Deron Williams
Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
Brook Lopez

Bench: Terry, Marshon Brooks, Andray Blatche (will they able to get him back?)

Crazy team. Brooklyn v Miami in the east finals would be huge.

Bit of a shame that they went out and hired Kidd now.
Not saying he can't do something with that team. But something tells me a rookie coach like Kidd can't win a title in his first year with such overwhelming talent (trying to gel the team would be tough)

Should have got an experienced coach in.

This team probably only has 1 year together. That's one year to win.

Can't afford to have 'coaching mistakes' or coaching learning curves.

I was about to say the same as anon.. SO you have this vet team and you have a rookie coach?? I can see some clashes coming.

Defence is now a little weaker. It wasn't as outstanding last season as people would think either, it was just that they played at a slow pace. Have a look at their adjusted points allowed, I'm sure it wouldn't be too flattering. Wallace was bigger for them than people thought but definitely not value for money. Very good offensive roster though. I'd be campaigning to get Evans back however. They really really need him.

hopefully lawrence frank and the experienced assistants take charge over the personalities... and kidd will keep dwill on the tight leash.

With the leaders in Garnett and Pierce, Kids will actually be helped out. It's always been about winning for those two, especially considering they are on their last legs.

Kidd*

agree stats... def need to keep reggie, need good back up bigs, the season is a long one!

Good trade for both teams; I hate to see Pierce go, much more so than Garnett because he has been at the Celtics his whole career and I would have liked to see him finish there, but I understand the thinking. Stock draft picks, suck complete balls next year and hope to get Andrew Wiggins in the draft (will it be 97 all over again with Duncan, god I hope not)

Um Celtic Green. You might want to check who KG
played with before Boston. A little something called KG/ Marbury show at
Minny!

Chill scoot, it's just a dangling modifier (I think). He clearly means Pierce.

On a side note, poor Crash, losing is all he's ever known.

Sorry, forgot to put a comma in their. Was talking about Pierce being a Celtic his whole career not Garnett (hence why it hurts more to see Pierce go).
I am excited about the last 2 draft picks. DWill and Lopez are the only guys that are below 30 on this team that are any good (maybe slide Marshon Brooks in there depending on how he develops). I can definitely see Brooklyn sliding back in to the lottery in 2 years time when Pierce/Garnett retire and Joe Johnson is 33 years old. The 2018 pick in particular I think could turn out great.

Agree with u Celtic Green on all counts. I'm now on Wiggins watch (and to a lesser extent, Green and Sullinger watch).

I do worry that we seem to have a lot of frontcourt guys that don't have much athleticism (Sullinger, Olynyk, Bass). I hope they go the truly sucky route myself and get rid of Bass and anyone else they can to go for a great high pick next season. With Rondo going to be out most of the year you might as well let the young guys learn (Sullinger, Bradley, Olynyk) with a ton of minutes/mistakes

So celtics starters, when fully fit

PG- Rondo
SG- Bradley
SF- Green
PF- Bass
C- Sullinger

That is actually a decent line-up when fully fit. Bench will be thin though!!

They can't play Bass and Sullinger together; they are both slightly smallish (height wise) PF's with little in the way of hops. They got killed last season if I remember correctly whenever they played that combination.

The Wallace contract is the biggest problem here, how will they get out of that one?

And the nets picks will be like in the early/mid twenty range so not really great. Now they are talking about maybe they drop rondo. My problem watching the team is who is going to get the rebounds and score? Rondo will have to be very aggressive and jeff can't fade out of games. I guess this is the plan, you really suck this year get a high pick and maybe you can use the nets pick to move up a bit and get a early teens pick in 2014.

Boston, clear losers in this trade

Yes but they wanted to be the losers; they wanted draft picks in the future. I agree the Wallace thing is not great but realistically who could they trade Garnett to (no trade clause) that would pay a decent price for a 37 and a 35 year old player?
The team was not going to challenge for the title; the only reason Danny Ainge did not do this a year ago was because this draft class was so weak.
And the Nets picks wont all be in the 20's, in 4 years time PP and Garnett are retired, Joe Johnson probably is or at the best is like and 8th man and they only have Lopez and Williams (DWill will be 33 by then) and have not had any draft picks to rebuild. They basically have next year to try and win the title and then the window is shut, and the Celtics got 3 first round draft choices out of it. I think it was a great trade for Boston myself

Boston lose out on this trade until we see what the draft picks mean for them

Boston lose out on this trade until we see what the draft picks mean for them

Danny Ainge is laughing at this one. Why does anyone not see what Brooklyn gave up here? Ainge is just lucky he found a sucker as big as Billy King to do business with.

The Celtics are now getting Marshon Brooks instead of Reggie Evans; I think this is better for both teams as the Nets don't need scoring and Boston does not need an aging rebounder

With KG able to nix any trade he didn't like, I think this was about as good a trade as Ainge was going to get.

I also think there is a fair chance that by 2018 the Nets will be rebuilding and may hand the Celtics a pretty high pick.

From Brooklyn's point of view, this is a massive gamble. Realistically its win or bust next season. After that Pierce is a FA and I would be shocked if KG doesn't retire.

Then the Nets will be left with D-Will, Johnson and Brooks as their core, but those three will cost them about $58mill in 2014-15, so they are basically capped out. With only a 1st round pick every other year and vet minimum contracts to fill out their roster, they are going to struggle to find enough quality role players to put them over the top.

I hope the Celtics keep Rondo, Green and Sullinger, but stretch Rondo's return from knee surgery out until after the all-star break. That should be enough to ensure they finish in the bottom 8 or so.

Agree with you Beantown; I hope Rondo is kept on 'minute watch' by the coach when he does come back