Jon Duke

Many of us grew up on Celtics - Lakers regular season contests on Super Bowl Sunday in the 80's. In the early 90's we were treated to the great Jordan - Bird McDonalds commercial where they played for a Big Mac. In 2010, Dwight Howard and Lebron James try to take the Basketball Jesus' mantle, but Larry gets the last laugh.

 

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Kevin Henkin and Jon Duke sat down to celebrate with all the Celtics Stuff Live listeners after the Celtics started an honest to goodness win streak, by winning their second in a row, with a 107-102 win over the Miami Heat. Rajon Rondo was the story with his 22 points, 14 assists, and 6 rebounds in an effort that merely supported his comments this morning calling out the team for selfish play. Rondo's performance was yet another sign that the young point guard has earned a greater share of carrying the burden of leading this team not just in the future, but in the present as well. Kevin Garnett continued to show improvement as he makes his way back from his knee hyperextension injury with a well rounded performance, but plenty of work remains on the defensive end to return to the roots of the championship winning Celtics defense of 2008. And shocker of all shockers, Ray Allen trade rumors were discussed.... it was a full night.

 

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A brief little shot here from me, as I just spent 90 excruciating minutes listening to Glenn Ordway tell me why Ray Allen has to remain a member of the Boston Celtics. Only it wasn't his reasoning for why Allen should stay that had me so annoyed. No, Glenn made the right statement in being fearful of trading away a key member of a championship winning team while the team battles through injuries and exhaustion, and you never sell low and buy high.

Nope it wasn't wanting to keep Ray Allen, it was that the former Celtics broadcaster and team employee had no idea how the NBA's collective bargaining agreement works. Ordway,  known for misusing and over using words like "leverage"and talking about how it is "ALLL ABOUT THE MONNNNNEEEYYYY," expressed today that the Celtics could simply move Allen this summer in a sign and trade deal.  Which would be fine if this was 2009. Unfortunately it is not, and the only thing the Celtics will have after July 1 are some great memories and a contract hold on what a potential Ray Allen signing could cost the team. Sparing you, the reader, a long treatise on what I know about the CBA, the Celtics have microscopic means of making a deal with Ray Allen in the Summer of 2010. Ordway's suggested sign and trade would only work if Ray was interested in signing elsewhere and his prospective new team was in such a position that a trade was the only way feasible of making a deal happen. This is a ridiculously unlikely scenario.

Yet, even Glenn Ordway doesn't get the Boob of the Day award in sports radio. Gary Tanguay took to the Sports Hub airwaves this morning claiming he had the plan as to how the Celtics will rebuild this summer. Again, Tanguay took the tact that the Celtics had to keep Allen through the rest of this year, but then, as with the Big O, things went off the rails. Tanger suggested the Celtics let Ray Allen go, convince Paul Pierce to opt out of his nearly $20 million annual contract a year early, use the new cap space to sign former Celtic Joe Johnson, and then re-sign Pierce. Alas, my fellow Mainer fell short of the mark as for the Celtics to do this, the team would have to renounce the Bird rights to Pierce and Allen, which means that Pierce could only re-sign for the MLE. Now this might be slightly more reasonably suggestion than Ordway, but I don't believe Paul Pierce is dumb enough to literally give away $15 million in the chance that Joe Johnson puts the Celtics over the top.

The bottom line is gang that I don't know how the Celtics can do anything this summer by keeping Ray Allen to improve their team. Re-signing Ray at a lesser salary and then using the MLE to bolster the bench behind him could help, as players as talented as Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza were wingmen available via the MLE this past summer. Yet, I can't help but feel that $19 million expiring contract in the form of a still productive future Hall of Fame shooting guard has value, but that value has a shelf life that expires in less than three weeks. Maybe Monta Ellis isn't the perfect fit. Maybe Kevin Martin isn't the perfect fit. Maybe Andre Iguodala isn't the perfect fit. But do any of us want Danny Ainge to sit idly by as this asset depreciates immeasurably?

I will continue to argue that there are great unknowns in adding a player to this roster, but the uptick in production will more than make up for these unknowns. Perhaps the Celtics will regain their form and return to legitimate championship contention with Ray Allen as their starting shooting guard, and I will state clearly I would rather lose out on that asset and win a championship but I cannot believe at this point that is a gamble I would take. So I open the floor here for all the commentors to tell me how exactly the Celtics can make their team better this summer with Ray Allen finishing this season on the roster.

The floor is yours...

I try to be a voice of reason in the blogging game. The type not prone to ridiculous writings that cause some in the traditional press to point the finger and call it reactionary or ill informed.

But after watching a third straight defeat Sunday afternoon, it has become obvious that the time for action is drawing short. A trading deadline in late February is fast approaching and the players on this Celtics roster refuse to get younger, despite my repeated calls to do so. I like Kevin Garnett. I like Ray Allen. And, I love Paul Pierce.  These guys brought a championship here in 2008 and turned around over two decades of bad blood with a pulse pounding 82 game plus playoff performance, but that, my friends, is history. Two years later, Pierce and Garnett are recovering from significant knee injuries and Allen is, well, seemingly showing the sides of old age. Now I'm only a few years younger than Ray, and I don't feel old in the slightest bit, but when I watch Ray Allen play "youth" isn't in the first 5000 words that come to mind.

The numbers, which I usually leave to Jack Jemsek, don't bear out that Ray Allen is having one of his better years offensively, and defensively I think all Celtics fans have seen enough of opposing shooting guards getting into the lane or simply shooting over the top of the future Hall of Famer. At times, Ray can still fill the hoop with the best of them (see the first half performance against Orlando last Thursday), but then there are times like Friday night when Ray Allen is getting victimized by above average to great shooting guards. Joe Johnson and Kobe Bryant were simply the latest in a long line to see success facing "Jesus," while the Celtics, as a team, have struggled to rebound effectively or compete against younger, more athletic teams. Ray Allen being the least of those qualities places a target on his back, and deservedly so, in my opinion.

So rumor has it that from CSNNE.com's Sherrod Blakely that the Golden State Warriors may be interested in a Ray Allen for Monta Ellis swap to which I say, "yes, please." Ray Allen's nearly $19 million contract expires this summer after which time it has been suggested that Allen could re-sign with the Celtics for a significant decrease, and while a more than $10 million savings between this contract and a new deal with the Celtics would be helpful to the C's bottom line, it doesn't add talent. Theoretically the team could use those savings to sign another Mid Level Exception player for an average of $5 million per year, but the Celtics could do the very same thing with a 24 year old shooting guard making a few million more per year than a re-signed 35 year old Ray Allen. Heck, Ray Allen could be that Mid Level Player in that scenario, as my CSL co-host Justin Poulin often points out.

The point is this Celtics team is having a very tough time doing the things it has made its bones on... defense and rebounding. Neither have been strengths of Ray Allen, nor has Monta Ellis ever been confused for Bruce Bowen, but it says here that no matter how much better Kevin Garnett gets as he returns from injury, he can't make up for the drop off Ray Allen's athleticism has taken over the past two years. If the Celtics want to compete for a title in 2010, they need to upgrade at the shooting guard position. Marquise Daniels return from injury will help, as will the resurgence of Tony Allen, but the window is getting short in the Celtics' ability to parlay this expiring contract into something that can help the Celtics win beyond the Big Three Era. Moving Ray Allen might be their best chance to do just that.