Why The Youth Movement Doesn t Work

With the Kevin Garnett trade now just a matter of numbers, many people have been complaining about the Youth Movement idea that Danny Ainge has been pitching for the last 3 years, while single handedly gutting a team who was a threat in the Eastern Conference. Well I'm going to explain why the Youth Movement doesn't work.

If you look at the team the Celtics assembled in the previous three years, they had a bunch of kids and a lot of potential. Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Rajon Rando, great young stars. All of them making meager dollars compared to the Kevin Garnett's and the Tracy McGrady's of the league. And yes most of these players will probably develop into bonafide stars in the NBA, but in 2-3 years when that happens, they will all be up for new contracts, and if they are stars they will demand a star contract. Playing on a young team like the Celtics, losing 50 games a year is never a players dream. They want to win, and by the time these guys big pay days come around, they are going to want to play for a team with a chance to win, and they'll jump ship anyways. Take for example Al Jefferson. No one wanted him to leave, but who knows if the Celtics could have resigned him next season.

For $10-12 million a season, is Al Jefferson really still that attractive? Personally I don't think so. So we don't offer him that, and he walks to Phoenix or the Mavericks. Danny Ainge finally realized that veteran teams are the teams who win games. I guess it took Paul Pierce missing a month of the season, and the Celtics dropping 18 straight in his absence, for Ainge to get that through his head. You need guys like Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett as a centerpiece, and work the young guys in around them. That's what the Celtics will do next season with Rajon Rando, Kendrick Perkins, Gabe Pruitt, and Glen Davis (who might have been the steal of the draft). You can bet that Rando's numbers are only going to improve with 3 weapons to get the ball to. Kevin Garnett is a leader and a loyal guy who can help out Davis, and Perkins and teach them how to play the game the right way.

If you still don't see the tremendous need for veterans (not just one guy) on a young team, and how huge an impact they can have, or lack thereof, take a look at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They have stockpiled some of the best young talent in the game today. Delmon Young, Jonny Gomes, BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, Scott Kazmir, Jason Hammel. The list goes on and on. Yet they're in last place in the American League East with one of the worst records in baseball. If they went out and got a Curt Schilling, or a Roger Clemens, and a Mike Lowell, or a Derek Jeter, can you imagine how insanely good this team could be? They wouldn't be finishing every year with a losing record. It's a little different in baseball because the Devil Rays probably won't realistically win the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox in their division, but what if they finished above. 500? That would be a huge improvement. But if they keep acquiring 20 year old guys, where the closest they've been to a major league playoff game is watching one on Fox on the TV in their living room (Let me just take a second to express my hatred for Joe Buck), they're never going anywhere.

The Los Angeles Clippers was another example of a youth experiment gone wrong. Every year the Clippers would be a lottery team, and every year they wouldn't improve. Look at some of the guys that the Clippers drafted in years past. Lamar Odom, a real talent who left the team when it wasn't working out, now he's a starter for the Lakers. They also added to that mix, not via draft but they traded for a second year guy who left Duke after his freshman year in Corey Maggette, and then also drafted Keyon Dooling. They also had Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson on this team. All first and second year guys, and what did they do? Finished 15-67. The Clippers have revitalized their team and were a playoff team a few years ago but that was after they added veteran point guard Sam Cassel, who won a championship with the Rockets. That proved to be enough to push the team over the hump and Elton Brand a youngster who had played in a system with veterans before coming over to the Clippers really carried a lot of the load on his back as well. They made the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Phoenix Suns in 7 games. This was just another great example how bringing in veteran guys can turn teams around in a big way.

So the Celtics tried the Youth Movement and it failed...miserably. Now they brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen for a chance to win now. This is probably a 3-4 year experiment, but the best part is all of them are the same age. They will all retire at around the same time, and then the Celtics will have their $68 million in cap room back to return to the Youth Movement if they want to. And as my good friend Traut mentioned: Danny Ainge is good at picking late in the first round. That's where the Celtics drafted Al Jefferson, and hopefully if all goes well that will be where we are picking from in 4 years or so.

So back to my previous point yesterday: Ryan Gomes was drafted in the second round, Al Jefferson and Gerald Green were both late first rounders, Sebastian Telfair belongs in jail, and Theo Ratliff moves about as well as an Oak Tree. Kevin Garnett was a lottery pick and is a 10 time NBA All-Star, 8 time All-NBA player, 8 time All-Defensive Player, and a former NBA Most Valuable Player! The Celtics made out in this deal.

Rays 6, White Sox 2 An Unlikely Star Helps His Unlikely Team - New York Times

03 Oct 2008 22:01:30

Seattle Post Intelligencer Rays 6, White Sox 2 An Unlikely Star Helps His Unlikely Team New York Times, United States - Because Japanese players could negotiate only with the major league team that won their rights, veterans eager to play in the United States could be signed ... Rookie Longoria carries team with two home runs in tense Game 1 ... Singles not sensational for Sox Cabrera leads the way

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