McHale and Ainge bring Boston back to prominence

It only makes sense that two key members of the last Boston dynasty help restore the rich Boston tradition by completing the biggest deal in the NBA since the Shaquille O’Neal trade.

As of early Monday afternoon a Boston-Minnesota trade for Kevin Garnett was all but complete, with specific details not released yet. Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and picks are surely to be included – whether or not Kendrick Perkins or Ryan Gomes will be included in the deal is not known yet. Also don’t be surprised if Minnesota includes disgruntled point guard Troy Hudson or regrettable signee Marko Jaric. While these guys haven’t worked out well in Minnesota – with Pierce, Allen, and KG in Boston they’d be great fits.

Now as any Laker fan can tell you – no off season pick ups, no matter how great they look on paper, guarantee a championship. How well these guys mesh together is going to be really hard to determine until they get some games under their belt together. What’s important to not overlook though is the lack of success these guys have had in terms of winning games the past few years. These are three guys, who are still in their prime, that have endured a lot of losses the past couple of years.

Now they have a chance, in a conference that will show little to no resistance, to win an NBA championship. They won’t try to make this work, they will make this work. All three of these guys have usually been good for four assists per game throughout their career. For those who worry about Ray Allen’s health and think that he’s breaking down – wait until you see the kind of year he’s going to have next year. He’ll be able to camp out on the three point line and get more open jumpers than he’s ever gotten in his life with Pierce and KG’s tremendous post game. There is no need to think about it twice – this is as good of a trio the NBA has seen since the Bulls Dynasty.

Now to judge how good this team will be from top to bottom cannot be done yet, simply because the deal’s details have not been released yet. If Ryan Gomes stays with the Celtics and Tony Allen can heal up they’ve got at least two solid players coming off the bench. I believe the Leon Powe and Glen Davis can contribute to this team next year as well – and in the east you can play KG at center. Rajon Rondo is not the playmaker you’d like your point guard to be on most teams – but on this team it doesn’t matter. His ability to guard the basketball as well as he does will make him a big factor on this team. Gabe Pruitt is guard who doesn’t pass it as well as you’d like but can fill it up and should see some minutes. Getting a veteran guard like Troy Hudson included in the deal would be tremendous for the Celtics – and seeing as how McHale is determined along with Ainge to bring them back to the top, it’s not out of the question.

The Cletics still have the full mid level exception that they could use to bring in some solid players. Free agents that are still available to them are: Chris Webber, Gary Payton, Charlie Bell, Jannero Pargo, Melvin Ely, Brevin Knight, Alexander Johnson, James Singleton, and Michael Olowokandi.

Personally, I pick up Brevin Knight with a good portion of the MLE and offer the rest to Chris Webber – and get Olowokandi as a cheap back up. That gives the Celtics a rotation of:

PG: Brevin Knight, Rajon Rondo, Gabe Pruitt.
SG: Ray Allen, Tony Allen, Marko Jaric(?).
SF: Paul Pierce, Ryan Gomes(?), Brian Scalabrine
PF: Kevin Garnett, Leon Powe, Glen Davis.
C: Chris Webber, Michael Olowkandi, Andreas Glyniadakis.

That 15 man roster gives them a team that a Detroit team on it’s way down, an overrated Cleveland Cavliers team, and a mediocre New Jersey Nets team cannot come close to beating. San Antonio, Houston, and Phoenix are the only teams that could give them trouble come the NBA finals.

Now looking at this from Minnesota’s perspective – it’s time to embrace the rebuilding process. Considering that this is Kevin McHale making the trade they could have done a LOT worse. Plus in the Eastern Conference you’ll only see KG twice a year and definitely not in the playoffs. In terms of young talent, Minnesota is loaded. Randy Foye, Rashard McCants, Corey Brewer, Al Jefferson, and Gerald Green is among the league’s best collection of young talent next to Portland. These are all guys that will garner large extensions, but with the departure of Kevin Garnett and the expiring contract of Theo Ratliff they will be able to keep these guys.  They will also surely be adding more lottery picks to this group in the next couple of years. I’d have to imagine that McHale will get to stick around for a few more years in hopes that this young talented group he’s put together can come into it’s own – but if he does indeed get fired or steps down, Ainge has a job waiting for him.

The biggest issue in Boston now is what do to with the head coaching position. I’m not sold on Doc Rivers ability to coach this team to a championship, even with the extremely talented roster they have. What I do if I’m Danny Ainge is give Doc a year to head this team that will take very little coaching. If Doc doesn’t get this team into the finals – I tell Larry Brown and Phil Jackson, who will be at the end of his three year deal with the Lakers, to name their price. How ironic would it be for Phil Jackson to coach the Celtics to a championship and pass up Red Auerbach for most championships as a coach?