Born a Nuggets Fan has moved to Pickaxe and Roll
There are numerous reports that Kevin Garnett has been traded to the Celtics for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes and a draft pick or two.
This is a trade that will work for both teams. From Boston’s point of view, making the trade now instead of during the draft allowed them to send their #5 pick to Seattle instead of Minnesota which allowed them to add Ray Allen and KG. I doubt that Danny Ainge planned it that way, but the Allen deal was only going to make them competitive, not put them over the top. They still had a mismatched team of prospects and a couple of vets in the win now portion of their careers. Now a triumvirate of KG, Paul Pierce and Allen will make them instant contenders for the next two or three seasons. Their bench will be pretty thin, but with players like Glen Davis, Gabe Pruitt, Leon Powe, Allen Ray and a healthy Tony Allen it should be deep enough to get them by.
Minnesota had to make a deal. There is not a trade in the world they could have pulled off leaving their fans saying, “Wow, I am so glad we traded KG, we got more than he was worth. Great job Kevin!” It would do no good to watch KG kill himself to end up 9th or 10th in the west again. They now have a nice young nucleus of Randy Foye, Gerald Green, Corey Brewer, Al Jefferson and Craig Smith. Telfair is not a completely lost player. In an up tempo system I think he can do quite well. Believe it or not, the future in Minnesota looks brighter today than it did yesterday. The key will be to get another GM in there to handle the rebuilding. If they leave McHale in there to screw the team over again fans will burn down the Target Center or whatever it is called now.
From the Nuggets’ perspective for this season there is one less dog in the fight for the playoffs. The division just got a little easier and they should be able to take advantage of Portland, Seattle and Minnesota all rebuilding at the same time, to get a few more ticks in the win column. They were a combined 8-4 against those three teams last season, but hopefully this season can make it 11-1 or 10-2 at the worst.
From a league perspective the seepage of talent from West to East has picked up steam in the last month. The East has added KG, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Jason Richardson while the West has added Darko Milicic and Grant Hill. A couple more offseasons like this one and the East will be much more competitive as a whole.
From a skeptical perspective I wonder if David Stern woke up this morning and saw the the media was still all over the Donaghy scandal and he placed a call to Danny and Kevin “recommending” they make a deal to put a new headline on the NBA home pages of the big Internet sites. Add in the fact that baseball’s non-waiver trading deadline is tomorrow and it would be another example of Stern doing something to steal the spotlight from another sport.
In closing let me say this. It has been great to watch KG battle over the years. You always knew what you were getting into when Minnesota came to town. He always made a game worth the price of admission. Kevin, good luck and may the Celtics make it all the way to the 2008 NBA Finals where they can have the honor of losing to our Denver Nuggets.
[...] or just good networking? Jon Yang 34+20+21=17 Born a Nugget Fan Hey KG have fun losing in the 2008 finals SI.com Ticketed for Boston After high hopes, Garnett era ends with a [...]
Hey, what are you smoking in Denver? I am going to sleep tonite with dreams of another NBA title in Boston. That’s right #17. Hey Denver how many titles have you ever won. No dreams there I guess? A lot of people are calling the east the JV’s. But you homers failed to remember 2 of the last 4 years the east has produced the NBA champion! And by the way the Patroits will kick you ass too!!!!!!
I can dream of a title just as easily as you can, but that does not mean it is going to happen for either the Celtics or the Nuggets. It has been 20 years since the Celtics have been relevant and it will not be long before the last title the Cletics won will fall under the category of ancient history. I hope all those titles in the 1960s still help give your life meaning. By the way, I have yet to be concerned whenever the Broncos have played the Patriots and I do not see that changing in the near future. At least I am predicting the Celtics will make the finals. A lot of folks out there think they are still a middle of the pack team in the east. And you east fans can tout the fact that the east has won two of the last four finals and all, but it is painfully obvious which conference has been vastly superior over that time frame.
I can’t see KG and company being healthy enough or tough enough after 82 games to beat Detroit, Chicago, or a healthy Dwayne Wade Heat team. KG may have the most beautiful 20-10 career in recent years but he has more in common with Charles Barkley and a few other stat hogs than with anyone who consistently wins basketball games. Lining up beside Paul Pierce and Jesus Shuttlesworth will make for good times on TNT, but not for any legitimate shot at #17.
As for the Patriots, Randy Moss’ ten cent noodle of a brain will keep them from being the most dull 12-4 team in history. I’m kind of tired of people in Boston being happy. I’ll be relieved when the Yankees catch up in the wild card race (easiest schedule in the league, A-Rod, sick bats…). Can you imagine the cracking of Schilling’s thin candy shell and the general befuddlement all the idiots who think Manny Ramirez is cute for being such a lazy slob when they see pinstripes in the playoffs?