The year 2006 didn’t exactly bring a lot of joy to Celtics fans. Red’s passing casts a large, dark shadow on the year. As if that weren’t enough, the team missed the playoffs, racked up lots of losses, endured several key injuries, and failed to add a star player to compliment Paul Pierce on the court. So here is a brief look back at a sad year.
Red Passes
There’s no way around it. Losing Red was like losing a family member. He was the most important tie we had to the tradition and culture of Celtic pride, and suddenly he is no longer with us. The only positive to come of it was the opportunity to reflect once more on the greatness that came before and appreciate the man that orchestrated it all.
Pierce Re-Signs
There was a time when Pierce was considered one of the most likely stars to be traded. He probably would have been off to Portland a year and a half ago if he hadn’t said anything to discourage the Blazers. Yet he turned his attitude around and stepped up his game to new heights and has become the franchise player this team expected him to be. His re-signing marked a commitment on both sides to keep him here in Boston for the rest of his career. Now if he could just get some help.
No Deal For Iverson
It wasn’t for lack of trying. The team worked on making a move for Iverson for what seemed like the entire offseason. Those talks fell through; the Sixers gave it a shot with Iverson; that didn’t work out and the team made him available again; the teams talked again and still nothing could be worked out. Now he’s in Denver and we still have our best prospects. He would have helped in the short run, but who knows how much? We’ll see how much our young players help in the long run.
The Deals That Did Happen
Wally came to town in the Great Sideways Move of 2006 and Raef left town in the big draft day dealings. As a result, we don’t have Blount to kick around anymore. We don’t have to debate the potential of Marcus Banks anymore. And we don’t have to worry about Raef’s legs anymore. What we do have is a slow moving small forward that can shoot, a couple of talented but struggling point guards, and a little more future cap space than we had before. Other than that, we don’t have a lot of wins and we are still waiting for the chips to land us that big trade we’ve been waiting for. But that’s for the “look ahead†article I hope to post in the next day or so.
Parting Words
Every year has lessons learned and valuable experiences. It was a great year for CelticsBlog and some good things happened. Overall, however, it just wasn’t that great a year for the Celtics. Here’s hoping 2007 is a better one.
Also see: Green17’s Fast Breaks in the Cheap Seats section.