Thursday, February 24, 2005
we are so f-cked...
It’s official, that poor sorry bastard Jiri Welsch has been moved to a team that actually has a bright future (Cleveland) for dogshit (1st rounder in 2007, which should be no better than the 25th pick in the draft) in what will probably be the only trade the Celtics make today. The move, if nothing else, shows Ainge’s misguided confidence that he’ll still be around for the 2007 draft, but it also marks an apparent failure of nerve on the part of a man who otherwise has done great work in making tough long-term moves.
Too bad, with what we’ve seen on the court for the past two nights it should be clear to anyone that an Agonizing Reappraisal (thanks HST… RIP) of this team is clearly needed. With the Webber trade we have seen our future and it is the NBA lottery. Furthermore, with news coming out of Boston that work is underway to sign the rapidly atrophy-ing corpse of Gary Payton to a two-year deal, it seems as if Trader Ainge is either pussy-ing out or getting his marching orders from nervous owners drinking the Doc Rivers/playoff Kool-Aid.
As it stands, we have the worst of both worlds – a team that will be just good enough to compete for the 8th seed but will probably end up with a shitty high lottery pick. With news that the CBA will probably include an age limit (and the subsequent way this fucks up the talent pool), pray, I repeat PRAY, that the Lakers make the playoffs this year and we are able to use their pick before that monstrous clause goes into effect. Otherwise we’re looking at horse latitudes for some time.
Or and this is a “hopefully or,” maybe Ainge is holding back because he thinks PP’s value will peak in the summer, and then will be the time to make the Big Blowup. He might also think it worthwhile to let this team implode so he can show the owners that we aren’t going anywhere under the current model, and force them into letting him make Ugly But Essential Change. Either way, the end result is pain and the rest of the season should be a slow-bleed that results in us missing the playoffs by three games.
Keeps us in business, I guess.
Too bad, with what we’ve seen on the court for the past two nights it should be clear to anyone that an Agonizing Reappraisal (thanks HST… RIP) of this team is clearly needed. With the Webber trade we have seen our future and it is the NBA lottery. Furthermore, with news coming out of Boston that work is underway to sign the rapidly atrophy-ing corpse of Gary Payton to a two-year deal, it seems as if Trader Ainge is either pussy-ing out or getting his marching orders from nervous owners drinking the Doc Rivers/playoff Kool-Aid.
As it stands, we have the worst of both worlds – a team that will be just good enough to compete for the 8th seed but will probably end up with a shitty high lottery pick. With news that the CBA will probably include an age limit (and the subsequent way this fucks up the talent pool), pray, I repeat PRAY, that the Lakers make the playoffs this year and we are able to use their pick before that monstrous clause goes into effect. Otherwise we’re looking at horse latitudes for some time.
Or and this is a “hopefully or,” maybe Ainge is holding back because he thinks PP’s value will peak in the summer, and then will be the time to make the Big Blowup. He might also think it worthwhile to let this team implode so he can show the owners that we aren’t going anywhere under the current model, and force them into letting him make Ugly But Essential Change. Either way, the end result is pain and the rest of the season should be a slow-bleed that results in us missing the playoffs by three games.
Keeps us in business, I guess.
# posted by Dr. Chestnutt @ 12:57 PM 
