It's still the preseason as far as I'm concerned and once Pierce comes back, the Celts may be able to iron things out and make a deep playoff run. However, if it doesn't look like we're headed for Banner 18 by the trade deadline, here are a couple ideas I've come up with.

1. Ray Allen and second round picks to ORL for J.J. Redick and Ryan Anderson

(Would Orlando consider this? Would the Celtics?)

2. Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Jermaine O'Neal and a 1st round pick (or two...) to Utah for Devin Harris and Al Jefferson (I've posted this one before.)

This eats up all of the team's 2012 money but I'm not really clear on what they were planning to do with that money anyway. They'd have a decent-looking playoff team going forward with mostly reasonable contracts - a group of guys that Doc and Ainge can work with.

2012-2013

Harris/Dooling

Redick/Moore

Pierce/Green/Daniels

Anderson/Bass/Johnson

Jefferson/Steimsma

This is not a Championship lineup. But I think it's extremely unlikely that Ainge will be able to turn 2011-2012 personnel into anything better than an ok playoff team. I think the above configuration would be more competitive than Rondo/Pierce/Green/Bass, full-MLE (who?) and nobody else. Together, we can avoid the lottery. Draft picks rarely work out the way you want them to. It's a fact.