LAS VEGAS – What looked like it might be a complete rebuilding job for the Boston Celtics in January is turning out to be more of a refurbishing effort by the somewhat surprising Eastern Conference finalists.
They are poised to keep yet another significant piece in place with the news that Jeff Green has a deal in place that will keep him in green and white, according to a report from ESPNBoston.com:
Green’s agent, David Falk, would not reveal the specific length or value of the contract, but confirmed that the details have been ironed out and a deal likely will be consummated after the leaguewide moratorium on new business lifts Wednesday.
“This is where Jeff always wanted to be,” said Falk, who continued to heap praise on the Celtics organization for the way it handled Green’s heart ailment last season.
Falk stressed that Boston’s goodwill played a major factor in his decision to return and said he’s not surprised a deal got hammered out since the two sides were on the same page from the start of the process.
Both Falk and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge expressed optimism that a contract would get done earlier this week and, after watching Ray Allen elect to sign with the Miami Heat on Friday night, the Celtics appear to have moved quickly to finalize with Green.
Green, traded to Boston in February 2011, sat out all of last season after undergoing surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm that was detected in training camp as the two sides prepared to sign a one-year, $9 million deal.
It looked like time was running out on Boston’s Big 3 as they struggled during the early stages of the lockout-shortened season, part of that due to the sudden twist of not having Green available.
But the Celtics rebounded and slugged their way to the conference finals, falling to the Heat in seven games. Instead of breaking things up with Allen, Kevin Garnett and Green all set to hit free agency, the Celtics went about trying to keep the band together.
Free agent guard Ray Allen agreed to sign Friday evening with the Miami Heat, ending his five-year run in Boston that was highlighted by two Finals trips for the Celtics, including the 2008 championship. Allen chose Miami over Boston, Memphis and Minnesota, giving the Heat a potentially lethal perimeter option to go along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh next season.
The 37-year-old Allen visited Miami Thursday and left town Friday morning after being courted by the Heat organization. He was supposed to visit the Clippers on Friday, but that visit was cancelled after Los Angeles agreed to terms with free agent guard Jamal Crawford on Wednesday. Allen never met with the Grizzlies or Timberwolves.
The Celtics had been optimistic that they’d be able to re-sign Allen after agreeing to terms last week with Kevin Garnett on a three-year deal and reaching terms on Thursday with forward Brandon Bass.
Allen took less money to go to Miami. All the Heat had to offer was the taxpayer’s exception that starts at $3.09 million next season and can go out a maximum of three years and $9.5 million. Boston had offered a two-year, $12 million deal, and the Grizzlies were willing to give Allen their full non-taxpayer mid-level exception that starts at $5 million next season and can go out as long as four years.
At last February’s trade deadline, Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge sounded like he was ready to break up the team’s vaunted Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to start over in 2012-13, either rebuilding around Rajon Rondo or dealing Rondo and starting over altogether. But a few months later, the Celtics look like they are determined to keep the band together and make another run at a championship next season with their veteran core.
The Celtics, according to sources, are increasingly optimistic they’ll be able to re-sign unrestricted free agent forward Jeff Green to a new contract, and are also more hopeful now they can keep Allen in the fold instead of losing him to the Miami Heat. The final decision is Allen’s, of course, and he’ll weigh offers from several teams (including the Heat and Grizzlies) in the next few days.
But Boston is hopeful that the last few days’ worth of events, starting with Garnett’s decision to agree on a three-year extension, combined with the selection of Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo in last Thursday’s Draft and the team’s strong showing in the East finals, will convince the 36-year-old Allen to accept the team’s two-year, $12 million offer.
That offer is more than what Miami, which only has its mini mid-level exception starting at $3.09 million, can offer Allen. The Grizzlies have their full mid-level exception starting at $5 million, however, and want to sign Allen to replace O.J. Mayo, the now-unrestricted free agent that Memphis did not tender with a qualifying offer last week. The Celtics had initially targeted Mayo as a primary free agent possibility, but now believe he’s going to get more money elsewhere. Several other teams, including the Pacers, are interested in him.
MIAMI – He’s only spent five seasons in green and white, but it’s hard to envision Kevin Garnett in another jersey.
He’s become synonymous with the Celtics since the Big 3 was formed and he joined forces with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo to form one of the league’s most formidable units.
So to hear that Garnett is considering all of his options, including playing elsewhere and even potentially retiring, is a bit of a shock. He played so well during the Celtics’ run to the Eastern Conference finals that I can’t see any reason for him to make his 17th season in the league his last.
Despite a strong finish to his 17th season in the league, the 36-year-old Garnett is pondering retirement and needs time to make a decision about his basketball future.
“Kevin and I had a good conversation last week and the conversation was mostly on how he needs time before he makes that decision,” Ainge said during an in-studio appearance Wednesday afternoon on Boston sports radio WEEI-93.7 FM. “I think we’ll talk within the next week, but I’m not so sure that’s a decision day for him. He may want to wait and see what sort of team we have. I’m not sure.
“I know that he wants to come back. I know he likes Boston, and I know he loves playing for (coach) Doc (Rivers). He loves everything about the team and the city and so forth. I think that his decision will be, ‘Do I really want to play? Or do I not want to play.’ “
MIAMI – If not for the Boston Celtics, 2007-08 edition, the superstar-heavy version of the Miami Heat that came together in July 2010 might never have happened. It was that Celtics team’s ability to gel around an instant Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen all the way to a championship that inspired the Heat’s own trio of stars to do in free agency what Boston exec Danny Ainge did via trades.
So here they are now, five years along for the prototypes, second year in for the newer, younger versions, ostensibly headed in different directions. For LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest of the Heat, anything short of a return to the Finals and an NBA title this spring will feel like a failure. For the Celtics, this is more of a last gasp, the Eastern Conference finals as a victory lap for a squad in its last days together.
Lots of NBA insiders consider this best-of-seven series almost ceremonial, two proud, ambitious teams headed in opposite directions. Their play this season would appear to back that up: Miami was a contender for the league’s top record for much of the 2011-12 schedule, boasts one of the most explosive attacks and stingiest defenses, had 29 blowout victories (by 10 or more points), has the reigning Most Valuable Player (James) and is humming again with its adjustment to Bosh’s absence due to an abdominal strain.
Boston, on the other hand, was 15-17 at the All-Star break and was sub-.500 (15-18) in road games. It no longer leans as heavily on its three stars, instead relying on younger point guard Rajon Rondo as its key player. The Celtics endured injuries early (Jeff Green’s heart condition) and late (Avery Bradley’s shoulder surgery), struggled to generate offense and had their hands full in the conference semifinals with No. 8 seed Philadelphia.
That would make the Celtics decided underdogs now, right? That’s not how they see it.
HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – When the playoff pairings came into focus late in the regular season, we knew there was the potential for this when the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks got locked into the No. 4-5 battle in the Eastern Conference.
An era was coming to an end. A five-year run for one of these two franchises would continue on for at least another series and that same five-year run (that began in their epic first-round series in 2008) for the other franchise would have run its course.
Well, it’s time for the Hawks to face the reality of their own situation and turn the page. The Hawks are facing more than just elimination after their disastrous 101-79 Game 4 showing in Boston Sunday night. Most compassionate observers turned away from when the Celtics’ lead grew to 37 points … with more than a quarter and a half to play remaining.
How many times can you hear about a team talk about “not responding” or “we just didn’t have it” or “our energy and effort was nonexistent” in a big game situation before it sinks in?
The Hawks have dropped 12 playoff games by 20-plus points since 2008, a staggering number that does not include all of the games they lost by 16, 17, 18 and 19 points.
They’d fight back with stats of their own — such as along with the Celtics and Lakers, they are one of just three teams to reach the second round in each of the past three seasons. But that would foolishly suggest that the Hawks belong in the same sentence with two franchises that have won championships in the past four seasons.
The Celtics won it all in 2008 while the Lakers won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. The Hawks, for all of their accomplishments during this same stretch, have been escorted from the postseason in an ugly fashion each and every time, without once truly breaking through with this current core group.
They’ll tell anyone willing to listen that this series is far from over at 3-1 with Game 5 Tuesday night at Philips Arena. And with their history against these Celtics, it might be worth a listen. They played seven games in 2008, with each team taking turns ruling their home floors all the way through to Game 7.
But this time is different. As much as you’d like to believe these limping Hawks have a chance to make a series out of this one, the stench of inevitability is floating in the air after that Game 4 debacle in Boston.
Roughly a year ago, at the last trade deadline, he was as surprised as anyone when he changed uniforms, to the delight of almost no one in Boston. But in so many ways, Kendrick Perkins is in a different place.
He was almost in tears when the Celtics sent him to Oklahoma City but in hindsight, “Danny (Ainge) might have done me a favor,” he said.
That’s because Perkins knows what’s coming in Boston, and by contrast, what might be coming in Oklahoma City. The Thunder is leading the West and is the semi-favorite to at least reach the NBA Finals. The Celtics? Does the dismantling begin next week at the trade deadline, or wait until this summer?
“This is a good team, a good group of guys,” said Perkins. “I couldn’t have landed in a better spot, to be honest.”
He was traded for Jeff Green, who was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm in December, putting his career on hold. Perkins signed a generous contract extension with the Thunder and discovered that Oklahoma City “reminds me of Texas, where I’m from.” Although Perkins’ numbers have been mild, his true value will be determined in the playoffs, which depend more on half-court play and defense; that’s why the Thunder made the deal.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are a rather pedestrian 34-29 since the Perkins trade. They received a jolt of pride with a thrilling overtime victory over the Knicks on Sunday but the vibe is likely to be short-lived. The signs can’t be ignored. KevinGarnett and Ray Allen are approaching old age and free agency; the Knicks and Sixers bring more youth and momentum in the Atlantic Division and Rajon Rondo‘s name continues to surface in trade rumors, legit or not.
“I can tell you that he doesn’t care about that,” Perkins said. “He really doesn’t. He just plays. He’s like that. Maybe being mentioned (in trades) would effect other guys, but he just shows up and plays.” (more…)
Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.
A month to the trade deadline: Which team in the East most likely will make a big move? In the West?
Steve Aschburner: With so much expected action in outright signings – J.R. Smith, Gilbert Arenas, Kenyon Martin already – I’m thinking fewer trades this year at the deadline. But that window between All-Star Weekend and the deadline cries out for a Dwight Howard deal, so Orlando rates as my East pick. If the team acquiring him is out West – Golden State? L.A. Lakers? – then I’m covered for a West prediction too. Otherwise, it’s Phoenix being good guys and moving Steve Nash to a contender.
Fran Blinebury: Despite their bold talk, I still think Orlando will have to trade Dwight Howard and all of his inconsistencies and insecurities. He seems to be burning his bridge one match at a time. In the West, the Lakers have to do something, anything, if they hope to be playing the Clippers, not watching them, after the first round of the playoffs.
Scott Howard-Cooper: Still going with the Magic. They can’t want this game of chicken with Dwight Howard. Unless Howard specifically gives them reason for optimism about a new contract, as opposed to him toning down the rumbles about wanting to leave, Orlando has to make the big move. In the West, it’s the Lakers. A decent-size trade exception, needing an infusion, unable to be patient – that’s a team wanting to make a move. (more…)
These are trying times for the Celtics, whose main purpose tonight is to make the Mavericks, who visit the Garden (8 ET, ESPN), look older than they are.
They had high hopes this season for Jeff Green, who came in the controversial Kendrick Perkins trade, only to see Green diagnosed with an aeortic aneurysm during a routine physical. He’s gone for the season following surgery. They lost out on David West when the free agent chose the Pacers instead, which was a slap in the face for a proud Boston franchise. Paul Pierce missed the first few games of the season, which the Celtics opened by losing three straight. And while the Celtics peeled off a four-game winning streak, they fattened up on sweets, beating the Wizards twice, along with the Nets and Pistons.
And now we’ll see what a team that starts 50-year-old Jermaine O’Neal is made of, because the Celtics get the Mavericks, then the Bulls, then travel to Indiana before returning for Oklahoma City. Either the Celtics will show the grit of a veteran team, or watch the young Sixers continue their threatened takeover in the Atlantic Division.
HANG TIME TEXAS, Y’ALL – Admit it, just the mere thought of trying to cram 66 games into four months was enough to send many of us reaching for an ice pack and a comfortable spot on the sofa.
If you’re the aging Celtics, all of those trips on an off the planes, the back-to-back-to-backs and especially that grueling stretch of eight games in 13 nights in three time zones and five states touching both coasts in March were bound to take a toll. It’s a fact of life when your core consists of 34-year-old Paul Pierce, 35-year-old Kevin Garnett and 36-year-old Ray Allen.
But did anybody think it would be happening already, before the Green Seniors have even rolled out of bed on Christmas morning for the opener against the Knicks?
Coach Doc Rivers, as usual, is trying to stave off panic. But if any team of would-be contenders needs to walk the tightrope of good health, it’s these Celtics. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge is already handcuffed by salary cap room in trying to make additions to his team and any kind of significant or lingering injury to a member of the Big Three could sink the Celtics in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it condensed season.
Tip-off for the 2011-12 season is a mere five days away and Rivers expressed concern Tuesday about whether Pierce would be ready for a Christmas Day visit to New York because of a bruised right heel. What seemed like a minor ailment suffered on the first day of training camp has grown more worrisome as Pierce has been shut down yet again with the goal of getting him game-ready later in the week.
Rivers admits that, long term, Pierce’s injury is not much of a concern (though the pessimist would kindly remind him that he said something similar when Shaquille O’Neal first tweaked his Achilles in February and we all know how that turned out). Let’s be absolutely clear, we’re not suggesting that Pierce’s injury is anywhere near as severe (he worked out Monday, but woke up sore on Tuesday, forcing the team to reduce his workload with hopes of ramping him back up on Friday). But here’s the point: New season, familiar line of discussion.
Considering the grind, can anyone really expect the Celtics to be and ready and able by the time the playoffs begin?
There are still four shopping days ‘til Christmas. If you haven’t picked out something for the Celtics yet, may we suggest a bottle of aspirin and some extra rolls of tape?
Fran Blinebury: Despite their bold talk, I still think Orlando will have to trade Dwight Howard and all of his inconsistencies and insecurities. He seems to be burning his bridge one match at a time. In the West, the Lakers have to do something, anything, if they hope to be playing the Clippers, not watching them, after the first round of the playoffs.
