Well…What Do We Do Now?

Well after a disapointing draft lottery leaving the Celtics with the #5 pick, there are even more questions surrounding the state of the Celtics organization. It’s obvious even to the casual basketball fan that the chances of getting a franchise player with the #5 pick are slim & the drop in talent between #1 & #2 to #5 is huge, so do the Celtics keep the pick and draft yet another project player who they hope will amount to something special or do they trade away some of their youth in order to bring in an impact player like Pau Gasol, Jermain O’neal or even Kevin Garnett? It’s clear now that Danny Ainge and his 5 year plan to build a winning basketball team has been a complete failure and with Paul Pierce getting older and his numbers slowly declining you’d think if there was any time to trade for an all-star and compete it would be now.

Pau Gasol for almost two years now has been rumored to be traded to Boston, and Ainge has kept no secret about how much he likes Gasol & how much he would love to have him with the Celtics, but is adding a three point shooting injury prone center to our roster really going to help the situation? Sure, Pau seems to be Doc’s ideal center as he loves to keep his big men outside the arc, and Pau’s shooting range would work well with Doc’s predictable gameplanning, but even with Pau Gasol the Celtics would still lack a dominating inside presence. Sure Al Jefferson is developing into a legitimate all-star and is looking to be one of the bright young stars of the NBA, but his natural position is the power foward and he had his fair share of troubles playing center this year. Can we really count on Kendrick Perkins to be that defensive stopper off the bench if we bring in Gasol?…Sure Perkins is tough and has the size and strength to play in the paint, but his lack of offensive moves and the fact that he seems to constantly be in foul trouble doesn’t give Celtic fans much confidence in him. Jermaine O’neal is another guy rumored to be on the trade block and it would seem like he fits the Celtics needs a little bit better then Gasol, but even he is injury prone and his character is constantly in question. However an inside duo of Jermaine O’neal & Al Jefferson along with Paul Pierce and Wally Sczerbiak would be a huge upgrade over last years inside duo of Al Jefferson & Kendrick Perkins.
Or…should we keep the pick? After the lottery I immediately went on a rampage and declared if we don’t trade the pick then Danny needs to be fired immediately, but now I’m starting to think that maybe we should keep the pick and go in another direction. For almost a decade Paul Pierce has been the face of the Boston Celtics and has been our go to guy. But now with the youth developing and the potential and upside of guys like Rajon Rondo & Gerald Green, it might be time to trade Paul and get what we can while he still holds some value on the trade market. At least then we can finally say that Danny Ainge and the Celtics have 100% committed to the rebuilding process instead of having no idea what Danny is doing when he trades away players like Ricky Davis for Wally Sczerbiak, and when he signs free agents like Dan Dickau and Brian Scalabrine. Trade Pierce and attempt to get at least 1 young guy with upside, maybe Ben Gordon or Monta Ellis and take on the salaries of a few other players. Keep the pick and draft a guy like Yi Jianlian, Jeff Green, Julian Wright, Joakim Noah or Al Horford who all show tremondous promise, and hand the team over to Al Jefferson.
Either way Danny Ainge has alot of decisions to make, and it should shape up to be a very interesting offseason.

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