Everyone thinks the Boston Celtics had a miracle turnaround, but the only thing miraculous about their championship was trading a bunch of eighth graders for All-Stars. 

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I make a solemn plea to sports analysts everywhere: Please stop referring to the 2007-08 Boston Celtics as the greatest turnaround in NBA history. 

Or can we at least put an asterisk next to such a comment?

For those sports fans who were not aware (and I’m looking at you, people living in the Biodome), the Celtics won the 2008 NBA Championship, and in the process they won an impressive 66 games. During the 2006-07 season, however, the Celtics managed only 24 wins—but that’s pretty impressive considering the team consisted of Paul Pierce, some eighth graders and a couple of those old guys whom you see playing at the rec center with Horace Grant-style glasses and braces on both knees. I mean, sure, we all remember the huge splash they made in the free agent market when they signed Kevin Pittsnogle on July 26, but amazingly they turned right around and got rid of him on October 20.

The increase of 42 wins shattered the previous record of 32 games, set by the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs. Some attribute that amazing feat by the Spurs to the addition of guard Reggie Geary, but I’ve stubbornly held that it had more to do with the drafting of this guy named Tim Duncan (coupled with a healthier David Robinson).

Well, what happened in Boston? Did Brian Scalabrine pull Larry Bird out of his ass? Not that I’m aware of. Did Doc Rivers learn how to coach? Definitely not. The Celtics were poised to get the number one pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and make Greg Oden the “Shaq” to Paul Pierce’s “Kobe.” But at the end of the Draft Lottery, Boston was shocked to find itself with the fifth pick, which was definitely the opposite of “wicked awesome.”  With Pierce growing more and more frustrated with the overall shittiness of the franchise, General Manager Danny Ainge decided it was time to resort to Plan B, entitled: “We Got the Fifth Pick? Holy @#%$! What the %&*! Are We Going To Do Now?’  

And so the Celtics executed a number of personnel moves (the most underrated of which was the signing of James Posey). Of course, the primary moves were a trade to acquire Ray Allen from the Seattle Supersonics and a trade to acquire Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. In fact, out of 15 players on the Celtics 2007-08 roster, only six were on the team during the 2006-07 season. Boston went from a starting lineup of (then-rookie) Rajon Rondo, Wally Szczerbiak, Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins to a lineup of Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins (not to mention a slew of better bench players). So, really the analysts are right: the Celtics experienced an incredible single season turnaround. Unfortunately, it was a turnaround of their roster.

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