Stokes

People point to his drafting Al Jefferson and Gerald Green, but people forget both those guys slipped way down, and a chimp could have made those picks. I thought a deal couldn't be worse than picking up Telfair for the #7 pick last year, and now I stand corrected. Now I'm just waiting to hear they've traded Al Jefferson and the #32 pick to get Antoine Walker back again.

BradyManny

Actually, they will get rid of these high-priced veteran contracts. In 3 years when both Allen and Pierce's contracts expires.

Nobody has been looking at the Celtics rationally recently. I don't know if it's the Sox success with youth or the Pats success with youth, but the whole Celtic nation has become youth obsessed, forgetting that, currently, of all leagues, its the NBA that puts the highest value on experience.

How can this backfire? Delonte West, as much as I am a fan of his, is a JAG. Wally Sczerbiak is a horrendous defensive player with a streaky shot and an overpriced contract. Jeff Green could turn into a serviceable-to above average player in a few years. Ray Allen is an All-Star, one of the best shooters in the league, and a terrific defensive player.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: Pierce and Allen make a few runs at the playoffs, fail, make Boston relevant in the meanwhile. In those three years, Jefferson, Green and Rondo actually approach the age in their career in which they will be strong enough to form a nucleus on their own, and as Pierce and Allen's contract expires, not only do we have the cap space to resign our talent as it begins to approach its prime, we'll have room left over to sign some complimentary parts in free agency.

Honestly, for the "let's build around Al Jefferson" group, you do realize that you're probably 3+ years away from Jefferson even thinking about being able to carry a team.

Is Jeff Green really worth not contending in that period of time?

Let's keep some perspective.

reflexblue

Who,and what are the Celtics.

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DarrylS

I don't like it, this makes no long term sense, may make the Celts a playoff team, but never a championship team. Their irrevelance will continue...

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

TomBrady'sGoat

I can't be uniased because I've loved Allen going back to his days at UConn. I even have a Bucks jersey somewhere that I got after he went pro.

A couple years ago Boston had two awful contracts, Raef and Blount (though they were the idots who traded Antoine for Raef and gave Blount the contract). They've converted that into Allen and an expiring Ratliff. Of course it cost them a #7 and a #5 to do it, but I won't have to watch the corpse of Raef or Wally on the court.

Basically the fact that Wally, and not Ratliff, was part of this deal makes me like it a lot more.

Allen might not be able to play D, but he scored 26 ppg last year and keeps defenses honest (wasn't that what Wally was supposed to do?) with a beautiful outside shot.

I can watch Pierce, Allen, and Jefferson out there at the same time. You guys have just to talk yourself into it like I have .

BradyManny

Not true at all. He's always been on bad defensive teams, but he's a solid defender who can create some turnovers. Put him with Rondo in the backcourt, they will be a good combination defensively.

What you said about the contracts was on point. We are positioning ourselves to actually matter in free agency within a few years, and a few decent playoff runs will only help that.

PonyExpress

Allen has been a terrible defensive player for several years, mostly because he didn't even try. Now he's coming off surgery on both ankles for bone spurs. Two weeks ago he wasn't running yet. I guess we'll just gave to wait and see. Rondo, Allen (if healthy), Pierce, Jefferson and Perkins. If Pierce and Allen are healthy for 2 years, that is a 45 win team similar to the NJ Nets.

TomBrady'sGoat

I'll admit I haven't seen him play lately. I was just going off of what I've read/heard from the media, and we all know how dangerous that is.

BradyManny

Fair enough. I agree, Allen's reputation is of an average defender, I happen to disagree quite a bit with that reputation based on what I've seen of him.

It's sort of like Pierce. You hear a lot of "his defense has declined in recent years". So much of defense revolves around how good your teammates are. I think PP is still a great defender, and we know he puts some pride in his D.

I think Rondo-Allen-Pierce-Al-Perk is a great defensive unit. It has speed and length, and will create turnovers and the uptempo basketball Ainge wants to create.

BradyManny

No, the team sucked, just like the Bucks, who were a horrible defensive team while he was there. When healthy, he has the quickness and length to defend.

Again, saying his defense is lacking would be like saying Pierce's over the last couple years is lacking. I challenge both assumptions.

He's a significant upgrade defensively over Wally. While Pierce's D has been hindered by a bad team defense, Wally was, at times, that very source of the poor team defense.