NBA Daily Dribbles: Celtics' Big Three Looking at the End of the Road

Countdown to NBA Trade Deadline: 17 Days

What I’m Reading

• Three straight Celtic losses to playoff contenders? Maybe the end is near for the Big Three.

• Mark Cuban is now saying that he doesn't see the Mavs making any big splashes before the deadline. Does this mean no Josh Howard for Iguodala/Dalembert?

• Which would you rather have—Andre Iguodala (and his accompanying bloated contract) or Caron Butler (and his fists of fury)? Supposedly the Rockets would rather trade for Rocky. Uhh...I mean Butler.

• David Kahn, you make my job less interesting.

• Mike D’Antoni, you make up for Kahn. David, be more like Mike. Except for the whole “benching players without telling them why” thing. Don’t let Kurt Rambis do that.

What I Think About It

• After losing a heart-breaker at home to arch-nemesis LA, Boston is now finding itself in a quandary. Heading into the season, the obvious injury/age concerns were there, but GM Danny Ainge took a “back burner” mentality to it. In fact, I believe he even said it wasn’t a concern of his at all.

Well, I hate to break it to you, Danny, but it should be. The Celtics all of the sudden have forgotten the steps necessary to close out games, including the most important one: score more points by the time the buzzer goes off.

Chalk it up to senility, or at least give credit to the fact that the core of this team might just be too old to consistently compete for 82 games, let alone a championship. They just look plain old tired. My best guess is that they’ve been up late at night spoiling their grandchildren.

Ray Allen the person, the personality, and the teammate is unquestionably the best fit for Boston, but his 2-of-10 shooting (0-of-6 on three-pointers) in a crucial game at home against the Lakers might not be. Hate to say it, but the Celtics might continuously shop Ray around in the next two-plus weeks to see if they can mend a rapidly deteriorating season.

• While Cuban was being his normal blunt self in saying, "I don't see any bargains happening out there, so I'm not looking for any big deals," I’m still not entirely convinced that the Mavs can be considered out of the running for any significant trades.

As we approach the deadline, things will start to shake out and certain teams will realize, “Oh, yeah. We aren’t making the playoffs. Let’s sell our players.” Of course, they won’t literally be “selling” them, but they will be shipping them out for not a whole lot of “basketball value” in return.

These are going to be the teams that are looking to rebuild through free agency this summer; i.e. the ones looking to shed a few extra bucks. Much like my New Year’s resolution to shed a few extra pounds. However, they will most likely be a little more successful.

So don’t write off the Mavs just yet because Cuban doesn’t see a tasty deal right now. Give it time. This won’t be the last we’ll be hearing from Dallas.

• Alright, so I don’t actually believe Caron Butler fed ex-Celtic Ryan Gomes a knuckle-sandwich (though the evidence is clearly there). So I think Houston would be making a smart decision by approaching a Butler deal.

He’d add the depth that the Rockets need to push themselves to the next level and reach that “middle class” of the West. He’d give them extra scoring help to aid the pressured Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza. Plus, looking forward to 2010-2011, the piece that has been missing all year (Yao) would play better with Caron than Andre, anyway. 

Currently there are only talks taking place, but they most likely will be heating up more so on the Washington side of things than Philly.

• Time to quote Kahn.

"No question, we need more length and athleticism on the front line to complement Al and Kevin."

...Amar’e Stoudemire.

"A lot of teams are battling slumping attendance, as we are."

...Amar’e Stoudemire.

“Oh darn. My shoe is untied again. I should really think about switching back to Velcro laces.”

Alright, I made that last one up.

Stoudemire can’t really help out with that anyway. But he definitely could with the first two very real quotes. Now, Kahn did mention that he doesn’t want to trade any of his “core pieces.”

You know who isn’t part of Minnesota’s core? Ricky Rubio.

You know why? Because he’s (insert distance between Minnesota and Spain here*) miles away from the Twin Cities.

Yes, by trading Rubio it would be an admission of a draft “mistake”, but it makes sense. Nobody knows when he’ll come over to the States. Nobody knows if he can even play in the NBA.

The Wolves hit the jackpot with Jonny Flynn. Show your dedication to a player who is succeeding for you now instead of placing your eggs in a basket in Barcelona. Trade for Amar’e. Use Rubio. End of story.

*Apparently Google Maps gets annoyed if one tries to find the distance by car to an overseas location.

• Mike D’Antoni wants some changes. There are a lot of options available, including Tracy McGrady, who still has yet to get dealt.

Forget it, I don’t want to talk about the Knicks right now. Let’s talk T-Mac. Why hasn’t anybody made a deal for him yet? He’s got to be moderately cheap at this point; the guy hasn’t played since Dec. 23. The fact that he’s still available leads me to believe that there isn’t one contender willing to risk a chance on taking him under their wing.

What this means is that, unfortunately, he’s only viewed as an expiring contract and probably won’t even play wherever he goes once he does, in fact, get dealt. Tough break for one of the premier superstars of the past decade. McGrady is still only 30 years old, too.

'Til Tuesday...

PD

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