It’s kind of a change from the glory days.
The Boston Celtics are looking like the NBA’s unwanted stepchild during this offseason, and the more they try, the harder they fall.
Now, in another extreme speed bump in trade talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers, the Celts find out that the NBA’s stars would rather play recreation ball in Alaska than wear the Green.
Kevin Garnett, the coveted Wolves superstar who now might be headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, expressed great disdain about playing for Boston when trade rumors surfaced about a possibly exchange for Boston’s No. 5 pick and other players.
Garnett’s agent, speaking on his behalf, made it abundantly clear that his guy didn’t want to go east – tough luck for Danny Ainge.
Phoenix’s Shawn Marion, who the Celtics were rumored to have been pursuing behind closed doors, also cried ‘foul’ when he thought about the possibility of playing for Boston.
And Pacer forward Jermaine O’Neal doesn’t want to play in Boston, either.
The four-team deal involved the Timberwolves, Pacers, Lakers and Celtics. If everything would have moved on without a hitch, the Celtics would’ve sent Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair and the No. 5 pick to the Timberwolves and get O’Neal in return. Garnett would’ve gone to the Lakers and the Pacers would’ve received Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum.
But no one wants to play in Boston. So the deal probably won’t go through, and if it does go through Ainge will have an unhappy superstar in some form or another. It’s not exactly the ideal situation for the winningest franchise in the history of the game.
And now Celtics management is trying to dodge some friendly fire from its own superstar. Paul Pierce, according to recent reports from the Boston Herald, is going to demand a trade if Danny Ainge doesn’t bring in an All-Star veteran.
There is no doubt that something will be done this week. Whether it’s an unhappy O’Neal or Garnett coming to Boston (a few reporters are saying that the Garnett deal isn’t dead yet), there will be moving and shaking on Boston’s end.
And most likely it’s not going to end well. Getting rushed into deals is most definitely a recipe for disaster, and the Celtics, already at rock bottom after last season, will be the laughing stock of the NBA for the second consecutive season.
The Celtics have been talking ‘future’ for the last five years, and while navigating through the rocky roads, management has preached patience – and more patience. But now Boston is the worst team in the NBA and some fans say that they have an upside, but Pierce is done waiting and won’t wait the rest of his career for these things to develop.
Even if Pierce did stay and the Celtics got their No. 5 draft pick with Al Horford or someone of his caliber, it would still take two to three years for the new group of players to gel, and it might even take another high draft pick to really make Boston a player in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
So there are way too many ‘ifs’ in that scenario and Pierce doesn’t want to wait around for another young player to go through the obligatory growing pains. But rushing to get a deal done this week will probably end with the Celtics getting less and giving more, which would also be detrimental to the franchise in the future at the expense of winning right now.
So the Celtics are in troubled waters, and the glory days have faded from the rearview mirror. The Boston Celtics aren’t the Boston Celtics anymore. And it seems like Garnett, O’Neal and Marion have known that for a while.
