All at once the Boston Celtics are unrecognizable. The iconic players… not to mention the iconic coach… are almost all gone and Celtics fans are left wondering just what the identity of their favorite team will be for the next NBA season.
Everyone thought that future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce would retire as a Celtic. He was drafted by the Celtics as their first round draft pick in 1998 and has never worn another uniform. Many wagered that he never would but that bet has been graded as a loss. Too bad, so sad but Paul Pierce is gone in a surprise move that sent him down to Brooklyn to play for the Nets and new head coach Jason Kidd.
And it was not just Pierce that departed for the Nets. The same deal included another Celtic icon, Kevin Garnett, as well as shooting guard Jason Terry who was drafted in the first round by the Atlanta Hawks back in 1999, one year after Paul Pierce started with the Celtics.
Terry came to Boston in 2012 after playing five years with the Hawks and then eight years with the Dallas Mavericks where he helped Dallas win the NBA title in 2011 by beating the Miami Heat.
Of course, it wasn’t just three of their top players that the Celtics lost. Just days before the historic trade, Doc Rivers, the popular Celtics head coach announced that he was moving to Los Angeles to coach the Clippers. At first his was going to take Kevin Garnett with him but the NBA Commissioners office brought that part of the deal to a screeching halt stating that the trade pact would violate NBA by-laws.
So, Celtics faithful are in a quandary at the moment. Talk has been flying around for awhile now that the Celtics needed to start rebuilding their program if they expected to be competitive in the NBA. Former NBA All-Star Danny Ainge, who is now the general manager of the Boston Celtics, has set his direction and made the moves he made with an eye of the future of the franchise.
First of all, the Celtics need to find a good head coach to replace Doc Rivers although those shoes are not going to be so easy to fill. They did get something back from the Nets in the form of Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries and Reggie Evans as well as three (that’s 3!) first round draft picks from Brooklyn.
