Good Angle Jeff. It is great to think that Pierce will finally find a comfortable role on this team and the Shira piece where he says he wants to get down to 230 lbs is very encouraging. Let’s see he and Allen develop that swagger!

Jeff, I think you’ve got it. I’m starting to get over missing Al and Ryan and am starting to get real excited about pre season. I also loved PP’s comment in the Herald, I believe, about Reggie Miller where he said he doesn’t know him that well, but DA and Doc probably do because he’s closer to them in age. I think that tells us what’s really going on. Reggie won’t come here, but Doc will be signed as the backup pg. Thibodeau will become head coach and Dave Wohl will take over DA’s job because he’ll sign on to take Reggie Miller’s role. It’s a conspiracy for DA and Doc to get someone their own age to talk to on the plane trips.

and we will live happily ever after…good article Jeff.

It is so much better pinning our hopes around three quality character guys. And we do still have enough young bodies – Powe, Rondo, Perk, Davis, Wallace, Pruitt, T.Allen – to get excited about development. I think it will be fun also to see Scalabring play with these three. He’s absorbed enough abuse but his limited game should be at its best now.

the best thing about this team is that 100% this is Garnett’s team,he’s the best player by far,plays D and is the big man..and by having all 3 together it will add yrs to each’s career,injuries aside…plus if it doesn’t work we got Ray’s ending deal in 2 summers..until AL becomes Karl Malone,which he may,this is a great thing….Foyle can help us

But make no bones about it, Garnett is the leader of this team. he will naturally fall into that role. He will be the one in the Antoine role while Pierce will be Pierce and ray will be ray.

Also, Ray Allen is a really firey guy but he just doesnt display his emotions like KG.

The only thing they are really missing is the media-savvy spokesman. Maybe that is why they want Miller. Miller can be the guy who the press go to after the game for quotes, since none of the Garnett/Pierce/Allen trioka really like doing that the way Antoine did. Miller would be like their Buddha. He can serve as spokesman and they can rub his tummy for good luck.

We Three Kings With No Rings

Icky, it might be nice to have Miller around, but the role of media-savvy spokesman is already filled. It’s Doc. That’s what he’s good at.

“NEGATIVITY” in this town sucks; I guess Rick Pitino is hiding wondering how he couldn’t come up with a plan like this. He had his chance and blew it, but remember we all wanted Danny’s head on a silver platter as well before this trade.

Great article Jeff. I truly believe that if they can bring Miller to this team it will solidify the east for them.

The presence of the “BIG THREE and ONE” will be electrifying and really help Rondo and Perkins a lot.

It’s called “MATURITY”, something we’ve lacked here with all the young kids and baby sitting that Danny and Doc had to do.

One thing though, boy wouldn’t Big Al look good playing with these three.

All three of them bring an aurora to the game that Bird, McHale, Cowens, Russell, etc use to bring night in and night out. This whole town is a buzz about the Celtics again and we haven’t even played one game yet.

Look for them to mesh very well. All three are hungry. All three know they need each other to compete for a title. There will be no selfishness, no bickering, no backstabbing.

Don’t believe for one moment that Pierce and Allen are any less competative than KG. They are simply more introverted where as Garnett is extrovert in the extreme on the court.

I think 20-30 games into the season and even the wet blanket crowd will dry out.

…. Or EBMMH for you following along at home. Two articles dealing with psychology in the past 3 days. I think we may need to get this community together for a group hug :D :D

Just as a side note — I won’t hug Brick unless he is patted down first.

 ;D ;D ;D

Nice puff piece. I’m sure it will all fit together perfectly under master strategist Doc Rivers.

Let’s see, MN won 32 games last year, Seattle won 32 and Boston won 24. So I guess that means they’ll win 88, right?

They’ll win more than 88 games… There’s 82 regular season games…(82-0) and then 16 playoff games! I don’t see anything less than 98 wins being acceptable. Especially with the addition of The Great Eddie House.

So if they do bring Reggie Miller in, will referring to the ‘big 3’ be a slight to him? (Presuming he brings 10-20 minutes off the bench)

I don’t doubt that the “Three Kings” will develop good chemistry. After all, they have a lot in common i.e. hungry to win after years of mostly futile campaigns. If I have any concerns about chemistry they are more about how the role players, especially the youngsters, mesh with the three stars. More specifically, it will be up to the three Kings to make the rest of the team that their contributions are just as important as their own – and just as appreciated.

In the end, chemistry is developed via going to battle and struggling together to win tough games, and eventually playoff series. How fast that comes together depends a lot on the make up of the individuals and how they respond to one another in times of adversity. Those times either pull teams together or split them into factions. Its up to management and the veterans to make sure the former happens, rather than the latter.

Sorry Jeff, I did not mean to insult you. It is a well-done piece. But (as you have noted repeatedly), I find it difficult to buy into the general optimism that surrounds the Garnett and Allen trades.

I do not think this team is good enough to contend seriously for a championship, starting with the fact that the head coach isn’t a championship-caliber coach.

The coronation is a bit premature.

Tony Allen is not smart enough to be a “Jealous Peer”. He will go along, have his moments and be one of the best 6th-men in the league if he is healthy.

Big Baby is very overrated by much of us here I think. He had that huge year at LSU 2 years back but he did not show me much NBA readiness in the summer league. I think he can eat some minutes but don’t look for big things out of big baby. He will be happy to go along for the ride.

Powe is much too nice and too smart to be upset. He is still trying to create a spot for himself in this league. He is not even close to having solidified time in the NBA let alone a 3-5 year plan. (He’s almost there.)

I can see House and maybe Scal being upset if their minutes drop dramatically but everyone will have their place on this team and the ones who arn’t playing should be happy that there is an NBA team with a bench this depleted so they can actually be in the league.

That said, regarding Coach Rivers; NBA Head coaching ability to me is more about people managing than it is X’s and O’s. I think Doc does an above average job of managing people and the assistant’s bear a good portion of the X’s and O’s responsibilities. I think the acquistion of Thibodeau will be the one that makes this all work well in the end. Well, that and the fact that you have 3 of the top 20 players in the league on the same team.

We won’t know anything about Davis or Pruitt until after mid-season….unless we can watch his NBDL games. They, like all Rivers’ rookies, will either be there or piling up DNP/"C"D.

A coach, Foyle, and a good backup PG and we are title contenders.

Pro athletes tend to be real macho. With that mentality, you probably need the alpha male to lead. Honestly, I just don’t see Pierce being a good leader. He hasn’t proven it in the past and, the one time he was surrounded by great players on the national team, he had a bit of an attitude problem that somewhat hurt his reputation in the league. The test will be this. Can Pierce step aside and let Garnett be the team leader? Certainly Allen can but I’m not sure about Pierce. He still sees the Cs as “his team” with justification but he’s never shown great leadership qualities. This will be tough.

 ;D

Pierce is going to be playing with Garnett, who is a past first player…

You actually think this is going to be tough for Pierce???

You mean tough for the opposition!

 ;D

Hear! Hear Jeff. You were right on all the way. you hit the nail on the head. all we needed in the first place was players like K G and R A. we already had the coach. if we needed more pual would have been the first to say so. He was really down these past two years and could not have hid his desire for anything he thought we needed. especially a coach. Thus, as I said we already had the coach in Glenn “Doc” Rivers. I agree with Brick it is premature for the crowning cermoney- the Coronation- but for my part it is not too erly to make reservation for it in June.

I’m surprised so many people, when discussing the bench, make no mention of Brandon Wallace. After watching him intently during the summer league, I think he’s our best hope for a defensive back-up for the small forward position.

Even if Tony Allen is all healed up for the early season (which I strongly doubt), he’s a bit short at the 3 spot. So who else do we have? Scalabrine, Pollard, Powe, Davis… nope. Wallace might prove to be a most surprising asset to this team.

If Doc struggles, I have no doubt that Danny Ainge will take over and Wohl will take over GM responsibilities similar to Pop in SA. Ainge may or may not stay on as head coach, longer term, but if he doesn’t there will be a long list of candidates to coach the team in the off season. I’m hoping, but not optimistic that Doc can get this to team to meet expectations.

I fully subscribe to the theory that your top talent wins championships, and depth can only differentiate between an equally top talented team.

KG is on the short list of potential top players. Duncan is probably number one, Kobe is in the mix even though we don’t want to admit it. Put together your starting five of the best NBA players to beat the super alien robots in hoops for the fate of the world and it’s probably: Duncan, KG, Lebron, Kobe, Nash – with Lebron and Nash being the two most debatable. The point if KG is an elite big, with very few in the same league. Pierce and Ray Allen are both in the top 10 in their positions, and if healthy that moves up to the top 5 or so. And I agree that they are all three likely to figure out quickly how to play and coincide together.

Danny has shown that he can slap together the marginal talent with second round and undrafted rookies, and vet minimum guys to fill spots 9-15 on the roster. So we’re left worrying about 4-8 spots. I think both Rondo and Perk will shine in their roles and both compliment the big 3 in their own way – but I understand the doubting Thomas’. Just remember Perk is not some kid anymore, he’s going into season 5, has improved every year, and is still young. At age 25 he’ll be a 7 year NBA vet when the C’s are in the last year of Ray Allen’s deal.

We definately have a lot riding on Eddie House’s ability to hit shots and get the ball over half court for 13 minutes a game, and Pollard’s ability to avoid injury DNPs (or Powe’s ability to play 3 inches taller than he actually is), and Tony Allen’s ability to be healthy an return to form. But there are mitigation strategies available – Foyle can be signed, Cassel may be bought out or signed as a FA at season end, Wallace or Manuel might show they can defend at the NBA level in place of Tony Allen, Reggie Miller might rejuvenate himself as a shooter. The point is – for those of us who think player depth chart is evaluated on an inverse logarithmic scale, the top guy is much more critical than the 3, who matters much more than the 6th, etc.

i am optimistic about this team and do admire kg and allen as players and people. i still miss big al and want him back. the three will do well if rested and rondo will fit in, how or when, i am not sure. perk will not keep them back and hopefully, pollard will spot him nicely.tony,s health will always be the problem. would rather have kept gomes and shopped tony.

3 Comments:
1) Ray Allen will have games that make us shake our heads in amazemen like we sometimes do with Pierce (and like we frequently did with Bird)
2) KG is more dominant than either RA or PP
3) Congrats on spelling camaraderie correctly (or did you use spellcheck?)
4) Will Brick be happier if he is correct or if he is incorrect?

Oops. I guess that’s 3 comments and 1 question

Jeff, I think your article is describing more “glue guy” type stuff than actual leadership. Most winning NBA teams have a clear alpha-dog and strong coaching, and whether or not they get along is really secondary. The Kobe/Shaq Lakers were the most disfunctional group of humans in the history of the NBA, but they won because Phil Jackson backed Shaq as the main man, and everyone else was forced to fall in place. Ditto Jordan. He and Pippen weren’t exactly buddies and most of his former teammates speak openly of his narcissim and contempt for players who didn’t live up to his impossible standards. Ditto Bird. The 86 Celtics were not exactly the best of friends. Bird and McHale in particular were never close, but the team fell in line behind a guy who refused to lose and refused to accept anything but the best out of his teammates. Ditto LeBron this past season. Garnett is the closest to that kind of leader on the Celtics, but he hasn’t exactly had the best track record of inspiring his teammates to greatness (compare LeBron’s supporting cast to Garnett’s and you get the idea)

Pierce may be playing the good host and Ray Allen may be a smooth talker, but that has zero relevance as to how the team will perform, particularly in the playoffs. I appreciate your enthusiasm for this group, but I think you may be doing a little wishful thinking. Just my opinion. Please don’t take this as an insult.

Neurotic Guy,
You’re question is illogical. Brick is never incorrect.

Just kidding, Brick. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Unfortunately, I’ve regurgitated plenty of kool aid in my time. One learns from bitter experience.

Senseless saying it’s Pierce’s team, KG’s team, etc. All these guys want is a ring. I’m not sure if it comes or not, but at least all signs are pointing to one exciting year.

Who are we kidding? This became Scot Pollard’s team the moment he inked his name.