The 2007 NBA Draft has come and gone and the two biggest trades were very similar, Western Conference All-Stars with a huge salaries from weak teams shipped to desperate Eastern Conference squads.
Trade 2 - Boston Celtics and the Seattle Supersonics swap Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, the 5th Pick in the 2007 Draft (Jeff Green), and a future second-round pick for Ray Allen and the 35th Pick in the draft (Glen Davis).
This trade seems to benefit the Celtics immediately while Seattle now has a glut at small forward. Kevin Durant overnight became the face of the franchise, making Ray Allen expendable. Seattle also wants to start fresh and had a lot ($51 million) tied up in Allen's contract. The combination of Durant and Jeff Green is exciting but they both play small forward, as do Szczerbiak and free-agent Rashard Lewis.
Boston gets a bona-fide scorer (University of Connecticut stand-out, and movie star - (remember Jesus Shuttlesworth)) and running mate for Paul Pierce who is breaking down from having to carry the Celtics on his back the past few seasons. The Celtics other options of drafting Jeff Green, Yi Jianlian, Corey Brewer or Brandan Wright with the 5th pick were less attractive as they were all several years away from helping Paul Pierce who isn’t getting any younger or healthier. Speaking of health, the Celtics need to keep an eye on Allen as he had surgery on both ankles in April.
The combination of Al Jefferson, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen is going to be fun to watch – they score and are exciting but don't play much defense, and the Celtics have nobody else they can build around on the roster. That threesome may be good enough to get Boston back into the Playoffs, but just barely. With the addition of Allen, Boston became more exciting and will see increased interest in the storied franchise but this was not a long-term fix. Ray Allen makes the Cs respectable again, which might just save Danny Ainge's job, at least for the time being.
3 comments:
Danny didn't have many options - no young black man who is a free agent (Kobe, the Matrix) is going to want to live in Boston.
Ray is a family man who probably was the best option available.
He also will exploit teams to want to triple-team their star.
Ray Ray will light up the East. His ankles are fine. There is now a reason to go see Celtics games again
Thought this was worth sharing. Easily my favorite draft recap of the year:
http://www.insomniacslounge.com/labels/Draft%20Slots.html
Post a Comment