It's either a panic move or striking while the iron is hot
The East is terrible, sure, but you're almost guaranteeing that you'll be absolutely horrible 3-4 years from now in exchange for some potential Finals appearances that you're very unlikely to win. Personally I would have dealt Pierce rather than acquire Ray Allen, and then have a team that could be on the verge of something big in a couple of years when the West's stars are finally coming down.
Garnett, Pierce and Allen are as good a threesome as anyone else can put together in the league.
Maybe. Garnett is a legitimate superstar, albeit one with very little tread left on his tires (
the career path for NBA players after 1000 games is very ugly, and KG is at 927). My problems are with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Allen has been good, but Seattle's style inflated his production and I think he looks like a guy who could fall off at any moment. To me, he's not that far removed from a guy who just sits on the wing and shoots jumpers. That's still useful, but it's not any kind of dominating force. Meanwhile Pierce is an immensely gifted player, but just seems to lack the drive to be a dominator.
I guess Ainge feels like he had to take a shot, and obviously you're better off taking your chances getting through the East and then a 7 game series against the West's best than trying to battle your way through the West gauntlet. But while my basketball knowledge is limited, I just don't see how two perimeter players like Pierce and Allen are going to complement each other well. The Celtics will need Rondo to become a legitimate penetrating scorer like Tony Parker to collapse defenses for those two, and they still don't have anyone to help KG inside.
Bringing in Shaq worked for Miami even though he was "old".
That's a fair point, but Miami didn't give up nearly as much for Shaq as Boston did for KG. I don't know if Green will pan out, but Jefferson looks like a future star and they also included two future first round picks.
