Well, I cannot say I did not see this eventually happening. Boston’s Big 3, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett, may be broken up before the end of this season. It is not exactly the easiest news to swallow as a Celtics fan, but it is definitely reality. With all three all stars over the age of 34, they can no longer keep up with the talent of the Eastern Conference. Rajan Rondo is off to another great start, but would adding fresh legs to the team make him even better? Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, may seem to think so.
He remembers the previous Celtics’ Big 3, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish aging and losing its possibility of winning a title. He had this to say to the Boston Globe, “First of all, it’s a different era.” I sat with Red (Auerbach) during a Christmas party (in the 1990s). Red was talking to Larry, Kevin, and myself and there was a lot of trade discussion at the time, and Red actually shared some of the trade discussions. And I told Red what are you doing? Why are you waiting? He had a chance to trade Larry (to Indiana) for Chuck Person and Herb Williams and (Steve) Stipanovich and he had a chance to trade Kevin (to Dallas) for Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins. I was like, ‘are you kidding?’ I mean, I feel that way now. If I were presented with those kind of deals for our aging veterans, it’s a done deal to continue the success.”
Well it sounds like a done deal, trade offers are now being accepted in Boston. It seems the most plausible that either Garnett or Allen will go seeing as they are in the last year of their contracts while Pierce has two years left on his. It is an end to another era in Boston.
