KG to Boston for Jefferson, Green, Telfair, and Ratliff

[ziggy]

Ainge is going for it.  He has completely mortgaged the future in Boston for a 2 or 3 year run.
 
NBA Market Watch: KG to Boston
      
by: Eric Weiss
July 30, 2007
Multiple sources close to the situation told DraftExpress Sunday that the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves have come to terms on a trade exchanging Kevin Garnett for a package including Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, and Theo Ratliff. The exact details of the trade aren’t known at this point, but it is believed that the deal will be completed shortly with similar parameters.

This deal has been rumored for most of the summer, but according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation, the main hold up had been the negotiation of a contract extension for Garnett. According to this source, Garnett’s camp is asking for a 5 year extension worth 125 million dollars. Whether or not the two parties have altered the initial proposal or agreed to it is not known, but apparently some accord has been reached. Garnett has an opt-clause in his contract for next season that he has essentially been using as leverage to get traded and secure his financial future with the team that acquires his services.

It had been widely assumed that the initial deal between the clubs had fallen through when Garnett’s agent publicized that his client was not interested in going to Boston. But circumstances seem to have progressed since that stage, to the point where one prominent player on the Celtics responded to inquiry by stating the team was “winning the Eastern Conference” next season, after having learned of Garnett’s imminent arrival.

This move signifies a major power shift in the Eastern Conference. Garnett joins veterans Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to form arguably the best trio in the NBA. The team now has three potential Hall of Fame players in their prime to contend in a conference that is wide open. Each player is over 30 years of age, but should remain effective for the life of their deals.

Executive Director of Basketball Operations chief Danny Ainge has mortgaged a sizable portion of the team’s long-term future to secure a title contending team however. Jefferson was recently selected by USA Basketball as one of the rising stars in the league and is only 22 years of age. The team will have to rely on their faith in the All Star veterans’ abilities to maintain a high level of performance deep into their 30’s. If KG, Pierce, and Allen can duplicate the career longevity of Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, and Reggie Miller for example, the Celtics will have a larger window to work with.

Ainge has been highly scrutinized for his apparent lack of organizational direction these past few years, but his patience looks to have paid off. His commitment to acquiring young assets and parlaying them into more established stars has come to fruition. The team is scheduled to hold training camp overseas this season, so the timing was flawless for a move that is sure to re-invigorate the sizable international fan base. The team is sure to enjoy a sizable increase in national media attention as well. The team didn’t have a single network game scheduled last season. That should change this year.


 

[jn]

I'm also hearing Rajan Rondo instead of Telair and Green.

[Derek Bodner]

Boston should go for it.  Allen, Pierce and KG's skillsets fit perfectly together.  You can find complimentary pieces to fill out the starting 5 and bench far more easily than you can find a 1-2-3 with that much talent that fits that well together.

[ziggy]

Boston should go for it.  Allen, Pierce and KG's skillsets fit perfectly together.  You can find complimentary pieces to fill out the starting 5 and bench far more easily than you can find a 1-2-3 with that much talent that fits that well together.

I agree with you.  In the East Boston will have to be considered one of the 2 or 3 favorites, and they should have a good shot at getting to the finals.  Once you get to the finals they would have a legit chance at winning it all.  Ainge has made a lot of mistakes, but if he pulls this off then he will have earned his keep.  He traded youngsters and bad contracts for 2 of the top 15 players in the league.  That is not easy to do.

[Ted]

Anybody got a hypothetical starting 5 if this trade goes through? I don't know the Celtics very well.

[Skandery]

1 - Rajon Rondo
2 - Ray Allen
3 - Paul Pierce
4 - Kevin Garnett
5 - Kendrick Perkins

This is considering the Telfair/Green deal.  If they decide to start Rondo at the point, play KG at the PF and start Perk at C.  Notable backups would be Ryan Gomes, Tony Allen, and Leon "The Show" Powe (who needs to see more time honestly). 

1 - Sebastien Telfair/Allan Ray
2 - Ray Allen
3 - Paul Pierce
4 - Kevin Garnett
5 - Kendrick Perkins

This is if they send out Rondo and keep Green/Telfair.  This would be a deeper teem because you now have Green, Gomes, Allen, and Powe on the bench but they are SEVERLY lacking at PG.  Then again with this team they could acquire a guy like Brevin Knight who could fill in to the veteran groove they have going.

Either way, I have to agree this vaults them into a pretty high echelon in the East.............for a little while, anyway.  I've always been high on Green and Jefferson looked pretty great last year.  On the overall I say Ainge did good to just pick a direction and commit to it.  He kept doing things like "let's develop young talent" but lets extend PP for 80 more million dollars.  We'll see what happens but Boston sure is relevant again.     

[Reality]

Absotivly poso lut lut lutely Boston should jump on this.

Mn.  Lets hear it from the MN point of view.  Is this the best they can-could do?

[Reality]

Nice to see McHale staying loyal by trading with the Celts.

[westkoast]

WOW if it goes through.  This is a no brainer trade for Boston.  That is a pretty darn good line up to if you ask me.  Better then the line up KG had when he took the Wolves to the WCF.  KG and Ray Allen would make for a nice inside outside game but if you toss Paul Pierce in the mix 

Where would you guys rank Boston in the EC if the trade goes through? #2? #3?  Would you go as far to say they would be the favorite out of the east with Bron not getting much help in the off-season, Shaq and Miami getting older, and Detroit losing it?

[Derek Bodner]

Where would you guys rank Boston in the EC if the trade goes through? #2? #3?

1.

I actually think they'd have a better shot at a championship than Phoenix or Dallas.  I see them #2 behind SA in the entire league.

[Skandery]

I don't know Derek.  That's a little high.

I mean on paper its golden, you've got your All-Star low post/high post scorer who is a defensive rebounding behemoth coupled with an All-Star sweet-shooting two-guard with arguable the smoothest stroke in the NBA, and  your throwing the multi-faceted, multi-talented, All-Star big and athletic SF.  ...but I still have to see them on the court together and see where things go and how healthy they can be.  KG is going to be an old 32 next year, Allen has his ankle issues, Pierce has his elbow issues.  Let's not forget, Doc Rivers is still their coach.  There should be no excuses for him now, he's always been given a free pass as "well he is doing the best job he can with the teams he's been saddled with".  You've just hit the jackpot, Doc, do something with it, now. 

Still you have to think they're Top 3 team in the East right now.  Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, and now Boston will be fighting for those Top 3 spots and I'm thinking it'll be Detroit, Boston, and Chicago.  I'm not going so far as to say they're better than Dallas and Phoenix either.  DAL and PHO don't have the talent of Boston, but they have the chemistry.       

[Derek Bodner]

Well, I'm not sure KG is an old 32.  He's old in the sense that he's got a lot of minutes, but he hasn't yet shown any signs of decline.  Not offensively or defensively.

Sure, everything's on paper.  But that's all we have to go on at this time of the year.  Even returning champs are good on paper (see Detroit, and Miami's struggles the past few years).

And I'm not terribly sure Doc Rivers will be the coach next year

[WayOutWest]

In the East the Celts would definately contend for #1, it all depends if Detriot can pull it back together.  I doubt you'll see a team as sorry as the Cavs make it back to the finals.  I can't believe they got that far last year.

No way this vaults them ahead of SA, PHX or Dallas, but IMO they are definately the 4th/5th best team over all I nothing less than a finals appearance should do for this new all-star trio.

Very nice moves by the Celts but lets see if the 30 somethings hold up next year or the year after.

Edit:

Kobe must be seathing....Laker fans are next.

[JoMal]

This is clearly throwing all your eggs into one basket.

If the Celtics do not win a championship in any of the next three years, thereafter they will revert to a lottery team very quickly. They will anyway, but without winning it all, this will be a terrible burden for this franchise.

So the question is, are Allen and Garnett worth it? Only if they were still prime meat in the NBA market, which they are not. These guys, along with Paul Pierce, are supposed to be the backbone of the team, but after ten years in the League, the only way it will work is if they can defer to the other guys as often as they go to the basket, and all three are used to being the primary scorer on their respective teams.

Might be a little late in the game to expect all three to be able to accomplish that smoothly. The coach, for one, will need to have a stronger personality then any of them and who out there can claim that? Maybe Larry Brown, but he would be a disaster in Boston.

Paul Pierce, for one, seems the least likely to give up his role on what he surely thinks of as HIS TEAM. Allen could conceivably make the transition, if Garnett does, but this will bear watching.

That one basketball being used on the court at one time thing is going to be problematic.

[Reality]

McHale did not want Stoudamire, Phx wanted to move him for Garnett.

According to this Sports Illustrated spinner Ian Thomsen:

The Phoenix Suns, meanwhile, viewed Garnett as the finishing piece in their mission to win a championship next season. While it has been widely reported that the Suns refused to trade Amaré Stoudemire, it is my understanding that they would have considered moving him to Minnesota in hope that Garnett would have solidified their team defense and overall intensity in matchups against the champion San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, who are expected to return to contention next season.

If you were to poll NBA executives whether they would prefer the 24-year-old Stoudemire or the 22-year-old Jefferson, the overwhelming majority would go for Stoudemire, a two-time All-Star and potential MVP who is the superior athlete. Yet the word around the league was that Minnesota VP Kevin McHale rejected the possibility of trading for Stoudemire and preferred instead to acquire the less-renowned Jefferson, who provides low-post scoring while serving as a low-maintenance player in the locker room. It speaks to McHale's integrity that he is doing what he clearly believes is in the best interests of his franchise even though he will surely be criticized for choosing Jefferson over Stoudemire in a trade involving Garnett.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/07/30/garnett.trade/1.html