When former Celtics star Danny Ainge was appointed as the team's Executive Director of Basketball Operations last summer, expectations were understandably high.
The C's were fresh off of their second playoff appearance in as many years, having lost to the New Jersey Nets both times, first in the Conference Championships and then in the first round. Stars Paul Pierce and Antowain Walker led a solid team filled with underappreciated and unpaid role players such as forwards Eric Williams and Walter McCarty, and center Tony Battie. Coach Jim O'Brien had stepped forward and proven a wonderful professional coach after the unmitigated disaster of Rick Pitino's tenure. The best things Pitino did in his time in Boston were his Citizens Bank commercials and trading away Chauncey Billups ... oh wait, no that was a terrible move.
Under O'Brien's leadership, however, the C's were again one of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. With the addition of a solid point guard to run the court and feed the shooters the ball, as first over-the-hill Kenny Anderson then never-had-a-hill-to-go-over Tony Delk proved unable to do, the Celtics were poised to make a serious run at the Eastern Conference crown. And then, as "Behind the Music" would say, it all came crashing down.
Ainge immediately traded away Walker (who had been abysmal against the Nets) and Delk for a big awkward white guy (Raef Lafrenz, who, if healthy, should be pretty good this year, but what are the chances of that?), Jiri Welsch, the completely useless Chris Mills and a late first round draft pick. "Well," Celtic nation thought, "let's see how this pans out. Who knows, maybe Lafrenz is a poor man's Christian Laettner?"
Six weeks into last season, the Celtics, floundering without Walker, had managed to scrape their way to 12-12 and were riding a five game winning streak. Pierce was scoring like Brad Pitt at a high school dance, and Jim O'Brien seemed to be making something out of nothing. Distressed at this success, Ainge decided to ship off Williams, Battie and Kedrick Brown to the Cleveland Cavaliers, in return for Ricky Davis, two mediocre centers (Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart) and a second round draft pick. And who can blame him? Anytime you can trade away two of your hardest playing and lowest paid veterans for a head case with a poor outside shot who can't play defense, you have to make that trade. Needless to say, that didn't work out too well.
A month (and many losses) later, coach O'Brien, who had begged Ainge not to trade Williams and Battie, decided that he would rather coach for a team without such a strong commitment to mediocrity and resigned. Next, in the fiasco of last season's ridiculous house cleaning, Ainge opted for quantity over quality, trading away promising point guard Mike James for the overpaid mediocrity of guards Chucky Atkins and Lindsey Hunter.
Perhaps worst of all, the train wreck Celtics managed to literally (figuratively) tumble backwards and over a ledge into the playoffs, despite losing six of their last eight and finishing 10 games under .500. At this point, teams incapable of making the playoffs in the ridiculously untalented Eastern Conference might as well toss in the towel and disband their franchise. The season came to a merciful end when the Celtics, arguably the worst team to make the playoffs in any sport in the last decade, were swept by the Indiana Pacers by an average of almost 17 points a game, coming closest in a 103-90 drubbing in Game 2. Amaz-ingly, the Celtics led the Pacers 69-65 heading into the third quarter of that game before a disastrous fourth quarter, in which the Pacers outscored them 38-21. "Look on the bright side brah," my pal Chuck Vallely advised, "at least we have no shot at a draft pick and no room under the salary cap."
Celtics fans breathed a sigh of relief. Other than Paul Pierce and Walter McCarty, the Celtics had no one talented left to trade, and things couldn't get any worse. Surpassing all expectations, however, this off-season has been a very good one for the C's.
Beginning the off-season by firing interim coach John Carroll, Ainge hired former Orlando Magic coach Doc Rivers, by all accounts a decent guy and coach. As a follow up, the Celtics may very well have had the best draft of any team in the league. First, they selected high school star Al Jefferson, a player in the mould of the Phoneix Suns' Amare Stoudemire who is essentially a better version of Ricky Davis. Next, they finally filled the void at point guard, choosing Saint Joseph standout guard Delonte West (think Nick Van Exel but better), about whom the Celtics coaches are apparently ga-ga, and Big-12 player of the year Tony Allen, who can't shoot as well as West but is faster and great on defense. And fourth, Ainge and Co. selected Justin Reed, a solid backup forward out of Ole Miss.
Next, Ainge resigned decent center Mark Blount (whose last name alone makes him worthy of keeping around), and dumped the dead weight, and (more importantly) salary, of Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm, and Jumaine "missing an R in my first name" Jones on the Lakers in return for Gary Payton and Rick Fox. Payton, who has yet to visit Boston since the trade, is a great pickup for the Celtics whether he plays or not. If he plays, he'll be a great instructor even in his old age for rookies West and Allen, and if not he'll save the Irish a few million dollars.
Recap over, what are the prospects for the upcoming 2004-2005 season? No matter what happens, this season cannot possibly be worse than the last. Finishing up the off-season by signing backup power forward Tom Gugliotta, the Celtics appear to be headed back in the right direction, poised to exceed expectations and perhaps even win a playoff series. One cannot help but wonder what might have been if only Jim O'Brien had stuck around to coach them.
