An Open Letter to the Wet Blankets
By Kevin Henkin
In the wake of the Kevin Garnett trade, the reaction of a pocket of fans (and perhaps a certain high-profile writer at the Boston Globe) reminds me of an old Henny Youngman joke, which goes as follows:
A grandmother is at the Florida coast with her grandson. The grandson is playing on the beach when a big wave washes him the kid out to sea. The lifeguards swim out, bring him back to shore, the paramedics work on him for a long time, pumping the water out, reviving him. They then turn to the grandmother and say, “We saved your grandson.” The grandmother looks down and says, “He had a hat!”
For the people who have been complaining loudly about the lack of bench depth before Danny Ainge has even had a chance to finish assembling his roster, I recommend you forget about the damn hat for a moment and try to put things in perspective. Try to remember where the Celtics were and have been for far too long before casting your wet blanket on the euphoria.
Your Boston Celtics were a woeful assembly of excessive youth and injury-prone veterans last year and it would have been unreasonable to expect much better from them this upcoming season.
As an aside, said prominent Globe sportswriter once called the 2003 version of the Celtics “a team for people who hate basketball”. Well, I happen to love basketball but one thing I despise is watching three-quarters of the roster of my favorite NBA team learn how to play professional basketball while on the job. It’s tiresome, maddening and eventually moves beyond frustration. If you claim to enjoy observing that sort of thing eighty-two times a year, then I submit that it is you who hates basketball. But I digress.
Getting back on point, perhaps if Paul Pierce was to remain healthy, maybe the Celtics would have cracked the thirty win mark by a few games this year but the playoffs would have likely remained a pipedream. That is, unless the rest of the Eastern Conference was truly bad enough to admit such a deeply flawed team among its top eight. Either way, big deal. Is that what these people are pining for?
“No!” they’ll correct you with a high degree of indignation, instead claiming that by making the Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett trades, the Celtics have sacrificed “The Future”. Ah yes, I see. Is that the future where too many of the young players had contracts expiring within a short window of time, thus making it highly unlikely that all of best of them could be retained? Or was it the future where Al Jefferson learns how to play defense, Gerald Green becomes Tracy McGrady, Yi Jianlian becomes the next Dirk Nowitzki and Delonte West evolves into a combo guard able to master the point and knock down jumpers against bigger shooting guard defenders? West and Ryan Gomes were undeniably valuable, but only as role players. You don’t build your roster around role players. Of the players lost, only Jefferson was the proverbial “sure thing” as a high impact player and losing him was a necessary sacrifice to obtain Garnett, who is not merely a good player. He’s a GREAT player.
For those that criticize Ainge for suddenly abandoning his youth movement, you haven’t been paying attention. Building around a foundation of youth was never his intention. Rather, the master plan has always been to collect the necessary chips to convert them into high quality veteran players. The only question was whether he could actually pull it off. He did. His core trio of veterans is scary good and now his remaining task is to round out the supporting cast. If he fails in that endeavor, feel free to lob your grenades at will.
Meanwhile, to complain about the bottom eight players is quite simply premature. Additionally, to snicker about the Eddie House signing or insinuate that Brevin Knight isn’t an upgrade over Rajon Rondo makes no sense. Knight isn’t supposed to be an upgrade over Rondo. He’s a stabilizing veteran presence at the point, a floor general who knows how to distribute the ball and drive when appropriate. In essence, he is exactly what he’s supposed to be and the Celtics would clearly be a better team by landing his services. So it goes with Eddie House. Sure, he’s a liability on defense. If he was a fully rounded player, he wouldn’t have been available. That’s why he’s designated as a role player. He’s supposed to come off the bench and shoot well enough to score more points that he gives up. Regardless, his presence adds depth and experience to the roster. This is a good thing.
Understand, I agree that the Celtics still have needs and how well those needs are addressed may make all the difference in the world come playoff time. But make no mistake; this team is making the playoffs, with one hand tied behind their collective backs. It’s not even a question. In the meantime, let’s see how the rest of the off-season goes before bemoaning the sacrifice of the future or lampooning the team’s chances as a legitimate title contender.
