- It was finally done yesterday. Mark Teixeira got his wish and will now be on his beloved east coast, playing for a contender, etc.
He was one of the most un-inspiring guys to ever come through Arlington. Like Bob Sturm said yesterday, and maybe this is naive for me and him to think this, but he never made you feel like he cared one bit about you the fan or the team. The name on the front of the jersey meant nothing to him. And maybe I'm dumb for thinking there are actually players like this out there, but at least some of them trick me into thinking it. Jason Terry, Tony Romo, Mike Irvin, Dirk, CJ Wilson, Brett Hull, Rusty Greer, Will Clark, and Steve Nash are local athletes that come to mind when accumulating a quick list of these types of players.
He never developed any kind of emotional connection with you. He was a robot, albeit a robot who was a bad ass. He could hit, field, and play at a level that was near the top of the league. I'll go ahead and call him the white Juan Gonzalez. Great numbers, an a-hole off the field, plays for the agent and the next check, and never even tricks you into believing he gives one rip about the fans or the team.
And he was always one of those guys who just thought it was his God-given right to play baseball, and because of this, his thought was you will pay for me just to be in your presence. You need me, I don't need you. His quote about how the Rangers should be thanking him every day for signing out of Georgia Tech put the nail in the coffin for me.
To me, I'm into local athletes being loyal to the cause and making me feel like they'd give their left nut to bring a title to my hometown. Mark Teixeira made me feel like he hated it here, always had one eye down the road, and was always formulating a plan to get the hell out of town. Good riddance. If you're not with us, you're against us, and you always were against us.
- Interesting blog entry from CJ Wilson.
mark teixeira and ron mahay are now atlanta braves...
jarrod saltalaphabet-super prospect C/1b
elvis andrus - super prospect SS (jose reyes jr?)
and some other super pitching prospects are coming our way...
good job JD- you just saved us 12 million dollars that we can spend next year on a stud pitcher, or a centerfielder. I like the move a lot.
i'm sorry to all the fans that loved mark- but he always wanted to play for atlanta anyway- he loves living there, and went to school there, and his wife's family is from there...and he's going to be too expensive for us to keep and still sign guys that we need to sign.
part of the business!
- You know what strikes me about that blog entry? Notice how he wasn't at all heartbroken, not at all bitter, immediately praising a TEAMMATE leaving.
I think that's the prevailing thought inside that locker room. It makes me think he was liked by a few, despised by many more, and the rest were just apathetic to him. They look at it like the spoiled rich kid is gone, they freed up money, and maybe the room just got a little looser.
I mean, seriously, who says he "loves the move" and immediately has plans of what they can do with the excess money. Like the team just won the lottery. That's coming from a teammate, not a fan. Just crazy to me. Who acts excited after they lost a .300/35/140 guy? I think this speaks volumes to what the whole team thought about Tex.
- Now, on to the package they received. I think this has the potential to be an absolute home run. Yes, it's prospect laden, and that's always a dicey proposition, because odds are great that only 1 or 2, not all 3, of these guys will actually pan out. But the Rangers basically got the Braves' top positional prospect, a SS who is projected to be a Jose Reyes, Jr. type, and 2 pitchers who are by all accounts 2 of the top pitching prospects in their system.
How were the Rangers able to get all of this? Age and injury concerns. That's the only reason. Elvis Andrus, the stud SS, is only 18 and still raw. Matt Harrison, a lefty starter, just recently had his shoulder MRI'ed, but it is expected not to be serious. And Feliz, the other pitcher, is also very young.
I'll tell you what I know about each player, mainly heard from my source on the east coast who avidly follows the Braves.
1) Salty Dog - A major league 1B to replace Tex who is 22 and just breaking into the majors. He's a switch hitter with power and above average catching skills. Potential solution at catcher when the team gets tired of Gerald Laird's act. Every baseball guy I've read says he can absolutely rake the ball.
2) Matt Harrison - He is a 6'5'' lefty starter that can reach 96 mph; plus he is only 21. Depending on how he develops as a "pitcher" not a "thrower" will tell if he will be up shortly. He was at the Braves' spring training this year. I know John Smoltz is on record as saying he's the real deal. He did recently have shoulder issues, but those aren't expected to be serious. Here is an old article on him...
Harrison impresses: As Matt Harrison prepared for his first big-league workout on Friday morning, he was seemingly nervous. But those nerves obviously didn't prove detrimental while he threw his first bullpen session in front of Braves manager Bobby Cox.
"He's going to be the real deal some day," Cox said shortly after Friday's workout.
While combining for 158 2/3 innings with Class A Myrtle Beach and Double-A Mississippi last year, Harrison surrendered 160 hits, registered 114 strikeouts and issued 33 walks. The 21-year-old left-hander, who is listed at 6-foot-4, has seen his fastball clocked anywhere from 89-95 mph.
Because Harrison has made just 12 starts above the Class A level, he comes to this camp as a long shot to win the fifth starter's spot. But that won't stop this non-roster invitee from attempting to make a positive first impression.
"You always want to be competitive and I'd definitely like to break camp with them," Harrison said. "But I haven't put as much time in as some of these guys have, so I don't expect to jump right in."
3) Elvis Andrus - 18 and raw, but has very high ceiling. Unbelievable speed and athleticism, to go along with an excellent glove. Hitting probably needs to be further developed.
4) Neftali Feliz - Hard throwing starter, good minor league stats, very young, still a few years away at the least. Him and Andrus probably on same timetable.
- Like I said, I know depending on 3 prospects, even though they are highly rated, is always dicey. But I see this as a trade that has the potential to rival any other fire-sale type trade. Cleveland's trade of Colon that landed them Sizemore, Cliff Lee, and another contributor. Florida's deal of Beckett and Lowell that netted them a couple starting pitchers and a stud SS, Hanley Ramirez.
It's about time the Rangers stole a trade, and I think this has the chance to be that type of trade. John Daniel's job depends on it.
- Ranger players react, with Michael Young leading the charge again. -
Trade leaves some Rangers curious
01:30 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com
CLEVELAND – Michael Young is curious once again. He is starting to hate that feeling.
With the Mark Teixeira trade all but completed, Young realizes the focus is now on 2008. Unless it's on 2009 or 2010.
And with two trades in the last four days that returned the Rangers lots of potential, but only one major leaguer, Young is left once again to wonder where the franchise is headed this winter.
"Yes, I'm curious, but I'm starting to get tired of being curious," said Young, who has never played on a major league team that has finished higher than third place in his six seasons. "Every off-season I'm curious. I'd like to think that every move we make is geared towards making us better for 2008. I'd like to think at the end of a year that with very few tweaks, we could bring the same team back for the next year."
Young and some other Rangers who either have time invested with the club or who have their long-term futures tied to Texas welcomed the addition of 22-year-old catcher-first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the headliner in the Atlanta deal.
But they also noticed that the Rangers got 18-year-old Elvis Andrus and 19-year-old Neftali Feliz in the deal. Neither is expected to play in the majors anytime soon.
In addition, the Rangers received Class A catcher Max Ramirez, 22, from Cleveland last week in a deal for Kenny Lofton.
"When you look at the trade on paper, it definitely seems like this is about [the long-term future]," said second baseman Ian Kinsler. "I don't think we are going to be a very experienced team next year unless we do some serious damage on the free agent market."
DH-outfielder Frank Catalanotto, who signed a three-year contract with the Rangers this season, was just as curious. It's entirely possible that his contract will expire before Andrus or Feliz ever appear in the majors.
"I don't think our approach is determined yet," he said. "We don't know what Jon Daniels is going to do in the off-season. The bottom line is we were going to most likely lose [Teixeira]. From what I've been reading and from what I've been hearing, it sounds like this is a good deal for us.
"I'm getting older and I want to win right now. Would it be nice to get four players who are ready for the majors? Yes, it would be nice, but that's not going to happen. Hopefully, during the off-season, we'll make the right decisions and be a better team for 2008."
Young has played with Teixeira since 2003 and had the strongest attachment to Teixeira as a teammate. Kinsler made his major league debut last year, and though Catalanotto played for the Rangers from 2000 through 2002, he never played with Teixeira until this season.
Young had campaigned for the club not to trade Teixeira. On Monday, Kinsler and Catalanotto said they hated to see a player of Teixeira's talent leave the organization, but also recognized the Rangers were in a difficult spot.
"It's tough to see a superstar leave your team," Kinsler said. "But if our organization has a plan and we have to move him to fill some holes, it was kind of time to move forward. If we are going to try to win here in the next year or two, it's time to make some moves.
"I'm not sure what all of [Daniels'] plans are, but I think it's pretty obvious he's planning something."
Kinsler will be curious to find out. After all, he's just had one off-season to experience curiosity. It's only after five or six years that it starts to wear on a guy. Just ask Young.
- An ESPN insider grades the trade -
Texas-size barrel of upsideposted: Monday, July 30, 2007
Atlanta catches this week's biggest fish, but Texas gets a big barrel of upside in return.
Mark Teixeira was easily the best player available in the trade market, and Rangers general manager Jon Daniels had made clear his intention to consummate a deal, so inquiring GMs knew they weren't just wasting their breath. Teixeira provides a pretty complete offensive package: He's a switch-hitter with an easy swing who hits for average and power from both sides, although his power as a left-handed batter is less than it is as a right-handed batter; his plate discipline is good and improving; and he's been very durable up until this year, playing in 162 games in each of the last two seasons. First base was a festering wound for Atlanta until the Braves started playing Jarrod Saltalamacchia there a few weeks ago, and Teixeira is a definite short-term upgrade over him.
On the downside, this is almost certainly a 15-month rental. Teixeira is a Scott Boras client, which makes him very unlikely to re-sign with Atlanta before reaching free agency, especially since Atlanta would expect him to take a discount. Although the Braves managed to pull this off with Boras client Andruw Jones six years ago, Jones had been in the Atlanta organization since he was 16 and wanted to stay, whereas Teixeira has been in the Atlanta organization for about 20 minutes and his only tie to the Atlanta area is the three years he spent at Georgia Tech.
Ron Mahay is probably best known as one of the few late hitter-to-pitcher conversions that has worked out, as he played for the Red Sox as an outfielder at age 24 and was converted to pitching in the following season. He's a fastball-changeup lefty with a below-average curveball who's been more effective against right-handed hitters over the last several years. Atlanta hasn't had an effective lefty in its 'pen this year, but Mahay doesn't fill that role, providing overall depth without matchup potential.
If there's a surprise here for me on Atlanta's end, it's that the Braves targeted a hitter as their main acquisition rather than a pitcher. Atlanta ranks fifth in the NL in runs scored, and if you consider the teams' home parks they'd rank fourth. The Braves' pitching is more of a weakness, as they've been about league average, slightly below in the bullpen. But with so little pitching available and the prices demanded for pitching so high, this may have been their only avenue to improve.
The Rangers arguably got three of Atlanta's top five prospects, with only outfielders Brandon Jones and Jordan Schafer staying in the Atlanta system. The prize is Saltalamacchia, who recovered from a lost 2006 season to re-establish himself as one of the best prospects in baseball. In a perfect world, he's an offensive catcher, a switch-hitter with power and a great batting eye. He has a similar description at the plate to Teixeira, and although Saltalamacchia doesn't have Teixeira's raw power, Saltalamacchia has a much better swing from the left side, making him a good fit for that Texas ballpark. As a catcher, he's a potential All-Star.
The main question on Saltalamacchia is his ultimate position. He's listed at 6-foot-4, which is unusually tall for a catcher; taller catchers have tended to either move off the position or to get hurt, often with knee trouble because the strain placed on a catcher's knees increases with his height. Making matters worse, he's still unpolished behind the plate, with a plus arm but sloppy actions and footwork issues. If he does stay behind the plate, Saltalamacchia now gives Texas a surfeit of catching, making Gerald Laird and possibly either Taylor Teagarden (arguably the best catching prospect in the minors right now) or Max Ramirez expendable. When you have bigger needs, like pitching, extra catching is a luxury.
Elvis Andrus is one of the youngest players in any full-season league, and he was the youngest regular in any full-season league last year. That's important when considering his track record, which isn't impressive; he's been advanced so quickly that he's never played at a level appropriate to his skill set, and has spent 2007 facing pitchers three or four years his senior. While his performance isn't impressive, his tools are. He has good bat speed, and despite a general lack of control in his swing, he squares up and the ball really flies off his bat. In the field he shows a natural flair for the shortstop spot, with soft hands, a plus arm and good range in both directions. What he lacks in instincts at the plate he makes up for with his instincts on defense. This is a great upside play for Texas, as long as the Rangers slow him down instead of promoting him without regard to his results the way that Atlanta did.
The Rangers also get Neftali Feliz, the classic "live arm" who's pitching in the Appalachian League this year; he sits at 94 mph and will touch 98, but his offspeed stuff is all a work in progress (development-speak for "not very good"). He's an ideal third guy in a large trade, because power arms are always coveted in trades, and he's young enough to develop into something more than an arm-strength guy. Texas also will receive a player to be named; this could be lefty Matt Harrison, who was in earlier iterations of this deal but was pulled off the table when it was revealed that he has a sore shoulder.
- It's official - KG to the Celtics. KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen and a bunch of spares immediately just shot up to the top of the list in the East. Expect them to be the favorites to represent the East in the finals.
Garnett will be traded to Celtics
10:07 PM CDT on Monday, July 30, 2007
Associated Press
BOSTON – Kevin Garnett is leaving Minnesota after the Boston Celtics agreed to acquire the All-Star forward in a multiplayer trade with the Timberwolves, a Celtics official told The Associated Press on Monday.
Among the players who could be headed to Minnesota are forward Al Jefferson, guard Sebastian Telfair, swingman Gerald Green and center Theo Ratliff, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been completed. The official also said the Timberwolves would get at least one draft choice.
The teams still had some things to clarify with the players' contracts, but the official said that would not keep the Celtics from acquiring Garnett, although there could be a change in the players ticketed for the Timberwolves.
Garnett, 31, has spent all of his 12 NBA seasons with Minnesota. He would get an extension of his contract, which has one year plus an option year remaining, the official said.
The Celtics had tried to get Garnett late last month, but his agent said he didn't want to go to Boston.
Since then, Boston acquired seven-time All-Star guard Ray Allen from Seattle in a draft day deal. Already with Paul Pierce, the Celtics would become instant contenders in the mediocre Atlantic Division with Garnett, even without promising forward Jefferson.
The Celtics obtained Allen and the 35th pick of the draft for guards Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak, and forward Jeff Green of Georgetown, whom they drafted with the fifth pick.
The Celtics have won just three playoff series during Pierce's nine years with them. They still have an NBA-record 16 championships, but none since 1986.
"They have no excuses, this team out there," Danny Ainge, the executive director of basketball operations, said after Allen was acquired.
Pierce, 29, led the Celtics in scoring last season but played only 47 games because of injury.
Allen, who turns 32 next month, averaged a career-high 26.4 points last season, his 11th, but underwent surgery to remove bone spurs on both ankles that required him to wear protective boots. He is expected to be ready for training camp.
A long, lean 6-foot-11 forward who's actually at least 2 inches taller than his listed height, Garnett's athleticism has allowed him to play all over the court – banging against bodies in the post, swatting away shots in the lane, running the fast break, shooting top-of-the-key jumpers and even playing point guard every once in a while.
A preps-to-the-pros pioneer, Garnett's immediate impact after being selected fifth overall in 1995 by the Timberwolves paved a path for dozens and dozens of other teenagers to skip college and declare for the draft – most of whom enjoyed far less success.
Then in October 1997, Garnett's contract changed the game – a six-year, $126 million extension that led to significant alterations to the league's collective bargaining agreement emerging from a 1999 lockout.
Garnett forever changed the franchise in Minnesota, too. The year before he was drafted, the Wolves set an NBA mark for futility with their fourth straight 60-loss season. In just his second season, he helped lead Minnesota to its first playoff appearance – the first of eight straight.
The last of those was the best, when the "Big Ticket" was at his peak. He won the league's MVP award and led the Wolves within two wins of the NBA finals in 2004. Garnett averaged 24.2 points and a league-high 13.9 rebounds that season, joining Larry Bird as the only players to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for five consecutive years.
But those idyllic days quickly ended for the Wolves, who have fired two coaches and not made the playoffs since then. Part of their problem has been Garnett's huge salary, but vice president Kevin McHale has also missed on several moves. Though he never requested a trade or said he was unhappy in Minnesota, Garnett expressed frustration with some of McHale's decisions and challenged McHale to upgrade the roster.
Teammate Mark Madsen was surprised by the news.
"I never thought it would happen this offseason. I never thought it would happen, ever," Madsen said, adding: "Even before I entered the NBA, when I thought of Kevin Garnett I always thought of Minnesota. But at the same time in this business, we all know that anything can happen."
- Bill Simmons weighs in -
McHale adds another notch to his Celtics legacy
By Bill Simmons
Page 2
Updated: July 30, 2007, 9:48 PM ET
Editor's Note: Although the trade of Kevin Garnett to the Celtics hasn't been officially announced, numerous parties (including ESPN.com) were reporting a deal was in place Monday. Here's The Sports Guy's reaction to the news of KG's impending arrival.
During Kevin McHale's 13-year career in Boston, he helped the Celtics capture three championships, redefined the lost art of low-post play, defended everyone from Bernard King to Andrew Toney to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and peaked as the best power forward alive in 1986 and '87. I loved watching him, I loved rooting for him and, most of all, I loved him for risking his career in the '87 playoffs by playing on a broken foot. Boston ended up losing the NBA Finals in six and his career was never quite the same. To this day, he walks with a slight limp. To this day, he says he'd do it again.
When we raised McHale's No. 32 to the rafters, naturally, we assumed his last great Boston moment happened in a '93 playoff series against Charlotte, when McHale reached back in time and tortured the Hornets down low for 35 unfathomable points in Game 2. The Garden was rocking, McHale was moving like the old McHale and everything seemed right with the world again. It was one of those ESPN Classic games that you knew you'd always remember even as it was happening. And if that had been his last great act for the Celtics, I would have been fine with it.
Fast-forward to 2007. The Celtics haven't mattered in 15 years. We've won three playoff series since McHale retired. We've had three above-.500 seasons. We've had terrible front-office executives and terrible coaches, people who were so horrendous at their jobs it almost defied belief. We've had a whopping two All-Stars, neither of whom was a top-10 player (although they were paid like it). Quite simply, we've sucked. Even worse, the people running the team were panicking like a teenage couple waiting for the results of a pregnancy test, culminating in last month's bizarre decision to trade the No. 5 pick for Ray Allen. We were stuck in no man's land, just good enough to make the playoffs, just young enough that we weren't making noise, and by the time our young guys matured, Allen would have been finished. For the past four weeks, I've probably been the angriest I've ever been at my favorite team.
But here's what I wasn't counting on …
Our old friend Kevin McHale.
My NBA guide claims that McHale retired from the Celtics in 1993, but apparently that's a misprint. How else could you explain his decision to trade Kevin Garnett to Boston for the Al Jefferson pu pu platter deluxe? Just five weeks ago, McHale and Minnesota couldn't close a potential deal in which they received Jefferson and Boston's No. 5 pick. Now? They're settling for Jefferson (a potential franchise player), Ryan Gomes (an intangibles guy who's useless on a bad team), Bassy Telfair (a year away from signing in Italy), Gerald Green (a homeless man's J.R. Smith), Theo Ratliff's expiring deal, a 2009 lottery-protected No. 1 pick (congrats on picking in the mid-20s) and the return of Minny's future No. 1 that was stupidly included in the Ricky Davis/Mark Blount-Wally Szczerbiak trade.
Basically, McHale traded one of the best 25 players ever -- at the tail end of his prime!!! -- for Jefferson (a free agent in two years), one year of Gomes (a free agent in '08, when he'll be leaving treadmarks on his way out of Minnesota), a harmless pick and a do-over for a pick he never should have traded. Last month, McHale walked away from the No. 5 pick in the deal. This month, he couldn't even get Boston to throw in Rajon Rondo.
And honestly? I'm flabbergasted. I was vehemently against trading Jefferson and the No. 5 for KG, only because losing Jefferson wouldn't have been worth competing with two top-25 guys and a roster too young to do anything around them (as well as Doc Rivers coaching that very same team). Now? They have three All-Stars -- KG, Allen and Paul Pierce -- who rank in the top-six at their respective positions. Assuming KG and Allen have 2-3 quality seasons in them, that gives the Celts pole position in the atrocious Eastern Conference for 2008 and 2009, especially if they luck out with one more free-agent signing and an in-season veteran pickup.
Now here's where it gets really good: Pierce, Allen and Garnett happen to be wired the exact same way -- three ultracompetitive guys nearing the end of their primes who would sacrifice anything to play on a winner. All of them were stuck in miserable situations last season (combined record: 87-159), all of them are good guys, all of them understand that you only have so many chances to contend. For all three guys, it will be their best team ever, regardless of who's playing with them. Allen hasn't played with a top-20 player his entire career; neither has Pierce; and Garnett hasn't played with one elite scorer, much less two. For Garnett, his major weakness (crunch-time scoring) gets solved with two proven crunch-time scorers helping him. For Pierce, his major weakness (leadership) gets obscured because he has two intense veterans who know how to deal with the media and lead by example. For Allen, his weakness (a tendency to break down) gets negated because he won't have to carry his team offensively every night.
Just think of these three guys thrown together. All three carried playoff teams further than they should have gone: Pierce in 2002, Garnett in 2004, Allen in 2005. All three were on suicide watch as recently as six weeks ago, wondering how they could extract themselves from untenable (and unwinnable) situations. All three are about to become relevant again in April, May and June. Would you bet against them having monster seasons? Would you bet against them embarking on a 100-game mission to make the Finals? Hell, have three star teammates ever had more to prove in one season?
There's one precedent: In August 1996, when the Rockets mortgaged their future by trading Sam Cassell and Robert Horry to the Suns for Charles Barkley, teamed the Chuckster with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and crossed their fingers that a paltry supporting cast (basically, Eddie Johnson, Mario Elie and a gigantic hole at point guard) wouldn't sink them. Although Dream and Glide already had won titles, their careers were at a similar point as the KG-Pierce-Allen trio -- each (including Barkley) had peaked as impact players, but each had something left in his tank. Dream averaged a 23 points and 9 rebounds, Barkley recorded 19-13.5, Drexler chipped in with an 18-6-6, and the Rockets won 57 games and came within two victories of the '97 Finals, losing to the Jazz for one reason: Rookie point guard Matt Maloney was absolutely eviscerated by John Stockton. This was like watching Frankie Williams get destroyed by Roddy Piper on Piper's Pit, only if it happened for six straight games over the course of two weeks. That's why they lost.
One year later, Glide and Dream were just about done, Barkley was headed that way and the Rockets finished .500. They haven't won a playoff series since.
The question remains: If you're a Rockets fan, would you make that trade again? You had that Utah series tied 2-2 before blowing a nailbiter in Utah and losing Game 6 on a Stockton buzzer-beater. You were right there. Was it worth it? In my opinion, absolutely. The whole point of fielding an NBA team is to win a title -- if you have the chance, you have to try. Even if it means crossing your fingers with the likes of Matt Maloney.
Eleven years later, the Celtics find themselves in a similar spot: Three All-Stars coupled with a talented but woefully inexperienced point guard (Rondo), a promising defensive stopper coming off major knee surgery (Tony Allen), a decent backup center who plays hard (Kendrick Perkins), a new Mark Madsen for KG (Brian Scalabrine, who's already working on his high-fives and fist-pumps), two undersized power forwards (Big Baby Glen Davis, Leon Powe), two athletic rookies (Brandon Wallace, Gabe Pruitt) and that's it. There isn't an Eddie Johnson or Mario Elie to be seen. Then again, since they're likely to add one or two more ring-hungry veterans, and since the '08 Eastern Conference is between three and 200 times worse than the '97 Western Conference, who knows? In the words of Chris Shiherlis, the bank is worth the risk.
Could the 2008 version of Maloney screw up Boston's first true title contender in 16 years? It's much more likely that Doc will screw it up -- he should have been fired two years ago. Then again, his three biggest problems as a coach have been:
A. Coming up with a rotation and sticking to it -- not a problem now since the Celts barely have enough NBA guys on the roster.
B. Killing the confidence of his point guards by yelling at them too much and yanking their minutes around -- not a problem now since Rondo is the only point guard on the roster.
C. Refusing to come up with any semblance of a strategy to defend high screens -- not as much of a problem now because KG is one of the greatest pick-and-roll defenders of all-time.
So maybe Doc won't be as much of an albatross this season. Besides, any team with KG, Pierce and Allen will coach itself. We can only hope.
Regardless, at least the Celtics matter again. From the beginning, Danny Ainge's stated game plan was to blow up a decent 2004 team, stockpile as many assets as possible, then eventually trade those assets for one or two impact guys. In a roundabout way, that's exactly what he did -- even if the Allen trade was a complete I-need-to-save-my-job panic deal, and even if they gambled that a third All-Star miraculously would fall from the sky this summer (which is exactly what happened). Looking back, it was like watching the World Series of Poker and seeing someone say "screw it!" by going all-in with a jack-nine of spades after a flop yielded two more spades. Is it smart to risk everything on the 25-percent chance that you'll get the flush? Well, it depends on how many chips you have left. If you're desperate, and you're running out of money, and you need a momentum swing, maybe you do it. If you get the flush, it doesn't mean you were a good poker player, it just means you were losing chips and had to take an enormous risk because you didn't have any other choice.
For Ainge, the Allen trade was going all-in for the flush and the KG trade was getting that fifth spade on the river. Of course, he's also the reason we were low on chips in the first place, but that's the thing about poker -- even during the most dire times, you're always one lucky hand away from turning things around. For one of the few times since Larry Bird retired, the Celtics lucked out. Now it looks like they can contend in the East. Now the Celtics are on TNT and ESPN for more than two appearances. Now Barkley and Kenny aren't making jokes about us, and free agents actually might want to play for us, and my dad isn't bemoaning the fact that he just threw away money for season tickets again. The Boston Celtics are back. Repeat: The Celtics are back. Even if we had to give up two top-seven picks and the best young low-post player in the league to get there.
"I hate giving up Jefferson," my Dad said, "but we had to do it."
We were on the phone going through the trade, piece by piece. Dad loved watching Jefferson. He thinks Jefferson is going to be special. At the same time, he's getting old and wanted to see them contend again. At the very least, we're contenders. That much is clear. You actually can look forward to Celtics home games again.
"It's amazing this worked out," Dad said. "I always liked McHale -- maybe he had better offers, but he just wanted to help the Celtics out."
"That wouldn't surprise me," I said. "He was a great Celtic."
"Yeah, remember when he played on the broken foot that year? He was a great Celtic."
Maybe he still is.
THREE NOTES
Three notes I couldn't fit into the column:
1. One sad part of the trade -- poor Al Jefferson getting exiled to Minnesota to play for an awful team in a tough conference loaded with good power forwards, and if that's not bad enough, he has to play with Ricky Davis and Mark Blount again and replace the most popular player in T-Wolves history. Yikes. With that said, I still think he's a potential franchise player.
2. Word on the street is that Pierce lobbied KG relentlessly over the past four weeks to change his mind about coming to Boston. And it worked. Two other things helped: The Allen trade increasing Boston's playoff chances, and Phoenix/Chicago refusing to blow their teams up for KG. So if you're scoring at home, black guys do want to play in Boston -- as long as it's for a playoff contender and they have no other options.
3. Chicago fans, you should be bummed -- KG would have ended up in Chicago if John Paxson had simply rolled over P.J. Brown's expiring deal last February for a 2008 expiring deal to preserve that cap number (like Phoenix wouldn't have been interested???).
THREE MORE NOTES
Three more notes I couldn't fit into the column:
1. Minny is rebuilding around Jefferson, Corey Brewer, Randy Foye, Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes ... ironically, the same core (along with Paul Pierce) that Boston could have had if it kept its last two first-round picks. So we get to see how it would have worked out if Boston hadn't done anything. It's like watching the Bizarro Celtics.
2. At a post-ESPYS party earlier this month, the sight of KG gliding through the Mondrian's pool bar at 2 a.m. caused even the drunkest people there to do a double-take. Along with Shaq, he's one of the two NBA stars who literally stops any room. I actually remember watching him walk by and thinking, "Wow, we've never had somebody that cool on the Celtics."
3. Celtics radio guy Sean Grande announced Minny games during KG's initial ascent and argued KG's merits as an underrated superduperstar ever since. I asked him for a one-sentence description of KG and here's what he e-mailed back: "All out, every night, heart and soul -- Game 13 in Atlanta, Game 61 on a Monday night aganst Charlotte, Game 6 of the Conference finals, doesn't matter."
- Ran across this recently. What a feeling it must be when you suck the life force out of an 85,000 seat stadium by blocking a FG and then driving down the field to win the game at the last second. One of the better games in the Callahan era.
- Picks O'the day
Yesterday - 0-2
YTD -
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