Boston Celtics: Danny Ainge Has Waited Too Long to End the Boston Three Party

Thirty-four, 35 and 36. No, those aren't lottery numbers, and I'm not counting the days of the NBA lockout. Those numbers are the ages of Boston's Big Three.

That's right. For all the hate the Miami Heat have endured for their mega-star union, it was actually the Celtics, along with Kevin Garnett, that brokered the first hardwood threesome.

Perhaps their ages is one reason why fans didn't seem to attack Boston the way Miami has been, or maybe it's just LeBron James. Who knows? What is certain is that Danny Ainge has rode this three-headed horse too long.

You may say, "How? The Celtics are still very competitive and one of the teams to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference, whenever play begins." That is true, but the key to the inevitable dilemma of rebuilding is not to wait too long.

That means you're going to have to upset some folks and move players while they still have value and are competitive.

Now, in a two or three-year span, the Celtics will be faced with a core that features Rajon Rondo and possibly Jeff Green. These are two nice young players, but by the time the Celtics allow Ray Allen, KG and Paul Pierce to walk, Rondo will be 28, and so will Green, if he's still a Celtic.

The chances of building through the draft is unrealistic. Boston fans may as well get used to picking the likes of Jajuan Johnson for the next year or two.

The Celtics will be too good to hit the lottery and too old to win a title. That is purgatory; it is worse than just being flat-out terrible, especially for a franchise like the Celtics.

Boston will have to hit the jackpot in free-agency or strike it rich with a sleeper in the draft. They won't even have the chips to trade up. The most valuable players will be the ones they are building around.

Here's a news flash. Rondo is not a franchise point guard. He is a good floor general, a gritty defender and he's smart, but his scoring deficiencies will be impossible to hide without Pierce and Allen.

On the defensive side, his gambling will hold a much bigger consequence without KG and Kendrick Perkins as the backbone of the team defense.

Before last season, Ray Allen could have brought the Celtics a young player and possibly a lower first round pick if they had done a sign and trade. Instead, they inked him to a two-year deal, with a player option for the second year.

Now, if he has a bad year in 2011-2012, he'll obviously want to opt-in, and the Celtics will be stuck with an aging player whose skills have declined for $10 million for one year.

Boston could've moved him for a younger more inexpensive player, probably not as effective but with some upside. They would have still had Rondo, that player, Pierce, Garnett and Perkins, whom they could've kept.

At the beginning of this year, it would've been KG's turn to go elsewhere. Sure, he's surly and has a no-trade clause, but teams would've loved to add his veteran presence to their team. The C's would've had yet another opportunity to add a young player and possibly a pick.

Then, the following year, you're able to gauge Pierce's meter. He'd be 36 or 37, and you may just have to eat it, let him be a sixth man or move him.

But, at this point, the franchise never hits rock bottom. There is likely a gradual decline, but that decline yields better and more draft selections, and you'd still have free agency, with flexibility.

So much for that scenario. Now, the Celtics will be "turrible" (in my best Charles Barkley voice) in the near future unless they strike it rich in the draft. They don't have the money to grab a proven player in free-agency.

This happens to every GM and player personnel director that has a productive core. When is it time to break them up? Sometimes, you've got to know when to say when.