202SportsBlog

I was watching one of my favorite sports shows, Washington Post Live on Comcast SportsNet, when the host Russ Thaler said, about the reported KG trade, “this changes the whole balance of power… do we have a new favorite in the East?” I understand why Russ was asking the question. On paper the Celts have three All-Star caliber performers in KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. An issue that I have with creating their reservations for the Eastern Conference finals is…

• They play a team sport and each of the Celts version of the “Big three” is used to being the man on his previous team, as such we do not know how well they will jell playing with each other and taking fewer shots
• Just because a team has three prolific scorers, does not mean that it will translate into a playoff success. The last that I checked the Wizards have had the highest scoring trio over the last couple years
• While it appears that the Celts have improved themselves greatly, there are still other teams in the East that they will have to contend with – Pistons, Cavs, Bulls, Heat, Wizards, Bucks, etc
• At times, some franchises are just cancerous and even though you bring “talent” to them the cancerous franchises ruins the talent – see Oakland Raiders as one such example
• Their version of the big three is getting old, which means that their window is not open very wide. KG is a a 12 year vet, Jesus Shuttleworth, I mean Ray Allen is a 11 year vet (but one year older than KG) and Paul Pierce is a 9 year vet. There big three is or will all be 30 years or older at the start of the season. And while 30 might be the new 20, it is getting a bit long in the tooth for NBA stars – especially for those who have had to be their team’s focal point for much of their careers

Now, with all of that said I believe that assuming the three stay healthy, the trades make the Celts viable again. If nothing else, they will be a fun team to watch in the regular season. Given the state of the Atlantic, they should easily be a playoff team. But, I do not believe that they will get anywhere near the Eastern Conference finals this season.