The NBA has become more of a ‘thrill ride’ recently. Teams are searching to find every piece of their franchise puzzle. Every franchise is on the hunt to stop LeBron James from a three-peat. There have been a lot of big trades and some teams are clearing cap space, as free agency is right around the corner.
So far in the NBA offseason, things have been moving at a rapid speed. The Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics have joined a group of teams making major moves. Recently, they announced that they would be making a blockbuster trade, which will change the foundation and face of each franchise.
Boston Celtics
A rebuilding phase has been looming over the Boston Celtics franchise for the past few years. Though the Boston Celtics have always been a playoff team; the age of their veterans and loss of Ray Allen, has ‘slowed down’ their run to another NBA Finals appearance.
Courtesy: NY Daily News
The Celtics have no completely given away what has been the image of the franchise. Ray Allen already left the Celtics to join their rivals, the Miami Heat. Then they traded Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for an unprotected first round draft pick. Now the Celtics are ready to perform a blockbuster, removing the final faces of their franchise with a trade involving the Brooklyn Nets. Rajon Rondo will be the only active player left on Boston’s roster from the Celtics 2008 NBA Championship.
The biggest loser of this deal is Rondo, who will unfortunately but stuck alone with his talents for a while.
Danny Ainge, President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics, earlier this year said that he is ‘anxious to go through the (rebuilding) process. Aigne’s anxiety must of reached its limit this postseason, as now the team and their president are fully committed to rebuilding the Boston franchise. In a block buster move, the Celtics will receive Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace and three first round draft picks (2014, 2016, 2018); as well, Boston has the right to trade picks with Brooklyn in 2015. Humphries, Brooks Joseph and Bogans were thrown into this deal to take care of all the money to match the Celtics’ stars they are giving up, I do not think all these players will be in Boston long.
The most important part of this trade is Boston receiving three first round draft picks, which will help tremendously with their rebuilding phase. Danny Ainge dismantled an aging roster, rather than letting Pierce and Garnett retire in green; which to Celtic fans may see cold hearted but in the long run, he got a good deal. Even with Garnett and Pierce the Celtics were not going to win an NBA Championship soon.
Boston need to acquire young guys to go around and compliment Rajon Rondo, who will be the new face of the Boston Celtics franchise. They still have to deal with Gerald Wallace’s $30 million contract over three years; though Wallace may start, I think he is a C+ player at best. Last year for the Nets, Wallace averaged 12.9PPG, 2.1 APG and 4.6 RPG, along with him 1.8 turnovers per game; there is nothing to brag about.
The Celtics may of not received all-star athletes for their superstars but they did receive draft picks, which is essential in a restarting a future contender. Right now they have two things they should be worried about: 1) Finding all-star players to complement Rajon Rondo 2) Finding a young head coach who will stick it out through the rebuilding phase.
Boston fans should be prepared for a couple of hard years ahead. It was going to come eventually, better sooner than later.
Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets lost in Game 7 of the first round of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Chicago Bulls. Since then, the Nets have been making serious changes to make sure they advance further into the playoffs next season.
Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov, owner of the Brooklyn Nets, has his eyes set on a championship and is gathering all the pieces to be championship contenders. This trade between the Nets and the Celtics could have the Nets on their way to the NBA Finals, but since they are gaining veteran players, the time to win is now! The Nets have given themselves a small window of opportunity.
This trade is not looking towards long-term, the Nets have two maybe three seasons to win a championship with this squad, so giving up those draft picks could hurt them, but not if they win a NBA Championship.
The Brooklyn Nets traded away unprotected first round draft picks and were able to get rid of a few insignificant players to gain experienced veterans, Jason Terry, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett; all three have championship rings. It makes sense to build a legit contender, you must bring over some championship players. Though I’m not sure if this is the proper way to do it.
Kevin Garnett once said that he wanted to ‘live and die green’; I would never of guessed that Garnett would finish his career elsewhere. He is one of very few players in the NBA with a no trade clause. The fact that KG waived it to play ball in Brooklyn shows that this tough veteran believes they have the ability to be championship contenders. I’m also sure he wants to stop Ray Allen, former teammate and current enemy, from winning another title with the Miami Heat. By KG joining the Nets, this might be his best chance to make that happen.
The addition of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry to compliment Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, and Brooke Lopez makes the Brooklyn Nets a better team and you can not argue with that but it could only last for the 2013-2014 season; as well as the 2014-2015 season.
Courtesy: USA Today
Another benefits is because of contracts, the Nets will be able to save more money. Money they can hold onto to continue to build around Deron Williams, once Garnett and Pierce retire.
This trade also makes Brooklyn a team everyone will be watching this upcoming season. Jason Kidd will be going into his first year of head coach and has been provided with one of the better lineups in the NBA. Kidd could not of asked for a better lineup for his first year as head coach. Brooklyn now has more star power than their neighbors, the New York Knicks. All this star power on paper should lead to a championship, but we did say the same thing about the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks and look how their seasons turned out.
This trade does improve the Nets chance of winning a title but it does not guarantee them that it will be easy. Age can be a factor; the starting five for the Nets average age is around 32, while the Miami Heat’s is around 29.
The Eastern Conference has gotten its competitive edge back with a big sense of rivalry. I am very eager to see what kind of offseason moves the Pacers and Bulls will make. Until then, the Nets could end up stealing the number two or three seed, while trying to dethrone King James and the Miami Heat.
All statistics credited to basketball-reference.com and NBA.com
