maybe we can just bring him back after the tank season.  He'll be a free agent.  And I can't see KG playing two more years... after they have their year in Brooklyn, bring Pierce back as a player and hire KG as our coach.  Whatever.  This will all seem brilliant in retrospect.

[rondohondo]

Any idea what or if there is any protection on these Brooklyn picks?

Marc Stein said 14 has slight protection, 16 and 18 unprotected.

[bfrombleacher]

Bottom line:   This is the smart move.  It's the best move.  It's not for sentimental folks.  Danny Ainge is a cold-hearted beast of a GM and we're lucky to have him calling the shots.  I wouldn't have been able to pull the trigger on this, but I'm sure as heck glad we have a GM who IS willing to.   KG and Pierce get to keep being relevant, Boston gets assets for the future... and we have hope at buiding a real dynasty.  Some people lack perspective so this is going to be really hard to wrap your mind around... but a year from now the hardcore Celtic fans will be overflowing with hope and optimism.   I have tons of trust in Ainge.  Dude couldn't have gotten a better package than this.

Other teams have gotten lottery picks for taking on bad contracts (Kyrie Irving, anyone?).  We take them on, and give up two top-40 picks, for picks that are likely to be mediocre.

I refuse to believe that this deal is the best Danny could do.

I believe it's the best he could do.  KG wasn't waiving his no-trade clause for just any situation... so although it would have been nice to trade him to Golden State for a late 1st rounder, it wouldn't have been easy.   Paul's trade value wasn't that dramatic.  The Cavs theoretically wanted to give us a 2nd rounder and absorb Paul's salary, but we don't know if that's actually true or not. 

Three 1st rounders, letting those guys play together and getting KG to waive his no-trade clause... pretty solid considering both those guys could have retired a season ago and nobody would have been shocked.  And in the same way Ainge traded for Ratliff's contract with 2 years left on it, then used it as an asset when it was expiring... I see the Gerald Wallace contract as an asset 3 years from now when we're finally ready to compete again.   We can handle a couple years of bottom-feeder basketball for a bright future.  Ainge has a pretty good idea of what he's doing. KG is 37 years old.  Pierce is 36.  Is what it is.

Roy:

The 2 top 40s are for Olynyk right? Isn't that a separate deal? I'm still not sure and still hoping that this is part of something bigger considering ATL is in the mix.

Am I wrong in saying we basically get a bunch of assets (Reggie Evans, Humphries - both highly tradeable), some cap relief and 3 firsts for KG, Pierce and getting a bad contract in return? Or am I missing something?

Edit: finally fixed the triple post