The Celtics lost Rajon Rondo for the rest of the season on Sunday, when it was discovered he tore his ACL at some point during Fridays game with the Hawks. Despite this news Paul Peirce and Kevin Garnett led the Celtics to a gritty double overtime victory over the Miami Heat in Ray Allen's return to Boston. After the game Doc Rivers said in response to Rondo's knee injury, "We'll find someone that's already in our locker room who will step up, You can write the obituary, but I'm not. We're going nowhere." Yet that's exactly what I'm doing. The Celtics have no shot to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy this June. Not without Rondo who earned his first All Star start this season and has clearly become the Celtics best and most important player.
Who is this player or players Doc says will step up to fill the Rondo void. Jason Terry? Terry has looked old and slow this year. Even in his prime Jet never flew like Rondo. Avery Bradley? An absolute nuisance on the wing on the defensive side of the ball, but struggles to hit open shots and not much of a creator. Courtney Lee? He is a player best coming off bench to provide solid D and corner threes. Jeff Green? Played solid D on Lebron Sunday but is non existent on offensive side of ball. When I look at the Celtics roster I see a team that is headed to swiftly losing in the first round if they even make the playoffs at all.
Now the Celtics are an average NBA team and they're old on top of it. They find themselves in the NBA wasteland too good for the lottery and too shitty to really challenge for the title. Now people will say Garnett, Peirce, Rivers, and wisdom are enough to challenge the Heat, Knicks, Bulls, and Pacers in the East. Yet all those teams are considerably younger, bigger, and quicker than the Celtics. Boston should stash some TNT in the locker room and blow this roster up.
Do the Celtics really want to keep Garnett and Pierce around just because they can't envision them in another team's uniform? Do they really want to honor the 08 title so much as to sacrifice a shot at the next 5 championships. Now Garnett and Pierce can still contribute to a title contender over the next year or two. But there won't be a title contender in Boston in that time frame. That's why Danny Ainge and the Celtics should use Rondo's injury as the catalyst to transition to the future.
They should trade not one but both Garnett and Pierce for the best haul of young players, draft picks, and cap space they can get from contenders looking to push their rosters over the top before next February trade deadline. Using the rest of the season to position themselves as best as possible in the lottery and evaluate talent on roster. Then next year Rondo can return to a younger team with a lottery pick player, Sullinger, and the others brought in on the trades. Use the cap space to make a run at a player like Kevin Love, Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay, Demarcus Cousins, or Josh Smith over the next two years.
The Celtics have had a great run over the last five years and should always remember the "Big 3" fondly. But should use Garnett and Pierce's trade value to improve their championship window over the next decade. Move them now before father time ruins their value. Don't keep them around to use as nails to close that championship window. They should heed the advice of Thomas Jefferson, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past". So, hurry up Celtics the clock is ticking.
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