Kevin Garnett made a wise decision going to Boston

[thebigjustice]

I just wanna say there has rarely been a combination of all-stars that are as perfect for each other as KG PP RA. They are truly the romeo and juliet of basketball. If any team is destined to be a dynasty its these guys, very much like Jordan Pippen Rodman in cohesiveness. On top of that they have some very good young talent in Boston, and I include Rondo but also the bangers in the frontcourt will only get better. This team is brilliant, and there is no reason why they can't win 65+ games next season. Forget what you had planned in LA, the title is staying in Boston. And by the time Boston have won their 3-peat I think Portland will be the likely dominator.

The only problem with this is that i dont think boston will repeat, let alone 3 peat, because if the lakers are healthy next season they have the deepest team in the league and probably the biggest starting lineup too. bynum/gasol/odom/kobe/fisher. i honestly think that had bynum not gotten injured than the lakers would be champs right now. the lakers didnt even have a big man and they took it to 6 games. gasol is not a big man, hes a 5'2" jockey inside a 7' body. hes the softest big i have ever seen. so if they had bynum, than all the easy stuff at the basket that LA gave up over and over again would be met by the hand of bynum saying "no way man" and the free throw discrepency would not have been so big because gasol wouldnt be playing his fake defense and fouling everytime. bynum would have made a huge impact on that series, just like oden will do to the blazers next season and that why portland will win 54 games next season and win there division!

It doesn't matter who you add to the frontcourt, Boston can stop Bryant whenever they want. They can either keep him on the perimeter shooting 35% or they can let him get his points and close-down everyone else. He isn't quick enough to beat the triple-teams. Additionally, Boston will win 65+ games and get homecourt advantage in the Finals.

[celticfan42487]

It depends on how much you value clutch play wether you think Pierce had more or less impact or even impact as KG did.

I link KG to that of a PG, who will bring you right on the cusp of winning a game but usually there will be a diffrent player that will actually make the clutch shot to win the game.

As for all the repeate non-repeate stuff. I couldn't care less to make a prediction. Nothing will top this season.

First ring for RA,PP,KG,PJ Brown in their first year together
Biggest regular season turnaround in NBA history
Biggest comeback in NBA Finals History
Biggest blowout in close-out game NBA Finals History
First team since 01 to sweet Texas Triange
Top ten regular season record all-time NBA History
First team to win a title playing over 25 postseason games NBA History
First NBA championship in 22 years for Boston (it's dedicated to Red Auerbach)
Then, longtime hero Paul Pierce outdeuling Kobe in the Finals and beating LeBron in game 7.
Defensive numbers that haven't been seen since the 70s*

*= heard something to that effect on ESPN, don't know exact stuff.


Really it doesn't matter what they do now, you can't top that next season.

[Reks]

How insulted would you be if you were Paul Pierce knowing that KG came over because Ray Ray got traded there?

[Celtsfan1980]

First I must say that KG has been one of the hardest working and best players in the league for a long time, and he certainly deserved a ring.

KG is one of the most overrated, arrogant, dirty players of his time.

I hate the celtics for the way they put there team together. there was no skill involved in putting that team together because any GM can trade 90% of there roster to bring in 2 stars.

The lakers will win the title next year IF they are healthy. But they do will only have one year of glory because than the dynasty begins in portland!

CP3 to the Rose City!

Ainge was originally mocked for trading for Ray Allen. He did have a big contract and a bad ankle. It took guts to trade for Ray Allen, and even then there was no guarantee of trading for Garnett. It took guts and that's something a lot of GM's don't have.

[TommyTheCat]

Lets not fool ourselve if it weren't for the Ray Allen trade; KG would be in Phoneix, Dallas, or Chicago right now. Or even still in Minnesota until his contract is up. I remember him saying the Kobe situation turned him off from going to LA.

yeah, i believe kg said he didn't want to go to boston before the allen trade went through.

[greenbeans]

^^because Wally was still here imo^^

[PPAW4Life]

There's no doubt that KG in LA would have worked out as well but I don't think it would have to the extent of winning 66 games.

There are too many excellent teams in the West and the Lakers aren't a defensive minded team. KG would most certainly help in the defense department but there needs to be a good scheme in place for the entire team to learn and execute.

Lakers would have been a ridiculously great offensive team though....probably average over 115 ppg.

Then again we'll never know because the Lakers didn't have the pieces to make a deal for KG.

[TommyTheCat]

Then again we'll never know because the Lakers didn't have the ties to mchale to make a deal for KG.

small edit

[HMFFL]

First I must say that KG has been one of the hardest working and best players in the league for a long time, and he certainly deserved a ring. Much of the time their were rumors that he might go to the Lakers or even Chicago. No one could have imagined he would have ended up in Boston at first.

I think actually going to Boston was better for him than had he gone to LA. It is true that Pierce won the Finals MVP, but Garnett's work ethic and defensive intelligence helped mold the Celtics into a good defensive team and it got guys like Pierce and Ray Allen to play much better on the defensive end.

Had KG went to LA I think they could have been successful, however I think the fit in Boston was better as he would have gotten much more credit for helping the Celtics win the title than he would have gotten had he won in LA.

At some point the Lakers and KG would have won the title. Adding a talent like KG with Kobe, AB and Lamar is just too talented to not win a title. Sure, some trades would occur, but the nucleus would stay together and the future would be bright. With Boston, KG now has the chance to make the finals several times before he retires, and the road would be more difficult with Los Angeles.

[legacyinthemakin89c]

To the guy who said its easy to gut your team and get 2 more all stars, there isn't a roster in this league with the young talent Boston assembled worth 2 stars. The only team I can think of who could pull it off would be Miami. Trade Marion for a star and trade the number 2 pick for a star. Portland would be stupid to trade its young talent, so I exclude them from this argument. Minny is close, they seem like Boston part two if that type of scenario happens again. But it really isn't that easy to do, you have to line everything up perfectly. Expiring contracts, young players contracts, draft picks, etc all have to be in the perfect situation to make that type of scenario happen. Boston pulled it off, but it took 3 or 4 years to get all the pieces together. It scares me to think that maybe that was Ainge's plan all along.

[garrick]

I don't think it's fair to say that KG deserved it the most, he may be one of the more vocal and passionate players but how does that make him more deserving than say Elton Brand?

[Kweli]

Don't forget he didn't want to go there until after Ray Allen was traded there, I'm sure it was a pretty easy choice after that happened.

[shawngoat23]

Adding a talent like KG with Kobe, AB and Lamar is just too talented to not win a title.

How do you propose the Lakers add KG without giving up their only worthwhile assets in Bynum and Odom?

[SWelker]

There was no way the Lakers were going to get KG without giving up Bynum, just because they got Gasol for nothing doesn't mean they would have been able to do the same this past summer for Garnett. Bynum was equal to what McHale saw in Jefferson when he made the deal.

[garcia3]

well Einstein, he won the championship in Boston, i also think he made a wise decision

[casey]

How insulted would you be if you were Paul Pierce knowing that KG came over because Ray Ray got traded there?

Not at all. KG wanted a ring. Without Ray there it was the same team that won 24 games the previous season. I'm pretty sure Paul could understand that.

I don't think it's fair to say that KG deserved it the most, he may be one of the more vocal and passionate players but how does that make him more deserving than say Elton Brand?

I would say that he deserved it because players are often judged on how many championships they win. KG hadn't won one before this season, but he performed on a championship level. He was one of those elite players, but never had a legitimate chance to win a title. Elton Brand is a really good player, but he's not that elite type of player. KG deserved it because he was already that player but wasn't given an opportunity to be remembered as that.

[Rocky5000]

There was no way the Lakers were going to get KG without giving up Bynum, just because they got Gasol for nothing doesn't mean they would have been able to do the same this past summer for Garnett. Bynum was equal to what McHale saw in Jefferson when he made the deal.

Correction, Bynum was much less than equal to what McHale saw in Jefferson. Jefferson averaged 16 and 11 in 06-07, and better than 20 and 10 for the last few months. Bynum averaged 8, and 6. Bynum improved this year (as did Jefferson), but he wasn't anywhere near Big Al's value last summer. Remember Kobe's remarks on what he thought of Andrew? The Lakers did not have the ability to put together a package as good as what the Celtics gave up.