Fall of the Celtics?

on 02 19, 2010

The Boston Celtics have looked, well, old, lately.  Ray Allen is 34.  Kevin Garnett is 33, but he’s playing like he’s 53 with that bad wheel.  He has a terrible contract, to boot.  The Big Ticket looks like the Big Lebowski…Paul Pierce is 32.  Rasheed Wallace is 35, fat, and he takes more three point shots than Antoine Walker could dream of.  Why exactly did they sign Wallace to a 3-year deal?  The guy just doesn’t try anymore.  He showed up this year horribly out of shape.  You can’t play yourself into shape in the NBA.

Sure, Rondo is walking triple-double, a new all star, and arguably their best player, but it’s not like he’s a guy who can carry a team offensively.  He’s afraid to shoot.  The Celtics’ offense looks mediocre, and defense is the first thing to go for old players.  They’re clearly slipping on that end of the floor.   They’re 34-18, and 8.5 games behind the Cavaliers.  The Cavs run the east now, especially after getting Antawn Jamison, so I don’t see the Celtics making it back to the Finals in this mini-era of theirs.  Boston should trade and rebuild around Rondo, Perkins, and Pierce.  It now looks like they’re getting Nate Robinson for Eddie House….but, um, is Nate really going to solve all their problems?  I don’t think so.

Yeah, they’ll make a run at it this year, but I don’t see any way that they could win the title.  There’s just a lot of mileage on KG, Pierce, and Allen.  After they’re bounced from the playoffs, they need to overhaul their roster.  Get younger, quickly.   I say dump Garnett while he still has a little value.  He’s just breaking down.  That’ll happen when you play 82 games a year since age 18, and are one of the fiercest competitors of the last 15 years.  Dump Allen too.  Trade rumors have been swirling around Allen for months now anyways.  The point is this:  The Celtics need to rebuild their team this summer.  They can’t win another title as currently constructed.  Standing pat won’t get it done anymore.  The Cavaliers are too good.  LeBron and his new teammates are lurking.