Garnett to Boston - A Good Thing

All I've heard all day from everyone of my close friends and Celtics fans, is how pissed they are about the Celtics trading for Kevin Garnett. Are you serious? The arguments I've heard are "It's way too much", "There goes our potential", "So much for the youth movement", the list goes on and on. To these people I say: Get over It! Kevin Garnett is not the second coming of Christ, but he's a pretty damn good basketball player. I used to love watching the Celtics a few years ago when they had Antoine Walker, Pierce, Kenny Anderson, and the rest of the supporting cast that saw them go to the Eastern Conference finals, and pull the greatest single game upset in NBA history over the Nets in that series.

But the C's have been miserable to watch, and thus I haven't watched many games in a long time. I have seen enough however to know that Al Jefferson was great, Gerald Green had a ton of potential, and I know enough about sports to know the value of a first round draft pick, maybe two. But one thing all these people fail to realize is, the Celtics actually mean something in Boston again. The Sox are in first place in the AL East over the Yanks by 8 games, the Patriots just opened up camp and there's a lot of excitement around that teams chances to win another Super Bowl, but on the front pages of every newspaper in Greater Boston area tomorrow morning will be Kevin Garnett's face, and the face of the "New" Celtics. No longer will you have to turn to the last page of the Sports Section in the Globe and the Herald and see a little article tucked underneath the High School Sports Scores, talking about how the Celtics just dropped their 16th in a row. The Celtics are back, and in a big way.

Now to those who say it's way too high of a price. I do think giving up half your roster for any player could always be looked at as a lot. But the Celtics are better off without Telfair who they were going to waive anyways. Theo Ratliff can go without any problems and Ryan Gomes, while a leader is expendable. Now you have to look at losing Big Al, and Gerald. Jefferson showed a lot of great things in the short time I saw him in Green and White, but in order to get a big man like Garnett you have to give up some talent in return so that's where Al comes in. And Gerald Green, he's probably the biggest reason I would say this trade shouldn't have happened because he is going to be a star in this league someday, but the deal did happen and it's time to look at what you got; a guy who gave his heart and soul to Minnesota even really without a fighting chance. A guy who wants to win and can help this team do it now.

As for those who speak of trading away all the potential. The Celtics did part with a lot of potential, but potential is just that, it's the hope that someone will be as good as everyone predicts in the future. We have no idea exactly how good any of these guys will be. Personally I don't think Jefferson will ever be the player Garnett is. Green could be a 20 point per game type of guy, but he might not be. Garnett has proven his abilities for 12 seasons, and at age 31 he isn't going to slip for a few more years. With the current team the Celtics had, before this deal it would have taken them 5-6 years before they would have even been close to a contender. By then the one veteran star they have Pierce will be 35 and Ray Allen (more or less the supporting actor) would have been old too.

They would have wasted Pierce's abilities by not ever trying to win it now. Well now they have Garnett, Allen, and Paul Pierce. They have a legitimate chance to win the Eastern Conference, and they could challenge for the NBA Championship this season. Will that be enough Celtics fans? I don't know too many people who can tell me that the Celtics have been fun to watch the last few years, or who wouldn't be more apt to buy tickets to a game with the Big Ticket on the roster. Everyone is just all bent out of shape on this youth movement. Well in Boston as far as I'm concerned...the time is now! We took a big risk, but with risk come the potential for big reward. This team could dominate (with Garnett locked up long term) for a good 3 or 4 years in the Eastern Conference, especially in their division.

I think Danny Ainge is one of the dumbest GM's in sports, so I'm surprised this actually got done, but that being said I think finally he made a good move. He made the Celtics exist to Boston sports fans again, and he gave his team an outright chance to win not in 10 years, but right now. KG Celtics jerseys will be flying off the shelves, and this guy will fill a ton more seats than the package that was sent over to Minnesota. The Celtics might even be able to hit the sell out mark like the past playoff teams did years ago. This deal does all the things that signing Lebron James did for the Cavs a few years ago, brings in revenue and puts fans in the seats. I guess we will see what happens this year, but I have a feeling by midseason when there's talk of the C's holding the top playoff spot in the East, most of these nay sayers will eat their words.

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