Is anyone still mad we traded KG and Pierce??

[PaulPierce34G]

I think in a perfect world, a lot of fans would have liked to see PP and KG retire in Celtics green.  Jeff Green would have "stepped up" to the plate, the team would have fully become Rondo's, while KG/Pierce were still the heart/soul/"leaders" of the team, while not necessarily being the primary options any longer, and a number of other various factors would come into play as well...It didn't play out as such and we are where we are. 

I was definitely a bit saddened to see the 2 get traded, more so Pierce than Garnett, but at the end of the day it definitely benefited the team long term from the acquisition of assets/picks, even the albatross contract of Gerald Wallace, which will eventually become a coveted possession around the league...albeit in another 2.5 years or so. 

Definitely wished Pierce could have pulled out his entire career here, as he was the reason I became a Celtics fan back in 98-99 during my early high school years and have been a fan ever since.  However, as time has progressed, I think a lot of us, myself included, have come to terms with the deal and realized it was for the best. 

[Donoghus]

I've warmed up a bit to the return we've received from the trade.  I initiallly hated what the Celtics were getting back.  I understood Ainge's rationale for the trade, I just didn't like the package back.

Still irks me that Pierce will not played his entire career for the Celtics.  I won't get over that although I'm not losing sleep over it either.

[beshtija]

Nobody should be mad. We won that trade big time.

Will you feel differently if Brooklyn wins a couple playoff series?

No, not really. They went all-in on the championship, and they will not get through the second round.

[moiso]

Hell no. The Celtics killed the Nets in that deal. We traded a bunch of old guys for a young athletic team. I'm just mad that Ainge didn't have the guts to bottom out and blow it all up. Philly is doing it the right way, Boston is doing it half way and will be rewarded with a pick in the 7-10 range because of it. Top 5 pick in the best draft in a decade or Bass and Green...hmm...

Right now we have the 4th worst record...and didn't give away any good players to "achieve" this.  Pretty smart strategy if it holds up.

[thirstyboots18]

Yes.

[BleedGreen1989]

Sure.

I can be mad that I don't get to watch Pierce and KG retire in green, but understand that Ainge fleeced the Nets at the same time.

Perhaps a cop-out answer.

[LilRip]

i understood the trade and if i were a heartless GM, i would've done it too. 3+1 draft picks plus an expiring is a pretty good haul, especially if we were going to rebuild. For the record, i don't think we would've been contenders had we kept the 2 anyway, considering how poorly the previous year's campaign went.

as a fan though, it still sucks that Pierce won't be retiring in green.

[thirstyboots18]

I understand that at the time the Celtics got pretty good "value" if you consider losing two iconic players who were the heart and soul of the Celtics to be inanimate objects.

My contention is that in order to reach the state where Pierce and Garnett had to be traded, Ainge went through years of massive fail at his job to add viable players to carry the team through to the next Celtics era.  People say "You don't understand how hard it is to stay relevant."  I think it is Ainge's job to overcome the obstacles and stay relevant....or....he is not as good as people seem to think.

[kraidstar]

I understand that at the time the Celtics got pretty good "value" if you consider losing two iconic players who were the heart and soul of the Celtics to be inanimate objects.

My contention is that in order to reach the state where Pierce and Garnett had to be traded, Ainge went through years of massive fail at his job to add viable players to carry the team through to the next Celtics era.  People say "You don't understand how hard it is to stay relevant."  I think it is Ainge's job to overcome the obstacles and stay relevant....or....he is not as good as people seem to think.

c's have been way over the cap for many years now. they've also been picking late in the draft for many years. who was ainge supposed to get?
if anything, he's done a good job landing rondo, sully, bradley, and olynyk. all those guys were mid-to-late 1st round picks. the only other way to land talent is through the mid-level exception, minimum contracts, and trades.
and he did turn perkins (currently considered one of the very worst contracts in the NBA) into green and 2 draft picks.
i would admit that ainge's mid-level exception deals have been poor. but if you look around the league, that's really par for the course, MLE really just buys overpriced roleplayers.

[More Banners]

I understand that at the time the Celtics got pretty good "value" if you consider losing two iconic players who were the heart and soul of the Celtics to be inanimate objects.

My contention is that in order to reach the state where Pierce and Garnett had to be traded, Ainge went through years of massive fail at his job to add viable players to carry the team through to the next Celtics era.  People say "You don't understand how hard it is to stay relevant."  I think it is Ainge's job to overcome the obstacles and stay relevant....or....he is not as good as people seem to think.

I have to agree with your contention, particularly since the major constraint Danny placed on himself was to not commit salary beyond the contracts of KG/PP, and in the end we end up with Wallace's deal on the books anyway, and not giving up picks, and we had several late-round busts in a row.

We probably would've been wiser to be willing to give the extra guaranteed contract year for David West and Tony Allen, and perhaps being more willing to trade some of those late 1st round picks for players that might've helped bolster the ranks.

Danny played it very, very conservatively after putting the Big 3 together.  Almost as though he was afraid to screw it up.

Now, he's on the move again, looking for the next breakout player, rather than complementary pieces, and he seems to be having more luck/being "better."

[RJ87]

If the trade didn't happen, we're probably have 4th or 5th seed in the east with a 1st round exit, and get a 20-25th pick in the 2014 draft.

And after KG and Pierce retires lets say in 2015 or 2016, we would be stuck without anybody or any assets for the future.

I was really sad the trade happened, but a part of me knows that it was necessary if we want to be real contenders again.

+1

We got very valuable 1st rounders out of that deal - letting KG and Pierce stay for a victory lap is nice and heartwarming, but it would only be delaying the inevitable. Even with a healthy Rondo, we were still one significant piece away and didn't have any financial flexibility to make anything happen.

With that said, it's not like Danny dumped them to some crappy team. No one thought Brooklyn would underperform so terribly to start the season - they should've been and should be a much, much better team. He put them in the best possible opportunity available at the time - even allowing them to go to a team in the same division.

[thirstyboots18]

If the trade didn't happen, we're probably have 4th or 5th seed in the east with a 1st round exit, and get a 20-25th pick in the 2014 draft.

And after KG and Pierce retires lets say in 2015 or 2016, we would be stuck without anybody or any assets for the future.

I was really sad the trade happened, but a part of me knows that it was necessary if we want to be real contenders again.

+1

We got very valuable 1st rounders out of that deal - letting KG and Pierce stay for a victory lap is nice and heartwarming, but it would only be delaying the inevitable. Even with a healthy Rondo, we were still one significant piece away and didn't have any financial flexibility to make anything happen.

With that said, it's not like Danny dumped them to some crappy team. No one thought Brooklyn would underperform so terribly to start the season - they should've been and should be a much, much better team. He put them in the best possible opportunity available at the time - even allowing them to go to a team in the same division.

  We got what we "hope" are valuable (yet to be determined) picks.  They may turn out to be star players, or they may be traded for top talent.  They could also be busts or choose to leave for contenders just when their value is proving out.

[Moranis]

I understand that at the time the Celtics got pretty good "value" if you consider losing two iconic players who were the heart and soul of the Celtics to be inanimate objects.

My contention is that in order to reach the state where Pierce and Garnett had to be traded, Ainge went through years of massive fail at his job to add viable players to carry the team through to the next Celtics era.  People say "You don't understand how hard it is to stay relevant."  I think it is Ainge's job to overcome the obstacles and stay relevant....or....he is not as good as people seem to think.

c's have been way over the cap for many years now. they've also been picking late in the draft for many years. who was ainge supposed to get?
if anything, he's done a good job landing rondo, sully, bradley, and olynyk. all those guys were mid-to-late 1st round picks. the only other way to land talent is through the mid-level exception, minimum contracts, and trades.
and he did turn perkins (currently considered one of the very worst contracts in the NBA) into green and 2 draft picks.
i would admit that ainge's mid-level exception deals have been poor. but if you look around the league, that's really par for the course, MLE really just buys overpriced roleplayers.

to be fair you could have put together a pretty solid team with late first rounders and second rounders.  I mean 4 of the first 6 picks of the 2008 2nd round were Nikola Pekovic, Mario Chalmers, Deandre Jordan, and Omer Asik (Boston took JR Giddens with the last pick of the 1st round).  Luc Mbah a Moute was the 7th pick of the 2nd round and Goran Dragic went in the middle of it.   Any one of those 6 players would have been a pretty nice addition to the Celtics title hopes, and it isn't all hindsight.  A large percentage of this board wanted Deandre Jordan, who while raw looked like he could be a great defensive big off the bench and who would have really supplemented the interior. 

Boston didn't have a 1st rounder in 2009, but Jodie Meeks, Patrick Beverly, Marcus Thornton, and Chase Budinger went in consecutive picks in the 40's.

Avery Bradley was a very strong pick in 2010, but it would have been nice to swing a way to get Landry Fields or Lance Stephenson who went 39 and 40 that year (Greivis Vasquez at 28 would have also been nice).

JaJuan Johnson in 2011 was a terrible pick especially with Jimmy Butler and Chandler Parsons on the board.  Parsons especially thought he was coming to Boston.  Isaiah Thomas was the last pick in the draft that year.  Lavoy Allen was also a late second rounder.

2012, Sullinger was great but Fab Melo was an unmitigated disaster. 


You can't do hindsight obviously, but there were plenty of moves out there, some of them seemed like no brainers, Jordan and Parsons are especially painful since a lot of fans and analysts thought Boston would take them.  Either one, or both, might have yielded a second title.

[kozlodoev]

--snip--

is anyone still mad about the trade and what could have been with KG and Pierce having 1-2 more cracks at the playoffs together?

The disappointment about Pierce and Garnett being traded has nothing to do with having or not having a couple of cracks at the playoffs. As a matter of fact, it probably has very little to do with the basketball aspect of that trade.

[PhoSita]

It would be nice if the league weren't set up in such a way that teams on the verge of a rebuild are given such incentive to get a lot worse before they get better.  Were that the case, the KG and Pierce trade may not have happened, though the three first round picks would still have been a tempting return.

However, the confluence of Rondo's knee injury, Pierce and Garnett's decline, and the purported strength of the 2014 draft presented too good an opportunity to set the team up for the future.

Ainge would have been irresponsible not to explore all options to make such a trade, and carry it out if a willing trade partner presented itself.  The emotional side of things is unfortunate, but you know what they say -- the NBA is a business.