Aren't the Celtics Clever

2008

John Havlicek presents the Eastern Conference Championship Trophy to Wyc Grousbeck.

John Havlicek wore #17.

Celtics go on to win banner 17.

2010

Dave Cowens presents the Eastern Conference Championship Trophy to Wyc Grousbeck.

Dave Cowens wore #18.

Celtics now pursue banner 18.

See a pattern here?

How clever.

Balls to the Wall

No one was very excited about our offseason moves last year. We lost James Posey and PJ Brown, and Sam Cassell returned in name only. On the other hand, no one was particularly down last offseason either. We had just finished dominating the NBA Finals, after completing a regular season in which we posted the third best record in franchise history. We could stand to drop a notch or two in quality, a betting man might have wagered, and still mount a serious run at back-to-backs. Indeed, the depleted and smaller Celtics started the 2008-09 season 27-2. Bot not much went right after that, and the season ended in injury and defeat.

The question then became where were the 2009-10 Celtics headed: another offseason on the cheap or an offseason that vaulted us back to the top the oddsmakers charts?

The early rumbling sounded promising. Danny Ainge said that his only concern was building a championship team for the upcoming season, while Wycliffe Grousbeck said he was willing to open his wallet and incur luxury tax to make it happen. Both Ainge and Wyc talked of a two-year championship window. Good, but we'd heard it before.

Only this time they meant it.

The offseason isn't over, but it's plain to the least trained eye that thoughts of transitioning to a post-KG era are over. All eggs are being placed into the next two years, balls to the wall, and pedal to the metal. I'm sure we'll hear detractors say "only if we'd done this last year" we could have resigned Posey and repeated. Of course, without KG we don't repeat. Even with KG and Pose we might not repeat.

But if we sign Pose last year, do we get Sheed this year? Not so sure. And if losing Pose meant getting Sheed, I'll take the tradeoff.

Celtics' Cachet Being Tested Again

CACHET (ca·chet)

Pronunciation: \ka-shā\ Function: noun Etymology: French, from cacher Date: circa 1639
(1)an indication of approval carrying great prestige; (2) a characteristic feature or quality conferring prestige. PRESTIGE

Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, after they had retired for the game, both confessed that early during their playing careers they held a deep admiration for the Boston Celtics organization, Red Auerbach, and Bill Russell. The measure of the Celtics’ cachet was not limited to the two greatest big men of their era. Respect for the green was widespread among most, if not all, NBA players.

Celtics' fans figured that the Celtics' brand carried great weight well into the 1980s. After all, every where Larry Bird and company went they played to a full house and were treated like rock stars. But something happened to the Celtics' brand along the way. It lost some of its luster. In 1989, the Celtics' first round pick from the previous season, Brian Shaw, bolted the team to play for a then-unknown European team in Italy. In 1992, little regarded Jon Barry was drafted by the Celtics and had to be traded because he wouldn’t sign with the team.

The Barry nose-snubbing is often forgotten by those claiming that the Celtics had not lost their appeal in general, but only their appeal to black players, since Barry is white. No, something more was going on than a simple matter of race. Perhaps it was the elevation of agents into a more influential decision-making role or perhaps players were becoming more selfish. Whatever, the number of professional basketball players expressing reluctance to play for the Celtics has only grown over the last 17 years.

So it should come as no surprise that 35-year-old Rasheed Wallace, presented by the Celtics with a two-year (and, according to some reports, a three-year) contract for the full MLE, has asked for a week to make a decision. And like KG, Sheed's initial reaction to playing for Boston was a knee-jerk NOOOO!

Still, I struggle with Celtics' star having fallen this far.

The Celtics are less than thirteen months removed from a winning a championship in dominating fashion, and currently boast three of the biggest names in the business, not to mention one of the best point guards in the league. They are coached by a man whom players love to play for. The roster includes one of Sheed’s best friends. No other team is likely to offer more money or a longer contract than the Celtics have offered (if you believe the reports of the three-year offer), and, anyway, no one in the Wallace entourage is claiming that money or contract-length will dictate his decision.

So color me frustrated with Wallace’s lack of excitement over the Celtics’ interest. Or maybe I should just chill. After all, even Bill Walton called Jerry West right before he called Red Auerbach after Walton first became a free agent in 1985.

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.