Minnesota Celtics and Boston T-Wolves

At last, I get to write about something other than another obituary... I hope.... the very opposite, possibly... though time is the great equalizer, and....

I refer of course to the Celtics, trading their entire roster for Kevin Garnett. It's an interesting deal - I'm not sure what to make of it. On one hand, there is no question that Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen make a dominating front three. And given what the C's had, it's a good use of their assets - they've accumulated decent young players with potential for some years - Ainge did a good job turning that into a proven commodity. But at the same time - that's an old front line; without much behind them (Perkins is a serviceable banger; Rondo looks like a useful player, though young; and Tony Allen, with knees, is a fine player - but the rest...); without much sign that they can stop anyone else; with a coach who's never seemed to make any team better... A couple injuries like Pierce's last year, and they are done. With three aging prima donnas and no draft picks... things could get ugly.

But things could have gotten ugly anyway... so, given Ainge's decision to go for it now - well - this is going for it. It will be interesting to watch them - three superstars whose teams have been falling apart around them, put together and given their chance to do it - they stay on the floor, they will be in the hunt. In the east, I mean: barring something unforeseen (Tony Allen comes back as if he never left; Big Baby plays like Charles Barkley; Allen Ray thinks he's Ray Allen), there are still 5-6 teams in the west that would make short work of them. And frankly, a few in the east - for all Garnett's greatness, wouldn't you rather have Chris Bosh right now? I'm not sure the east is a given, even if they play well... the east might have started the road back, with Garnett in Boston, Randolph in NY, Lewis in Orlando, and Detroit, Cleveland, NJ, Chicago and so on maintaining their levels. Things might even up...

As for the wolves - they now basically have the 05-06 C's, with Randy Foye instead of Paul Pierce. We'll see how that goes. It's true enough that Jefferson is fast becoming the player people hoped - but right now, at best, they got a bunch of role players for Garnett. Granted - I wish the C's could have kept Ryan Gomes - they'll need someone reliable off the bench - they're OLD.... (And Delonte West: they are going to need him...) but he won't do Minnesota any good.