KG, Starbury and Mikki

When Kevin Garnett left last Thursday's game against the Utah Jazz with a knee injury I almost had a heart attack. Thankfully, it was only a sprain and he should be back in a couple weeks or so. Now, sitting with 46 wins already, the team has some room in the standings and can afford to be cautious. While they have yet to officially clinch a playoff spot, they are getting closer by the day and are practically guaranteed a high seed. They currently have a 16.5 game lead in the Atlantic Division. Call me crazy, but I'm willing to bet they can hold on. Now, they are in a closer race with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the number one seed and home court throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, which would be a nice advantage to have (especially since Cleveland has only lost once at home this season), but having Garnett healthy for the playoffs is the bigger deal.

Some people have taken the fact the Celtics won the next two games without Garnett in convincing fashion as a way to say that Garnett isn't as good as hyped. These people are idiots. The simple fact of the matter is that there is no way this team wins a championship last season if Garnett remained a Timberwolf. That closes any argument about whether the Celtics are better with or without KG. Even if he isn't the one taking the last shot and that honor falls to Ray Allen, he changed the culture of the team and elevated the play of guys like Big Baby Davis and Kendrick Perkins. The fact that he couldn't do the same with Patrick O'Bryant (we'll get to him in a second) was very surprising to me.

Now that the trading deadline has passed and the Celtics could not pull of a deal other than giving away the aforementioned O'Bryant, they need to start checking the waiver wire for some help. As a team with a legitimate shot to win a second straight title, they are a destination for veterans desperate to get off lousy teams and who want a shot at a ring. They already have reached a deal with Mikki Moore, who will hopefully bring some energy off the bench to take the place of O'Bryant, who's work ethic was seen as less than intense. I thought O'Bryant was going to turn into a reliable bench player once KG took him under his wing and he learned you can't just show up at game time. Guess he never learned that lesson. Moore should be a good sub for Perkins if he gets into foul trouble, as he is a 7' who fills the lane better than the shorter Leon Powe.

I've also spent the last 48 hours talking myself into Stephon Marbury, who was just bought out by the Knicks. I've come over to the dark side on this one, mostly because it's going to happen so I've done my 5 stages and have come to accept it. You can easily make the case that this is going to be a low risk/high reward deal for the Celtics because he'll sign for cheap and if he acts up even slightly, he'll be gone. Also, he's a true point guard and would allow Eddie House to just worry about shooting, although I don't want the two of them playing together that much, cause that's a small back court. If he is motivated and wants to get another big contract (somewhere else) this could work out really well. See? I can talk myself into anything.

The issue with Marbury has always been with his heart and his head, never his skills. This is a guy who famously got himself traded away from KG and Minnesota because he would rather have been the man on a bad team than second fiddle on a contender. That was a long time ago, but maybe not long enough. KG is known for holding grudges (as a man who holds a few myself, I can respect that). I've heard multiple people say that the reason KG held off on coming to the Celtics wasn't because he wanted them to get Ray Allen, but more because he wanted them to get rid of Wally Szczerbiak, who he had problems with when both were Timberwolves. But, as long as Garnett is fine with it, then the rest of us should climb on board with Starbury coming to the Green.

I just hope the team isn't done looking. Marbury can fill the Sam Cassell role from last year and maybe Mikki Moore can be this year's James Posey, but we still need another player to take the role of P.J. Brown. There are rumors that if he's bought out that Joe Smith would want to come here from Oklahoma City, but then that raises the question of who the C's would jettison to make room for him. Who could it be? Who, oh who?

Oh, Gabe, how nice of you to volunteer.