I've wanted to put my thoughts into this blog for a few days now, and quite frankly what just transpired hasn't fully sunk in yet. I remember after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series it took nearly two weeks for me to truly realize what had just happened. I went for a walk around my neighborhood with my iPod, and the Dropkick Murphy's "Tessie" came on. About halfway through the song I heard the lyric "Up from third base to Huntington/ They'd sing another victory song" and that's when it hit me. The Red Sox just won the World Series! That memory still gives me goosebumps. I haven't had that moment yet with these Celtics.
It's funny to think about now, but it wasn't that long ago we were justifying tanking our season to grab Oden or Durant. One of these guys was going to "change the face of the franchise" and "turn us into a contender for years to come." I was no better than anybody else. I had the next 10 or so years of my life planned around watching Kevin Durant draped in green. I only half-jokingly told my wife to start saving some money because we were moving downtown and buying season tickets. Kevin Durant truly felt like the light at the end of our tumultuous tunnel. So, on draft lottery night, when our collective dreams exploded in the form of the number five pick, I was literally left standing alone in my apartment, staring at the wall, not knowing if I wanted to punch it or cry.
In a matter of minutes I went from dreaming of watching one of the most dynamic players in the country to debating on the CelticsBlog forums whether we should draft Yi Jilian or Corey Brewer. [For the record, I 
was firmly entrenched in the Corey Brewer camp]. In the days after the Lottery debacle, the forum discussions always turned into a heated debate on what we should do with the team -- Attempt to build around Pierce, or just blow it all up? My thought was that we had Big Al, we had Rondo and we had Perkins, let's see what we could get for Pierce. In fact, I was openly pushing for a Pierce for Kirilenko swap. It's nearly embarrassing to see how foolish and nearsighted I was, but in no way did I think it would be possible to turn our youth into a true contender.
Building around Pierce seemed like a fast track to probably making the playoffs, but never getting anywhere. We'd kill our cap, wouldn't be able to build a champion-calibur team, and just be forced to blow the whole thing up within 5 years anyway. Plus, I was terrified of losing Jefferson and Rondo. I didn't want to lose "Our Guys". Gomes, Perkins, Green, West, Al and Rajon. These were Celtics. They'd all been with us since draft night, they each loved playing for us, and we loved rooting for them. We hear all the time about how we're just "cheering for laundry", but I don't agree with that. Basketball, more than any other sport, truly makes you feel a closeness with the team. There's only 12 players out there, in shorts and a tank top, nothing's every hiding their face, and they're always visible, even when they're on the bench. You can pick up on their emotions at ever second of the game, and by the end of the season you truly feel as if you know each player and their personality.
I didn't want to lose these guys because I loved watching them play. I didn't want Danny to ship out these players who bleed green and bring in some hired guns. Even if it was an upgrade, I was fighting it. What it boiled down to, in retrospect, was that I truly thought our youth, one day, was going to be good enough. And watching these players, who we literally watched grow as men and teammates, hoist that trophy, would be far more satisfying than watching some unknowns win it today. Boy, did Danny prove me wrong. He didn't just bring in anybody, he brought in passionate players who were students of the game and truly knew what it meant to put on that jersey every night. Even though we had 7 new outsiders on our roster, it only took weeks to realize that they belonged and that I loved watching them play.
After the lottery came draft night, and the Ray Allen trade. That one seemed to really divide the fans. If we were going to build around Pierce, and it was apparent that we were, I liked this acquisition. I felt that Ray was a great compliment to Paul, and we only had to give up Wally (which we didn't want anyway), West and the #5 pick (which most Celtics fans didn't seem interested in keeping regardless). I didn't feel that Ray was going to put us over the championship hump, but he'd at least get us to the post season.
Then KG happened. The weeks leading up to the trade were a weird time for Celtics fans. The C's and 
T'Wolves appeared to have a deal in place, but, and this may just be a rumor, there was so much backlash from Celtics fans about the inclusion of Al Jefferson in the deal that Boston backed out. We loved Al, we knew Al was special, and more importantly, Al was young. Much younger than KG. If you asked the majority of us back then, there wouldn't have been a player outside of LeBron or Kobe that we would've parted with Al for. Maybe it was his youth and/or fear of change, but Al DID NOT want to leave Boston. He was very open and honest about his desire to play his entire career in Beantown... and we loved him for that. When he finally overcame all of his nagging injuries and started to work on his game, we quickly adopted him as our favorite son. To part with him for an aging player with a disgustingly enormous contract who had never won anything... well, we didn't want it.
Suddenly the deal was back on, and it quickly became apparent that it was going to get done. I remember refreshing the Globe's website for updates from Shira Springer on the details of the deal. 
There was also about 15 minutes of sheer, unadulterated joy when she announced that Al Jefferson was not going to be included in the deal. CelticsBlog rejoiced at the thought of a Al, KG, Pierce, Ray and Rondo lineup. How foolish of us to think that this report would be true... Minnesota's GM was Kevin McHale, not Chris Wallace. Hopes, dreams and many keyboards were smashed when she quickly retracted that report. Finally, the deal was agreed upon and we had to say goodbye to Gomes, Green, Telfair (good riddance), Theo Ratliff and Big Al. It was a tough pill to swallow, but through all of Ainge's dealing he refused to part with Rondo -- which was my second fear.
Once the KG deal was done, two top-notch free agents quickly hopped on board: Posey and House. Posey was to play the role of scrapper and defensive stopper, while House was going to give us some much needed offense from the bench. A few more pieces fell into place, and we all know the rest of the story.
I guess this is just a big "Thank You" to Danny Ainge for doing 
what he knew was right for not only the basketball team, but for the city and its fans. He stopped trying to appease us with the Wally Szczerbiak and Raef Lafrentz's of the world, and got us some honest-to-goodness talent who could not only play but could appreciate the banners hanging above the court and the privilege it is to play for the shamrock. Much like the 2004 Red Sox, this team was an absolute joy to cheer for. Right to the last minute of the finals, even the guys on the bench were on their feet, willing their team to victory. These were group of men who didn't just want to win a ring, they wanted to be part of Celtics' basketball lore.
Those are my kind of guys, and I hope they can stay together for one more run at it. There's room in those rafters for an 18th Banner. Let's bring it home.
Friday, June 20, 2008 at 12:32PM
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