The answer to that question, regarding the Boston Celtics and their “Big Three” as they stumble out the gate this season with a 4-8 record, is I guess, yeah, possibly. While I personally didn’t think we’d be engaging in this type of conversation at all this season, or at least not this early, I suppose it is fair to begin speculating on whether or not Danny Ainge should begin investigating the the possibility of actually trading Paul Pierce prior to the March 15th deadline, and in turn blowing the whole thing up out in Boston.
Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen’s contracts come off the books this summer, but Pierce still has two more years at $32 million guaranteed following this season. If Boston did somehow decide to move Pierce, they could pretty much pursue any free agents they wanted to this off-season. They’d maybe even have the cap space to go out and sign a whole new Big Three too possibly, or at least some form of a legitimately large two.
The first, gigantic, step towards this rebuild would be dealing Pierce though. If you think it didn’t go over too well last year in that Celtics locker room when Kendrick Perkins got traded, just imagine the mean mug KG would make upon hearing that Pierce just got dealt. A possibility that reportedly “a lot of calls” are coming into to Danny Ainge’s office asking about.
This according to Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
As Kevin Garnett and Allen become free agents this summer, money will peel away from the salary cap. Between then and now, the bigger question promises to be: Does ownership and general manager Danny Ainge go for the complete rebuild and trade Pierce before the March 15 deadline? Several contending teams have inquired about Pierce’s availability. As one Eastern Conference official said, there are “lots of calls asking if [Boston] will blow it up.”
I suppose the idea of trading Pierce makes sense, but I still can’t get my arms all the way around the possibility of it actually happening. I do understand that the Celtics are 4-8, but they’ll probably turn it around here soon, won’t they? I also can’t help but think that even though they’re kinda old and currently have twice as many losses as they do wins, these Celtics – as they’re currently compromised – would still be a pretty tough out come playoff time. Right?
At the same time though, maybe these are the types of moments were decisions made by General Manager’s define them and their organizations as great for years to come. Do you decide to bust up this “Big Three” that helped return the Celtics to annual prominence maybe a few months too early, or risk holding out hope a little too long and be stuck with nothing. A question Ainge will eventually answer here shortly.
On the season, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce are all posting numbers below their career averages in points, assists, and rebounds. Garnett (13.3 ppg) is 6 ppg under his career scoring average, and also grabbing 3 fewer rebounds (7.5) per game too. Allen is 4 points under his career scoring mark (16.5 ppg) and Paul Pierce is scoring less than 6 ppg than he’s used too (15.7) as well.
All that said I’d still be shocked if Ainge really did pull the trigger on something like that anytime soon. If they’re ten games under .500 on March 1st though, look out.
