Right around the time the New York Knicks completed a multi-player agreement that would land Carmelo Antony and Chauncey Billups in the locker rooms of the Madison Square Garden, their eastern conference rivals, the Boston Celtics, were managing to move two of its assets into the Western Conference. The Celtics ex-backup point guard, Nate Robinson and their starting Center, Kendrick Perkins were traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. And that would hurt them down the stretch. Both Rivers and the Boston Celtics President of NBA Operation Danny Ainge knew that this one was not going to be well taken by either the fans or the media, but they needed to make some changes into the squad. As a matter of fact, the starting quintet of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins had been the foundation of the Celtics for virtually all of the last four seasons. They had continuity, and a team that had brought them some good performances, but perhaps not as many championships as they would have liked. They were seeking a change and considering the team dynamics, Perkins seemed like the most price-worthy asset they could manage to sacrifice during the trade off. In the February deal, Boston obtained Green, Krstic, and a future first-round pick in exchange for Perkins and Nate Robinson. It wasn’t the best negotiation ever, but it could give the Celtics some benefits. Perhaps what the Rivers and Ainge hadn’t considered was that the same continuity they were about to sacrifice in order to revamp their squad, could had been a decisive factor down the stretch. How come, you might ask? Well, considering their prospects, the Celtics had three mayor rivals in their conference. The New York Knicks, the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls were going to be a though match down the stretch. Yes, at that time, the Celtics were leading the Conference and were second in the league. What they weren’t considering, and what Rivers now ponders upon, is that Knicks, Heat and Bulls were all teams in transition. Teams that were just been rebuild to their core. Yes, these teams were all younger and more athletic then their aging squad. But they were missing the continuity, the atmosphere that comes with playing four seasons together. And tragically enough, the Celtics were just giving that up. Now, after the Miami Heat eliminated the Celtics on round 2, Rivers stated the following on a sports news radio interview: I do think Jeff Green has a chance to be a starter for us in the future and a hell of a basketball player, and [Nenad] Krstic can help, but making that trade at the time we made that trade, that made it very tough for us. And not only that, we added other pieces as well that we tried to fit in, so it was just a lot of moving parts to a team that the advantage that we had was that we had continuity, everybody else was new. Chicago was new and the Heat were new. They couldn't fall back on what we could fall back on with our starting five, and once we made that trade, we took that advantage away." It also changed the dynamic of the group. The final stretch of the Celtics regular season was an utter disaster. Regardless of how they want to look at it, both Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers are well aware that their decision could had cost them the series with the Miami Heat. They took their chances and it didn’t pay off. We’ll have to wait and see what they are able to negotiate and come up with during the postseason if they want to once again, take a chance at another Championship Ring.
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