The Boston Celtics know their window is closing. The opportunity to win an NBA Championship is not going to be around much longer in Boston and, at just 20-20 this season, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers is well aware of that fact. That means that no player is safe, and we could even see the Celtics trade Paul Pierce. Rivers may not have mentioned any specific names, but he did hint at a change being on the horizon.
He pointed that out after another bad loss by Boston, falling 103-88 against the Detroit Pistons.
“I think this team wants everything easy,” Rivers said, according to ESPNBoston. “They want the easy way out. They want to win easy. And I told them the only way you’re going to win easy is you’re going to have to play hard. The harder you play, the easier the games become. We’re taking the wrong approach. I’ve got to either find the right combination, the right guys, or we’re going to get some guys out of here. It’s the bottom line. Because this group right now, they are not playing right. It’s in them to play right. But right now they haven’t been — either because I’m not getting to them, or they are not getting to each other. But at the end of the day, either we’ve got to do that, or we’ve got to make changes.”
What those changes may include were not mentioned, but the trade rumors surrounding Pierce are only going to heat up over the next month, leading up until the NBA Trade Deadline toward the end of February.
“[The start of game] was awful, we are playing awful,” Rivers said. “I’m clearly not doing my job with this team. And I’m serious, I’m not trying to take a bullet for the team. And I told them that. I said, ‘We’ve got to find something where, every night, all 12 guys play the same way.’ We did it for three games in a stretch. I told them that games 4 and 5 in that [six-game] winning streak were garbage; we just won the game. I’ve got to figure that out. I told the guys that, I’ve got to figure it out. Because I don’t think the guys are honest with each other. I just don’t think we have committed to being a good basketball team.”
So what could that mean for Boston, who currently sits as the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race? They have dropped three straight and are struggling to score, including Pierce, who has reached the 20 point plateau just once in his past six games.
Teams who are being mentioned as possible destinations for Pierce include the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, although it is not known if Danny Ainge would deal Pierce to a team as bad as the Wizards, or what he would be asking for his franchise player. Boston may also prefer to deal Pierce to a contender out in the Western Conference so that the only way he could help eliminate them in the postseason would be in the NBA Finals. The Memphis Grizzlies are also a possibility, with Rudy Gay almost constantly on the trading block.
Either way, expect things to go one of two ways over the next month. If the Celtics can bounce back and climb the standings, Ainge may take another run at bringing in some more talent to surround the likes of Pierce and Kevin Garnett to help better put them in a position to win now.
But, if they continue to struggle, then you may see more changes than Boston simply dealing Pierce. Rajon Rondo could also fetch a nice return, as the Celtics could decide to trade away many of the pieces they one felt were necessary in helping the team make one final run at NBA glory.
Since when would Rondo fetch a good nice return? He’s been on the block essentially every year and no one wants him. He’s got a *crappy* attitude. Although, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Doc is referring to Pierce as the main culprit of “thinking it will be easy.”He rarely gets back on defense now. Go to a game and it’s so blatantly obvious it’s borderline scary. CSN hides this in the broadcasts. Probably told Mike and Tommy not to call attention to their captain taking plays off on defense and otherwise playing like all he has to do is show up to win. It’s gonna be interesting. No way they trade Pierce to Wizards. They’ll trade him to a contender in the Western conference. It would most likely be a three team deal that would shed payroll for the third team and give us young pieces or picks.
Graham is right on. Periece and the rest seem that they all want out with the exception of KG. Rebuild with men that have been mentioned in trades. Don’t act like Congress and do nothing.
I think it’s about time to play Barbosa in place of Terry. In limited playing time Barbosa was able to contribute both in scoring and defense!
Really the only players who are safe are Rondo, Bradley because they make a good backcourt.then Sully is a good player to keep and KG can’t be traded. I think Pierce is. Good trade, as Larry Bird said I wish the Celtic’s got something for me before I retired. Bass is a poor player, Terry and Lee haven’t worked out while Green is still on his way back. I think Danny’s idea of trying to copy The Heat and have no real rebounding options and just run and shoot hasn’t worked. Maybe send Pierce to Memphis with Terry for Gay. Lee and a pick for Evans, then Bass and Barbarosa for one of the Utah big men, would be a start.
It is worrying for the Celtics when there is a good chance that at least every second game your 6 1 point leads your team in rebounds.