Bob Ryan: Genius or jerk

[Eggcentric at aol.com]

I love Garnett and look forward to a few exciting seasons for a change.   

Prior to the draft, I couldn't understand how so many here were opposed 
to trading Jefferson, plus, plus, plus for Garnett.   But then we traded 
several assets for Ray Allen instead.   And when I expressed disappointment 
over that deal,   Ravi asked a solid question ... would I change my mind
if we then also added Garnett.   

My answer was "not necessarily."   For I felt that would mean we had 
sold our souls and clogged our payroll for three "fill the seats/increase 
the revenues" stars all concurrently beginning the slow descent from 
their peaks.   And that would leave us with the weakest bench in maybe 
the history of the NBA with no $$$$ relief in sight. 

I'm not surprised that the very people who previously wouldn't trade 
Jefferson for just about any player in the league, are now on board 
with this trade.   I'm not surprised that the very people who previously 
believed in Danny's “vision” of youth and Phoenix-style play are also 
on board with this trade.   Celt fans are always in love with what and
who we have, not what and who we have lost.   That's what loyal fans 
do... they believe that every transaction their team makes has a 
golden lining... a never-ending flight of future glory days.   And that 
dates back to Gavitt, Carr, Pitino, Wallace, and now of course to 
Ainge.   Remember the high hopes expressed for draft picks Eric 
"First piece-of-the-puzzle" Montross, Jerome "The Greyhound"   
Moiso, Kedrick "Spider Man" Brown, Brandon "Elton Brand" Hunter,   
Joe Forte,   Marcus Banks, Orien Greene, Gerald Green,   and now 
Glenn "l'il Charley Barkley" Davis.   

Unlike so many of the other pablum-fed local sportswriters, Bob Ryan 
dared to put his beliefs on the line with:

     "So tell me what's so enticing about this roster?"

     "Did I miss the memo in which David Stern proclaimed that in the 
     2007-08 season the NBA will be a three-on-three competition?"

     "What's left on the Celtics' roster is by far the worst collection 
     of proven talent in the NBA."

     "No team in the league has such a colossal drop-off in talent 
     {after the first three} and NBA desirability."
 
     "He {Ainge} has basically blow-torched his entire body of work 
     here in Boston. Forget the youth/athleticism/grow-together thing. 
     Forget 2009, 2010, and 2011. Load up now."

Despite all of the above being true, Ryan was called grouchy, a dinosaur, 
a manic-depressive, even stupid by the same fans who have been mostly
wrong about everything Celtics for 5-10 years.   One of our list regs 
even went so far as to say the expected high-level contributions from 
Brandon Wallace and Big Baby could well mitigate the loss of Jefferson, 
West, etc.   Abject homerism at its best.   But this is a Celts list.   
And that's what loyal fans do ... they homerize.

How dare Ryan rain on our parade with a bit of logic.   Sure he pointed 
out that Celt Nation is way too optimistic over three stars and a bunch 
of guys named Joe, and that we have the weakest bench in the league. 
Why shouldn't he?    I mean, someone had to say it.   In three trades 
(Telfair, Allen, Garnett) we have fallen from arguably the 1st (if you
include Brandon Roy and Jianlian) to the 30th ranked team in promising 
youth.   After five Danny drafts we are left with Rondo, Perk, and   
injured Tony Allen, second-rounders Powe, Davis, and Pruit,   and the 
undrafted Wallace and Manuel.   Add Scals and House, and that my 
friends, is our bench and our future.   But we do have Garnett and
Allen, with only a finals series or a long-awaited Championship 
proving they have been worth it.

Bob Ryan certainly hit a nerve.   Was that because fans here 
in the olive grove of cyber academe know that Ryan knows what 
they didn't want to know in this hour of their earthly bliss?   That 
the Allen and Garnett trades have been ALL ABOUT MONEY and 
less about actually winning a Championship.   That we have merely 
temporarily gilded the lily with the troublesome disguises that our 
owners continue to wear.   

The team's Financial/PR/Marketing Consultants have spoken (along 
with owner Steve Pagliuca finally taking a stand).   Their advice:   
For every $1 mill in luxury tax our team pays (estimated at $6 mill 
this season) they will receive back an expected minimum of $5 mill 
in additional ticket sales, playoff revenues, future broadcasting 
revenues, and merchandise sales.   Maybe even a cool $8 to 
$10 mill.

You can bet on the NBA as being first and foremost a business.   
It's a lot safer bet than that we will actually win a Championship 
with Garnett, Pierce, Ray Allen and this eclectic bunch of 
complementary scrubs.   

Egg
 
< It's {Ryan’s column} the kind of post that most of us write out 
and then delete because it's too overstated.   He could use a little 
"on the other hand" in his approach. >   - Gene

Ah yes, like we are all sooooo subtle in our opinions.





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