As I just got back from a long vacation overseas, I do have 3 quick travel tips I’d like to give you should you find yourself in Europe.

1. If your hotel does not have an iron, it is perfectly acceptable, and surprisingly effective, to hang your clothes in the bathroom, close the door, and turn the shower on as high and hot as it will go to steam the wrinkles out of your clothes. What is not acceptable is to rock a deuce in that same hot, small bathroom while it is steaming. Seriously, some things you learn the hard way, but let’s just say that extreme heat, steam, and crapping out 4 days of fancy cheese just does not go well together.

2. It is entirely possible that the Flemish language and ebonics are the exact same thing. Here’s a quick test. Pick out which of these spellings are Flemish and which are ebonics:

straat = street

doktor = doctor

markt = market

Ho = Woman

If you guessed Flemish for the first three, you are right. Perhaps our inner city school curriculums have been taken over by the Belgians and we just didn’t know. I mean it is as logical an explanation as any.

3. While the Paris Metro system is one of the best and easiest modes of transport in any major metropolitan city, would it kill some of the riders to take a shower or throw on some deodorant? At times the Metro smells like someone took a dump in their armpit and then ran a marathon with that dump in their armpit. With the Euro at 1.4x the US dollar, how hard is it to by some Old Spice?

Now on to your question:

AC, what are your thoughts on the Garnett trade to the Celtics. Did Ainge grow a sack or is it another one of his idiotic moves?

E Macarthur

Here are some quick thoughts:

1. After the Ray Allen trade, Danny Ainge had to make this move. Going into the season with big Al, Pierce, Ray Allen, and a bunch of scrubs was a 35 win team. Once Danny committed to trying to win now, he had to go for it completely and try to shoot the moon, so I applaud him for doing that. This is the first coherent plan of the Ainge era which puts him one plan ahead of the Rick Pitino era.

2. As one of Danny’s biggest critics, I have always pointed to 3 main flaws:

A. A draft record that is really very marginal, which I have debated here numerous times and won’t restate all the points again (but it heavily involves Kendrick Perkins over Leandro Barbosa, Marcus Banks, and likely Gerald Green). Of course, the counter to that is that all of those marginal players did eventually yield KG and Ray Allen.

B. A lack of any coherent plan. He has changed and changed and changed his strategy over time. He has changed his strategy more often than Floyd Landis changed alibis.

C. My biggest criticism has been Danny’s lack of a bold move. There are two ways to build a winner in the NBA: Get a top 3 draft pick or make a franchise changing/big risk move. Before this, Danny had specialized in the little dinky moves that a GM who already has a contender should be making, not one who needs to turn a franchise around. Moves like Phoenix “overpaying” for free agent Steve Nash, the Heat trading for Shaq, or even the Lakers dealing for Kobe on draft day many years ago are the kind of bold moves GMs have to make. As long as you aren’t getting a top 3 pick (though the Celtics had their chance this year), you have to take that risk rather than tread water and slowly sink, and Ainge had not done that in four years. So I give Ainge credit for finally pulling it off.

So here is I what I like about this trade:

1. The Celtics not only have 2.5 all-stars, they are 2.5 real all-stars, not Caron Butler happy to be there all-stars (and I say 2.5 just because I am still wary of Ray Allen’s health since he is on his second big ankle injury in 4 years). KG is a top 5-10 player, Pierce is a top 15-20 player, and a healthy Ray Allen is a top 3 shooter. Heck, even a one-legged Allen should be able to stand on the three point line and hit shots.

2. Not even Doc can mess this up. Right? The Celtics have 2.5 all-stars and only one point guard so how hard is it to put KG, Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, and whomever else on the floor? Four decisions have already been made for Doc. He can’t screw that up, can he? And how much coaching do the three veterans really need, probably not much. This has to be the easiest team in the NBA in terms of substitution patterns, one of Doc’s biggest weaknesses. So hopefully we’ve taken that out of his hands.

3. Boston didn’t really give up that much. Ok, Gomes would be a great fit with the three veterans but Gerald “the scarecrow” Green, Theo Ratliff’s rotting carcass, and 1st round lottery protected picks are no big deal when any NBA team can just buy a 1st round pick from Phoenix if they should really want one. And as the lone member of the Al Jefferson is not going to be an all-star club (and now that he is in the west competing for spots with Durant, Ming, Stoudemire, Marion, Gasol, Oden, Duncan, Boozer, etc, his chances have dropped even more), I would swap him for a near end of his prime KG any day. I still maintain Al is Eddy Curry + 3 rebounds, which is fine, but that is not who you build a team around. Al just doesn’t have “it,” and I have repeatedly struggled concretely define “it.” I just have never seen real fire, or leadership, or defensive intensity out of Al. He has never seemed like he cared about winning or could make his teammates better. All of the high school drafted players who are now stars showed this leadership or electricity or desire early on, like KG, Kobe, Stoudemire, etc (the only one who took time was Jermaine O’Neal) and Al hasn’t. I know this is an amorphous point, and is strictly opinion, but I just don’t think Al will ever be a franchise player while KG clearly is.

4. Boston now has a set 2-3 year timeframe and if doesn’t work out, Danny can blow it up and really rebuild. None of this half-ass trying to win and rebuilding at the same time, which Boston has been doing for the past 4 years. That just doesn’t work. So now Danny has a team for 2-3 years and he can start all over again from scratch after that. Add a few veterans, mix, and then sell KG and Paul to a contender in 3 years as they age to rebuild.

Here is what worries me:

1. Age/injuries. Boston is so thin that any injury is going to hurt. Injuries are going to happen, the Celtics just need to be slightly healthier than the average NBA team.

2. Ego. I am not worried about Ray Allen, but there could be some friction between KG and Pierce. Neither one is really an alpha dog, both seem happier as second fiddles, so the dynamic between the two may take some time to work out. I think they both have been around long enough that they legitimately want to win more than get numbers, but one never can be sure.

3. After the 2.5 all-stars, the other 9 players could lose to the Washington Generals or even Reggie Theus’s team from Hang Time. This team needs a veteran point guard worse than Kendrick Perkins needs a shooting touch from outside of three feet or Tara Reid needs a better boob job. I am not a huge Rondo fan, but all Boston needs from a point guard is to play defense and drain an occasional jumper and Rondo can do one of those, which is fine. Even if Rondo becomes a quality PG, the Celtics can’t go into the season with some guy named Gabe Pruitt as the only other PG. I can count the number of point guard’s drafted in the second round who contributed in their first year on no hands and no feet (Orien Greene anyone?). I don’t care if Ainge has to exhume Sherman Douglas and run him out there for 10 minutes a night, Boston needs to have a veteran pg if they really want to contend.

In summary, I give Danny credit for making this bold move. I think there is a 20% chance it flops, a 70% chance Boston makes a good playoff run, and a 10% chance they could actually really have a legitimate chance at winning it all.

Sure there are huge holes in the bench and sure Doc is still subpar, but if the all-stars can stay healthy for the playoffs, anything can happen.

Oh yeah, how bad would it be to be a Timberwolves fan right now? The thought of rooting for Gerald Green, Mark Blount, and Ricky Davis again makes me queasy just thinking about it.

Toodles,

AC

AC my question is simple how much does an AND 1 player make?

Ben Smith

Good question Ben. I am told all And1 players except The Professor are paid in food stamps. The Professor gets Jack in the Box coupons instead.

So probably about $200 a week.

Actually, it depends on the contract but the ones who have developed names probably can earn upwards of $100k a year.

Hope that helps,

AC

PS Visit AC's NBA Basketball Picks Page new content coming in November.

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