The Big 4?

I'm pretty disappointed to see Ray go to Miami. He's not the player he was, but he is still a great shooter and gives everything for the team.

The Celtics will be good at SG with Bradley and Terry, but Ray Allen improving Miami's shooting is not what I wanted to see for this coming season.

Looks like there's a few reasons for Ray leaving:
- He apparently wanted 3 years $27 mill, but Ainge was only willing to do 2 years $12 mill.
- He was upset about his near trade at the deadline for OJ Mayo.
- He wasn't getting along with Rondo last season.

Oh well, not how I wanted it to end for Ray in Boston. All I can say is "its a shame about Ray"...

Boston began starting Avery Bradley and also just signed Jason Terry.

Great signing for Miami though.

Wonder what Mike Miller thinks, considering his awesome performance in the GF..will his minutes go down further?

Miller was considering retirement during the finals from memory, he was pretty banged up tho and may have reconsidered after getting a ring and resting his body up

Big step toward fixing their biggest problem. Should definitely be championship favourites now. It's not like he's just a good shooter, he gets looks for himself that Jones, Miller, Battier don't. Definitely a better fit than Jason Terry anyway. Out of any player in the league, Ray Allen is probably the best fit for the Heat.

sniper for hire.

Ainge has made mistakes for sure, e.g. Perkins trade

But hard to blame him here. He offered more money per-season than Miami. This from Yahoo Sports:

"An unrestricted free agent, Allen turned down more money from the Celtics to play for the Heat. Miami is limited to giving Allen the taxpayers' midlevel exception, worth $3.1 million annually, over three years. The Celtics were reportedly offering Allen about $6 million a season"

I think Ray just wants another championship really bad. I wouldn't look into the supposed Rondo conflict, nor coming off the bench (still played close to 35mins a game)

Ainge may come off as extreme and having no loyalty. But I think he just has that Celtic mindset. Winning over everything. He tried to trade Ray Allen 2 seasons ago, because he tried to put the team in the best position possible to win

Macdub, you're right, Ainge has made some mistakes, but whether the Perkins trade was a bad one or not is still to be determined.

If Green is signed by the Celtics, has a great season and gradually takes over the starting SF position from Pierce, then the trade is a clear winner in my mind (I believe he will). On top of that, if Fab Melo develops then he will probably be better than Perkins too.

You've also got to remember the context of the trade. At the time, Perkins was still not back to 100% and Ainge was led to believe that Shaq and Jermaine O'Neal would be fit for the playoffs. Much easier to be critical in hindsight.

Also, I really do think Ray is doing this to stick it to Ainge. Ray gushed about what a special team the Celtics had during the playoffs and was also touched by the fans support. He clearly loved the situation he was in. If he'd come back to the Celtics, he still would have been contending, have made the most money he could have and had a significant role on the team.

I think it mainly comes down to being told he was traded last season (and then it being rescinded) and then being asked to take yet another major paycut, whilst seeing a guy like Terry given more money and years than him.

The Terry contract would have been the final straw (Ray 2 yrs $12 mill; Terry 3 yrs $15 mill). Ray would've been thinking WTF, how am I worth less to the team than Jet?

I think Ray has a lot of pride and felt like Ainge and co didn't really believe in his abilities anymore. So he said, frak you, I'm takin my talents to South Beach and I'm gonna prove a point by personally knocking Boston out of the playoffs next season.

Beantown, I think you're in denial a bit. The Celtics championship hopes died the day Perkins got traded.

Spursfan, how do you figure that? Trading Perkins upset chemistry a bit because Perk was pretty popular on the team, but that was about it.

The guy was a solid, but limited role player, nothing more. Stiemsma has actually shown more ability in limited minutes this season.

The Perkins trade is not the reason the Celtics have failed to win another title.

Perkins is terribly overrated. I think the playoff run in OKC showed that he offers absolutely nothing on the offensive end. He struggles to make layups with minimal contest which really isn't good enough. Defensively he is very limited in the type of bigs he can guard. Bosh really made him look silly in the finals. He lacks all mobility and whilst knee injuries will have been a major factor, doesn't really help his lack of athleticism.

I agree with Beantown in regards to Ainge's mistake in trading Perkins for Green. Again reiterating what Beantown has said, wing depth was crucial at the time for the Celts to win it all and with the O'Neal's expected to be healthy I was personally a fan of the trade. Keep in mind that Perkins was seeking a huge extension at the time as well. With Garnett, Allen and Pierce's contracts still a few seasons away from being due, that would have put alot of stress on the Boston payroll and sent them deep into luxury tax. Adding Green who was still on a rookie contract that wasn't due til Garnett and Allen's were up made sense from a money stand point as well.

Perkins was actually scoring when OKC were passing the ball. He's obviously not a ball in hand scorer, but he reads gaps and gets himself easy baskets. He is actually a decent finisher, I don't know where people got that from. Late in his time with Boston, he was actually something of a go-to-guy if they wanted post scoring with his 5-8 foot fadeaways (btw you don't need to put the ball in the hole heaps to be a good offensive player). Jermaine and Shaq would have been good, but for how long? They kept screwing around with old guys like Shaq, Jermaine, Rasheed Wallace, but Perk would have been long term.

I guess they would have been a contender if they were healthy but just for that season. Defensively you can't replace a Perkins and offensively he is the best screener in the league, taking him away takes away shots/catches for everyone on the team. He was very mobile before the big injury also. If anything, Jeff Green is actually overrated because of his size and athleticism (you can't say he is a good rebounder or shooter) and fair enough he was playing out of position at OKC but his D wasn't great either.

I guess financials forced the decision, but the C's needed a Perkins more than a wing runner.

I'm sorry Spursfan, but I'd hazard a guess I've seen more of Perkins than you have and he is NOT a decent finisher. He does make good position quite often, but he has very poor hands, so he mishandles a lot of passes and gets the ball stripped when going up far too often. He also has zero vertical explosion, so he struggles to finish at the rim, constantly having to shot fake to get a shot off.

His one skill is defence, where positionally he is very good. He also does show and recover well for pick and roll defence.

As for screening, he did a decent job of that with the Celtics, but best screener in the league? Plenty of guys do it just as well.

For all of the easy shots Perk helped create via a screen, he cost the Celtics easy shots because teams could leave him to double team and he wouldn't hurt them enough for doing that.

In the end, ALL of the things Perk does well, can be learnt and replicated by any big man with similar size, mobility and application.

For that reason, I think Fab Melo can at least replace what Perkins offered if he works hard on learning the Celtics defensive rotations.

Of course it would be nice to still have Perk on the team, but in the end Perkins wanted to be paid more than he was worth and Ainge needed to get some more talent in to support his ageing big three, particularly Pierce, who was being forced to shoulder too great a workload.

You've got to give up something to get something in the NBA (unless you're the Lakers) and Perkins and Nate for Green and the pick that became Fab Melo is a clear win in the talent department for Ainge.

The only reason there is even a debate IMO is because Green couldn't play last season. If not for a freak heart condition, Green would have had a pretty good year in Boston I reckon.

I'm sorry Spursfan, but I'd hazard a guess I've seen more of Perkins than you have and he is NOT a decent finisher. He does make good position quite often, but he has very poor hands, so he mishandles a lot of passes and gets the ball stripped when going up far too often. He also has zero vertical explosion, so he struggles to finish at the rim, constantly having to shot fake to get a shot off.

His one skill is defence, where positionally he is very good. He also does show and recover well for pick and roll defence.

As for screening, he did a decent job of that with the Celtics, but best screener in the league? Plenty of guys do it just as well.

For all of the easy shots Perk helped create via a screen, he cost the Celtics easy shots because teams could leave him to double team and he wouldn't hurt them enough for doing that.

In the end, ALL of the things Perk does well, can be learnt and replicated by any big man with similar size, mobility and application.

For that reason, I think Fab Melo can at least replace what Perkins offered if he works hard on learning the Celtics defensive rotations.

Of course it would be nice to still have Perk on the team, but in the end Perkins wanted to be paid more than he was worth and Ainge needed to get some more talent in to support his ageing big three, particularly Pierce, who was being forced to shoulder too great a workload.

You've got to give up something to get something in the NBA (unless you're the Lakers) and Perkins and Nate for Green and the pick that became Fab Melo is a clear win in the talent department for Ainge.

The only reason there is even a debate IMO is because Green couldn't play last season. If not for a freak heart condition, Green would have had a pretty good year in Boston I reckon.

Not convinced that this is going to work for Miami. Allen is a great shooter but in Boston his shots came off screens/double screen sets to get him open on a "catch, jump step, shoot" scenario. How he goes sitting in a corner for spot up opportunities is yet to be seen.

I also wonder how Miami are going to run their rotation. Allen averaged 34.2 mpg last season. I would expect his numbers to be slightly lower but not by much this season. Does he play as a 6th man or does he start? If he starts, I would assume that Battier drops to the bench. Would likely force LeBron to play lower to the basket and let Wade have more touches up at the top of the key. But I'm not sold on LeBron having enough great post moves to be as effective in that role. Maybe Chalmers gets the bench and is given the role to run the 2nd unit. But how comfortable would Wade be running the point? Not sure he would have the quickness to defend some point guards in the league. That could be overlooked if Miami had an elite defensive big, but they don't. Nonetheless, it'll be interesting to see how the Heat look going into next year.

Can't be bothered to dig up stats for ya Beantown so whatevs.

Allen will most likely come off the bench because Miami definitely need a bonafide pg to start the game. They stretch the floor enough with the starting lineup they have. Allen will be more effective against bench (crappier) defenders anyway.