Last June, as the Boston Celtics walked off the court after
losing a heartbreaking 7 game series to the highly favored Miami Heat, the
future of the team and their star players was very uncertain. The team had
a very surprising playoff run and was able to take the Heat to game 7, after defeating
the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers in rounds 1 and 2. The team showed a
tremendous amount of heart or “grit and balls” according to KG, but they were
old and it showed against the Heat as they flat out ran out of gas in game 7.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were both headed to free agency, Paul Pierce was
suffering from an assortment of injuries, and Rajon Rondo at times looked like he was
out there by himself.
As the free agency period began, rumors started swirling
that Ray Allen was interested in taking his talents to South Beach where he
would have an opportunity to start and get more playing-time than he would in
Boston. For the past few years there had been an ongoing feud between Rondo and
Allen. Last year Rondo recommended to coach Doc Rivers that Avery Bradley
should replace Allen in the starting line-up because he had the speed to run
the floor with the quick and athletic Rondo. Rivers agreed and although Allen didn't make any negative comments to the media, he was very upset and decided to leave Boston after the season. Allen turned down a 2 year, $12 million offer
from Boston to join Miami who offered him only a 3 year, $ 9 million. Kevin Garnett
on the other hand, decided to not test the market and re-signed with the C’s for
3 years, $34 million.
The Celtics also lost key bench players Marquis Daniels, Keyon
Dooling, and Mickael Pietrus following the 2011-12 season. In my opinion
though, the team greatly improved itself by drafting college standouts, F Jared
Sullinger from Ohio State, F Kris Joseph from Syracuse and C Fab Melo also from
Syracuse. With these draft picks the Celtics significantly added athleticism
and skill to their bench. The C’s also signed several top free agents. G Jason
Terry joined the team after winning an NBA Championship with the Dallas
Mavericks in 2010. Terry signed a 3 year, $15 million deal. The Celtics also
signed G Courtney Lee to a 4 year, $21.5 million deal. Lee figures to back up Jeff
Green, who is returning this year after missing all of 2011 after having heart
surgery. Green’s athleticism and scoring ability will greatly help the Celtics
starting lineup and will offer another option for Rondo to run the floor
with. The Celtics also signed former #2
overall pick C Darko Milicic and C Chris Wilcox to offer an increase in size to
the bench that the team lacked greatly in 2011. Teams like the Heat and Lakers feasted on
the Celtics in 2011 when they took Garnett out of the game and were forced to go with a group of "smalls" on the floor. The addition of Wilcox and Melo should pay instant
dividends and who knows maybe Milicic will find the talent that he has yet to display in the NBA.
The 2012 version of the Boston Celtics will have a much
different look than in the past. The past few years the “Big 3”, Pierce, Allen
and Garnett, were the leaders of the team but this year Rajon Rondo will
finally have the opportunity to run this team. It probably should have happened
last year but with 3 future hall-of-famers on the floor playing with Rondo, you
can understand why he may have been hesitant to take control. During the
Playoffs however, Rondo took the reigns and led the team on an
almost-unprecedented playoff run. During the Eastern Conference Finals against the
Heat, Rondo, who isn’t known as a scoring machine, led the Celtics in scoring
in 3 out of the 7 games including a historic 44 point game in game 2 and a
triple double (22 pts, 10 reb, 14 ass.) in game 7. Coming into this season both
Pierce and Garnett have said that this is Rondo’s team and that he is the
future of the Celtics.
I was worried about the future of the Celtics after the game
7 loss to Miami, and especially worried after Ray (Judas Shuttlesworth) Allen
signed with the hated Heat, but after the draft and free agency I think this is a much better team than we saw in 2011. GM Danny Ainge has done a great
job addressing the major issues of last season and has made this team much younger,
more athletic and more skilled. They also have added more size and more depth to the bench. There’s no doubt that the
East will be tough this year with Chicago and the return of D. Rose, Miami with
the Big 3 and Allen, Indiana with Granger and Hibbert, and up and coming teams
such as the Knicks, Nets, and 76ers. It will be an interesting season with all
the new players in both the starting lineup and coming off the bench and seeing
how this team meshes together should be fun. I see this team being much more competitive
this year in the regular season and I really think they are built to compete
and possibly beat Miami in the playoffs.
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