Bleeding Green, the Wounded Celtic Mystique...

Sixteen straight losses for a Franchise that has sixteen championship banners hanging from the rafters. Sixteen straight losses for a franchise with 44 playoff appearances. Sixteen straight losses for a Franchise that has nineteen players, plus countless contributors and coaches, enshrined in the NBA Hall of Fame. Sixteen straight losses for a franchise that ruled the NBA until Len Bias’ death triggered a steep decline into mediocrity. This season has been a particularly rough one for whatever remained of the Celtic Mystique. First, Red Auerbach passed away (and if you don’t know who Auerbach was, then open up a new browser, copy and paste his name into your google bar and hit enter); then the Celtics brass, no longer concerned with Red’s response, put cheerleaders on the Celtic sideline; Paul Pierce, the Celtics lone star, has been lost to the team from a myriad of maladies, and the young kids that GM Danny Ainge has assembled have looked, well, green. It’s been bleak al year, yet surely this week signals the worst week in Celtics’ team history (with the obvious exceptions of the deaths of Bias and Reggie Lewis). Pierce, showing the first signs that the prolonged “rebuilding” phase is taking too long, spoke out that the team should trade its draft pick for an established player; the Celtics losing reached record setting levels, and then surpassed those, ultimately matching the Championship banners hanging from the rafters --- banners, which, incidentally, have not increased in 21 years. And, perhaps, worst of all: last Wednesday night, in a home game against the hated Los Angeles Lakers (coached by former Knick Phil Jackson, one of Red’s nemesis), the Celtics faithful geared up a rousing chant of M-V-P… For Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant. Somewhere, Red’s family must have been morosely happy that he died three months earlier, for surely hearing his fans chant MVP for a Laker (a Laker?), would have been a torture worse than dying.

So where do the Celtics go from here? Is Pierce right, should they trade away any potential draft pick for a veteran? Or, should they fully commit to rebuilding by trading away Pierce? Lets take a look at the Celtics different options, by examining their rebuilding with Pierce, and without.

Rebuilding the Green part 1 – Pierce in Hand:

Whether or not the Celtics move forward with Pierce, he’s wrong about that draft pick. Other than possibly Kevin Garnett, there is not an available player who’s worth acquiring at the expense of having Greg Oden or Kevin Durant suiting up for you next year. Short term, long term, doesn’t matter. Those two guys are so good right now, that the only players you’d trade for them are untouchable guys like Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, or Dwight Howard. The Celtics have been rebuilding through the draft, but they haven’t been rebuilding with particularly high picks. Since selecting Pierce tenth in 1998, the only top ten picks they’ve had were Joe Johnson, also tenth, and this year’s seventh choice, essentially Brandon Roy, whom they traded for Sebastian Telfair. All the youngsters that Boston is so attached to right now, came late in the draft: Al Jefferson (15), Gerald Green (18), Delonte West (24), Tony Allen (25). These were not, nor ever will be, players of Durant or Oden’s caliber. However, those top ten choices that the Celtics traded away, Joe Johnson, ROY favorite Brandon Roy, and perhaps worst of all, top three point guard, Chauncey Billups, whom the Celtics traded 51 games after selecting him with the 3rd pick in 1997, well those are players Pierce would be happy to see onboard (and incidentally, one heck of a backcourt rotation). Right now, the Celtics have a 19.9 percent shot a getting the top pick, and an even better shot at one of the top two. They need to keep that pick at least until they know how the ping pong balls fall.

What they can do in the interim, is take a good look at the holes in their roster. What the Celtics lack is depth, a good point guard, and consistency. It’s to be expected of all those kids, but the Celtics lack of consistency is killing them in Pierce’s absence. Obviously another solid veteran performer (and Pau Gasol is more than a solid veteran performer), would help with the consistency, and potentially the depth. The Telfair trade has backfired horribly, he’s gone from starter to bit piece, which is a weak return for Roy. Rajon Rondo, whom the Celtics drafted 22nd, looks like a solid NBA backup; a good defender, who can run the point, but his horrid shooting prevents him from absorbing starter minutes, and Delonte West is more of a multi-talented third guard off the bench than a starting point. Of course, starting point guards don’t exactly fall from trees, do they? Of the league’s top points, only two are seemingly available. Billups will be a free agent after the season and would fit perfectly, but the Celtics wont have enough cap space to rectify that mistake. However, Jason Kidd might also be available. The Nets are a sinking ship, they have a top heavy, bloated roster and they need to move on… An offer of Theo Ratliff, Al Jefferson, Brooklyn’s Telfair, and a future draft choice, gives the Nets cap space, a home town hero for the eminent move to Brooklyn, a future low block stud, and a draft pick. That’s an excellent package for Kidd. In return the Celtics get a leader with Championship moxie.

Now, the second deal the Celtics should make is a calculated risk: Andrei Kirilenko has been a shell of his former self lately, which given his enormous salary has left him “on thin ice,” but Kirilenko’s still young, younger than me, probably younger than you. Despite seemingly being in the league since Bill Russell, Kirilenko’s only 26, which means that he should be able to bounce back to his 5x5 self. One of the problems Kirilenko’s having, is that he isn’t really a small forward. Despite his size, Kirilenko, like Shawn Marion in Phoenix, does better when he can use his guile and athleticism against bigger, slower players. The re-emergence of Carlos Boozer has left Kirilenko on the outside looking in and while the Jazz brass is aware of his potential, they’re also aware that he’s owed 63 million over the next four years. An offer of Gerald Green and Wally Szczerbiak saves the Jazz 36 million and gives them a future stud two guard. I actually like this trade so much, that I'll give it more discussion in my up-coming deadline deals column. Whether the Celtics drafted Oden or Durant, they would be able to deploy the AK-47 at power forward, where he’d help their defense and provide and flourish from the open looks Jason Kidd gets his teammates.

Now we come to the draft. Ten years ago, Rick Pitino presided over a historically inept Celtics team that had two lottery picks in a draft headlined by Tim Duncan. The Celtics were so sure that they were getting Duncan, that they allowed Pitino to pose on the cover of SI with Duncan in a Celtics jersey. Curse fanatics can argue whether it was the curse of Len Bias, or the SI cover curse, or maybe it just had something to do with lottery odds, but any way you cut it, the Celtics ended up with the third and sixth picks, which they used on the aforementioned Billups and the underwhelming Ron Mercer. Why does this matter? Because being historically bad doesn’t guarantee the Celtics anything. Even if they finish with the worst record in the NBA, they are only guaranteed of picking fourth, which complicates this process a little. This draft is regarded as one of the deepest in history. Top heavy with future all stars, so we can assume that any pick the Celtics get will be good, but Oden and Durant, well they’re more than all stars, they’re franchise changing players. For the sake of our work here, I’m going to assume that Red’s up in heaven, sharing a victory cigar with the big Cheese and convincing her that intervention in the lottery process would reward millions of Catholics who’ve been deprived of their one non-vice pleasure (I’m sure that he’ll fail to mention the plethora of vices which accompany watching the Celtics for most Boston “Catholics”).

Now, depending on which direction the Celtics take with that first pick, there’s one final move they need to make. Whomever they choose, would ultimately define the style of team that they want to be. Oden represents a defensive core, with the offence coming from Pierce and Kirilenko. Durant would mean a more open attack, with Kidd leading a break with Pierce and Durant on the wings, and Kirilenko working over larger players under the hoop. So, if they take --- as most observers think they should --- Oden first, then the Celtics would need to find a small forward. Two jump out to me as free agents worth wooing: Ruben Patterson and Morris Peterson. Both are rugged wing defenders, who score high percentage baskets but aren’t particularly adept shooters. Peterson’s a little better from downtown, but Patterson shoots a better percentage overall. Frankly I’d rather have Moe Pete, because he’s younger, a touch better, and not an idiot off the court, but I’d offer both the midlevel over three years and take whomever signed first. A front line of Oden, Kirilenko and Peterson is going to be long, athletic and dominant on the boards. It’s also going to block a serious amount of shots. With Oden, the Celtics look like this:

PG – J. Kidd, D. West, R. Rondo
SG – P. Pierce, T. Allen
SF – M. Peterson, R. Gomes
PF – A. Kirilenko, B. Scalabrine, L. Powe
C – G. Oden, K. Perkins

Now, if they decide that they want somebody more Larry Bird than Bill Russell (and don’t get your panties in a knot, I’m not seriously comparing either to either, just making a loose analogy), then they choose Durant and go for an up-tempo, exciting brand of basketball. The basic team looks the same, but Perkins slides into the starting spot and the Celtics find a tough interior defender to back him up. This team has championship aspirations, so somebody like Dale Davis would come cheap and make sense. Anyhow, the team would lineup like this:

PG – J. Kidd, D. West, R. Rondo
SG – P. Pierce, T. Allen
SF – K. Durant, R. Gomes
PF – A. Kirilenko, B. Scalabrine, L. Powe
C – K. Perkins, D. Davis

Now, maybe God decides that the Philly fans need the first pick even more, or that the Grizzlies franchise, which never should have left Vancouver, needs something to cheer about, and the Celtics get pooched and have to settle for Brandon Wright, Joakim Noah, or Spencer Hawes, but here’s the thing, the Celtic mystique wasn’t built on the luck of the Irish, it was built on Red being smarter than everyone else. On finding great players, coaching them well, and putting them on the floor to do their thing. No matter how their lottery luck plays out, no matter who they draft, these are smart moves; moves which leave them in good standing to make the playoffs next year, and to quickly challenge for future championships.

Check back tomorrow for how the Celtics could rebuild by trading Pierce.