To trade, or not to trade

Written by Jeremy

Tuesday, 23 June 2009 09:12

While there have been many rumors floating around that involve shipping off Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, does it really make any sense for the Celtics to do it? It seems like many of us forget that the Celtics were still the 2nd seed in the eastern conference last season, even with the injury to KG. Many of us believe (myself included) that the Celtics would've repeated this season had Garnett (and Powe) been healthy. So, why break that up?

The latest supposed offer of Allen and Rondo to Detroit for Hamilton, Prince, and Stuckey seems somewhat reasonable at first glance. The Celtics shed Allen's expiring deal and replace him with Hamilton. Rondo for Stuckey is a downgrade for the Celtics, but is made up for with the addition of Prince. And, for 09/10 at least, the Celtics would look to be pretty heavy favorites to return to the NBA Finals. But beyond that, the Celtics would be strapped with Hamilton's 3/34 remaining on his deal, and a (possibly) declining Tayshaun Prince. Not to mention Stuckey would require a new deal in a couple of years. And, we've also all seen how "paper-good" teams can easily fail to live up to the hype. It happens quite often - the Yankees, Cubs, and Mets in baseball, and the Lakers when they added Karl Malone and Gary Payton - are perfect examples. The Celtics would be "paper-good"
adding those three. But, if the Celtics stayed healthy last season, all of this talk is probably non-existent. Remember, they still won 62 games, and pushed Orlando to a 7th game in the playoffs without KG. But, they didn't. The end result was they didn't repeat. And they have a huge expiring deal on their hands that could possibly be cashed in for a shiny
new piece of the puzzle. That's the sexy story.

Danny Ainge has been taking the time to quell all of this talk. He's preparing us fans for a boring draft night, publicly stating that nothing is in the works. That talks happen all the time (which I'm sure they do), but nothing is on the horizon. So, why shouldn't we believe that? Well, it could be because Danny Ainge is called "Trader Dan" for no good reason.
He's been an active trader during draft night since he took over the reigns. And this is the same type of GM-speak that he used before the '07 draft - the draft that brought Ray Allen to Boston. Ironically, it's Ray Allen's expiring contract that is the rocket fuel being used for what we're all sort of expecting on, or before, Thursday.

I do expect Allen to be dealt, because I believe that Ainge had this exact scenario in mind when he dealt for him two years ago (along with using him to lure KG here). But I also believe that he will only be dealt if it keeps the team within the limits of winning another title next year (and the next). Trading for Hamilton, Prince and Stuckey doesn't do that, in my opinion. I don't believe it even makes the Celtics better than they currently are. On top of that, it financially hog-ties the Celts from doing much of anything in free agency for the next couple of years. And the only way I would want that to happen is if they're hog-tied to a Dwayne Wade,
Chris Paul, or Amare Stoudemire-type player. And odds of that are slim.

So, should the Celtics make a big trade? Yes - if it can net them a top-10 NBA player. If not, I say hang tight, shore up the bench, and roll on with what they have. Because the 18th banner is pretty damn close with what they have right now.

Comments (1)

the celtics should trade rondo coz 1st of all he cant shoot from the outside even making a free throw is hard for him and then there's this attitude that his coach commented him that he's stuborn and hard to dealt with