There is no way the Celts get past the Spurs.
Not to argue with a view that the glass is 1/10th empty - but keeping the status quo makes us more competitive with the Spurs - and other teams, exactly HOW?
Perhaps, IF the Celts continue to vye for last place on a consistent basis, and there's a big man in college or high school that we MIGHT be able to pick up in the lottery in the next 5 years (no doubt requiring the #1 pick and the ping pong balls to fall our way) or so that will make us a contender with the Spurs as you seem to suggest, then MAYBE its unwise to trade some chips to become an instant contender now.
But that's a helluva lot of IFs and MAYBEs for my taste... certainly there's few difference-making players who would want to come to a consistent last place team... and of course any of those players are going to cost a lot of money anyways - requiring that we overpay for them.
So is Garnett expensive in terms of trade value - yes - but its a much better gamble than waiting for the lottery or other players who might or might not develop - and it puts us in a position to attract other free agents down the road.
Like I said I don't care how much luxury tax the owners have to pay - I just wnat the best team we can have. I give Ainge credit - this obviously isn't part of his "master plan" but there's too much out of a GM's control to fully implement a master plan anyways.
Best thing you can do is put yourself in a position to make deals for proven players to improve your team - and say what you want about Ainge but he's done exactly that.
Now some talk will certainly turn to Doc as the longterm coach. It probably should - I think Doc's perfect for a young team - but that for a veteran team that needs the best X&O's guy, we might need a change. I suspect he'll be there next year given his contract extension but if they don't go deep in the playoffs, he's gone.
