ramblings on the Celts

I was not upset that the Celtics lost last night. Why? Because it's the NBA, and I personally can't stand how soft the game is. I get my daily fix from Adrian Wojnarowski. He speaks the truth. I admit to being a casual fan embedded with copious amounts of useless knowledge of the team. Last night's game forced me to ponder the future of the Celtics, and here are my thoughts.

The future is bleak at best and Celtics nation should be peachy with that. In other words: they are going to be bad sooner than later; bottom of barrel bad.

What were you people expecting? We knew this window was small -- alluding to the big three three in particular. Danny Ainge made the best move possible in acquiring them, and once a window is clear and open -- albeit a small one -- you take it. Look at the Philadelphia Phillies, for example. They are aging but taking advantage of a core group in a specific window. Indeed, they loaded up with Cliff Lee, but the Celtics envisioned that with getting Shaq and Jermaine O' Neil to compensate the injury to Kendrick Perkins. Although the latter was traded, the point is that the team -- with the ownership's support -- had this window to compete, and compete they did. Regardless of the insufferable years prior to the big three's arrival, this ship has almost sailed. I laugh at the prospect of a solid team in the future, especially from the green-teamers.

Backing up for a thought: I was irked by the Perkins trade for reasons different than offensive or defensive plays and schemes. The old adage of there's only a few "really talented true centers" in the NBA remains true, and that was the only advantage the Celtics had over other teams, principally in the east.  Nonetheless, the chief reason I hated the move lives behind the scenes.

It's strange though (putting aside the thought that the Celtics have never lost with "that starting five") as I can see any of these occurring based on the league's parody:
-The Celtics come back to win this series
-Paul Pierce opts out of his deal and retires
-They do not make a run at Dwight Howard when he becomes a free agent, causing a stir in Boston because they will have the money coming off the books -- and also, why would he pick Boston over somewhere with a warm climate? Superman works in any colors, especially purple and yellow.

All in all, it's one of those "enjoy it while it lasts" scenarios. Try to imagine the other side of the coin; the trade never happened and Paul Pierce was still carrying the load on a losing team (I was going to pull the team's records prior to 2008, but saying they were grotesque will suffice). They would remain irrelevant in the city as the Patriots and Red Sox would tower over them. People would not even feel a shadow.

We were all on board with the Celtics transformation when it happened, and we still should be. We, as fans of any degree, salivate over big-name transactions. The reason I'm so adamant about the flat-line future is not merely because of retiring veterans, but because the Heat and Bulls are getting that much better.

DJ's spark won't save em' now.