An Unworthy Ending

Normally I try to keep all my sports ramblings for Saturday, but sometimes it just can't be helped...

You know, I forget how much I can honestly hate sports sometimes. Seriously, I think people who don't watch sports are blissfully unaware of how often being a fan can be totally awful. They look at sports fans as people who are just desperate to be part of something bigger than they are, not realizing the emotional risk you take putting that much of your faith in team only to have then let you down. Even worse is that they don't understand it is never the games which drive us to these bouts of depression, it's all the crap surrounding the games. I can take my team losing, but it is the reminder of how little control sports fans actually have over the team they have invested so much time, energy and passion into that really makes me think about giving it all up and reading more book in my free time. Late last night I got another reminder of this when the Celtics traded captain Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets for assorted flotsam and jetsam. The deal had been rumored for most of the afternoon and with every passing second in which it didn't happen I built up just a little more hope that General Manager Danny Ainge wasn't this stupid or that someone, anyone, would slap him across the head and wake him out of this stupor he had clearly fallen into. But in the end no amount of hoping or wishing was going to derail this trade from happening. The trade can't be official until July the 10th due to league rules, but for all intensive purposes it is over.

Obviously, while I am sad to see a competitor like Garnett leave, losing Pierce is what hurts the most. Garnett was a guy who played for the Celtics, Pierce was a Celtic - there is a huge difference between the two. I was was too young to remember the glory days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, so most of my early Celtic memories are watching the team slowly decay and then fall into a decade of mediocrity. It was only when Paul Pierce came around that it started to feel like the team may be on the way back, but even that journey took longer than expected. No one remembers this now, but the early career of Paul Pierce did not give any indication he would one day be mentioned as an all-time franchise great. He always had the talent - the question was would his maturity ever catch up. Seeing him transform into a tremendous leader these last few years was like watching that screw-up you knew in high school take over the family business and become a responsible member of the community. It's this strange mixture of shock and pride that no one outside of the city can really appreciate. Also, Pierce actually seemed to understand just how much the Celtics and the corny idea of Celtic Pride really means in this city. It may have all been an act, but he seemed to recognize that playing in Boston and for the Celtics was different from about 90% of the rest of the NBA. I really hoped he would have been one of the rare NBA players who spent his entire career in one city and playing for one team.

Now, I admit there is a chance that no trade involving Paul Pierce was going to be good enough for me, but the fact I feel like the Celtics got hosed in the deal certainly isn't helping. Obviously Pierce and KG are near the ends of their careers, but I really have a hard time believing this was the best deal available. I mean, sure, it was probably the best deal the Celtics could have gotten today, but who exactly was holding a gun to their head and demanding this trade happen immediately? The season doesn't start for another few months and you never know who could miss out on free agency and get desperate. Even worse, with this trade the Celtics are still looking at being an ok team. Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries (although I am keeping my fingers crossed his stay in Boston is as brief as rumored), Jeff Green, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Bass, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger are the makings of a fairly solid team. Unfortunately in the NBA solid gets you to about the 7th seed, a first-round exit from the playoffs and no good draft picks. In professional basketball you want to either be over the salary cap but winning or way under the salary cap and contending for the first pick in the draft (given that the last time the Celtics attempt at tanking they landed the third pick in a two-player draft I would avoid this plan). With this trade the Celtics are going to be near the cap and not winning enough. Danny, if you're truly going to rebuild than you really need to blow the whole thing up, not dip your toe in the demolition pool.

There are some in the city who actually like this deal, saying the team had run its course and Ainge had to get something before KG and Pierce retired. I agree with the principle behind the statement, but I'm pretty sure those people don't remember 1994-2007 because if they did the idea of bringing everyone back for one last go would be the more favorable course of action. Rebuilding an NBA team is long, tedious and a hell of a lot harder when you aren't in free agent destination like Dallas, Miami or Los Angeles. Also, if you look at Danny Ainge's history outside of the acquisition of Garnett and Ray Allen, there is not a lot to reassure you that the franchise is in capable hands. The Celtics are looking at a lot of lean years and I have the strong suspicion most of the people in favor of this deal won't be sitting next to me at the Fleetcenter next year (if we're reverting to the early-2000 Celtics, I'm reverting to early-2000s name for the building) when this team wins 30 games. (The only good news is that I should have no problem getting tickets next season.) The bottom line is that this didn't need to happen this way and if fans had their way it wouldn't have. Pierce deserved to have his time in Boston end better than this. But, as is so often the case, last night sports reminded me that I don't get a vote.