The Third Year

Danny, Doc, and Wyc seem conflicted. Check that. I think just Danny is conflicted. A recent report has the Celtics brass acknowledging a two-year "championship window." This seems like a reasonable assessment, given the fact that two years is the minimum number of years that Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will be under contract with the Boston Celtics.

The problem is that two years is the maximum number of years the Celtics are willing to guarantee Rasheed Wallace, and Wallace is so far holding an offer guaranteeing a third year. Wyc has already gone on record saying he is fully committed to spending the money necessary to bring home banner 18, and slowing down that purple express in the rear-view mirror. So why not just guarantee the third year and get it over with?

1988.

Earlier this summer Danny told the media that he sees 2009 as a reenactment of 1988. Surely, you remember 1988. Two years removed from a championship, the 1988 Celtics tried everything and anything they could to assemble a roster for one-last run at a title. Artis Gilmore, Jim Paxson, and Bill Walton were the names Celtics fans placed faith in. Paxson was underused, Gilmore had only a few fumes left in the tank, and Walton never made it back.

The result? The Celtics were ousted in the ECFs by a younger, deeper, hungrier, and more athletic Pistons team.

Rasheed Wallace would seem to be a safer bet than Walton, Gilmore, or Paxson. Over the last month, all of the Celtics main competitors have made themselves bigger or deeper than the Celtics. Acquiring Rasheed would change that. Last year, Sheed averaged 12 and 7 in 32 MPGs. The year before the Celtics acquired Gilmore, he averaged 4 and 2. Hence, there is no comparison.

But what if Rasheed ends up resembling Artis in 1988 more than Walton in 1986? Then we're stuck with him for three years. This conjures up the other half of Danny's 1988 nightmares. The year 1988 marked a another season where the Celtics decided to stick with the Big 3 rather than trading one or more of them to begin the transition to the next generation of Celtics' championship contenders. After 1988, the Big 3's value continued to drop, and there was just no way the Celtics would get value in return for them in a trade. The best offer the Celtics got, in fact, was Chuck Person and three number ones. No way Red was trading Larry Bird for that package.

So as Sheed weighs his options, it will be curious to see if the Celtics cave and offer him a third year. They might as well. It's not like the Celtics will be championship contenders once KG leaves, and he's here for three more years. Of course, the Celtics lost James Posey after failing to offer him an additional year. On the other hand, talented but aging seven-footers are a little rarer and more valuable than talented but aging swingmen.