Celtic Pride is Back in Boston

For the first time in his career, Paul Pierce has someone to play with. No offense, Antoine Walker.

For the last six years, “The Truth” Pierce has been the backbone of the Boston Celtics. But after an abysmal season that saw the Celtics go 24-58, finishing in last place 29 games back of Detroit, GM Danny Ainge has decided to do something about it.

Normally, when a team finishes last in their respective conference, it at the very least gives them a high pick in the upcoming entry draft. But, the luck of the Irish didn’t work out for Boston and they ended up with the fifth pick, essentially losing their shot at the only two players that really mattered in the draft, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. So Wallace did the best he could with what he had and picked Jeff Green out of Georgetown, and shipped him – along with Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and the 35th pick to Seattle (who were sitting comfortably with Kevin Durant locked up) – in exchange for three-point specialist Ray Allen, who owns one of the sweetest jump shots in the league.

With Pierce and Allen now wearing the same jerseys, the Celtics have one of the best one-two punches since Larry Bird and Kevin McHale.

But they’re not quite at Bird/McHale status yet.

Picking up Allen was a big move, but the Celtics still didn’t quite look like a championship team. Ainge knew that and decided it was time to make an even bigger splash in the trade market. He pulled off one of the biggest trades in NBA history, sending Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair and a draft pick to Minnesota for 2004 league MVP and 10-time all-star Kevin Garnett, who obviously was getting sick of missing the playoffs on a regular basis.

Garnett, Allen and Pierce can now be called the best three man unit in the NBA and have the potential to reach the status of Bird, McHale and Robert Parrish, if they can put their egos aside and play team basketball, which won’t be easy for three players that have been the “go-to-guy” on their respective teams every year since elementary school.

For this team to become a dynasty, it’s going to take point guard Tony Allen to evenly distribute the ball and make sure he can keep these three elite players happy on their road to an NBA championship.

Quick Fact of the Day

Mike Ditka is the only person in NFL history to be drafted in the first round, and win the Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach and a head coach.

Diiiiiiitka!