Blog

Will the Celtics trade Kevin Garnett?  Is Paul Pierce headed to the Golden State Warriors?  Will Josh Smith be wearing a Boston Celtics uniform this time next week?  Good questions all around, but at the end of the day we’re talking rumors – many of them unsubstantiated and fueled by the biggest gossip machine in the history of human civilization: The Internet.

Whether anything happens or not is open to conjecture, but we’ll know something either way by Thursday of this week.  In the meantime, you can expect Danny Ainge to be working the phones, fielding offers, doing what any good GM does: Trying to make his team better and more competitive.

And with that said, I don’t think any deal of substance goes down this week.  I think this team is starting to play really good basketball, and Ainge will instead focus on signing a couple of players to fortify holes created by the loss of Rajon Rondo, Jared Sullinger and Leandro Barbosa.

The moves likely won’t be sexy, nor will they likely be of the blockbuster variety.

No, this is about incremental improvement.  Shoring up gaps in depth.

And you know what?  That’s fine by me.  I don’t want KG going anywhere.  I don’t want to see Paul finish his career elsewhere.  Let’s just suck it up, see how far this thing takes us.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Brandon Bass shipped off, if a trade were to happen.  It would be mildly shocking if Jeff Green were to go.  But those are the only players that I feel are truly in play at this point.  And even then, I don’t think Ainge is going to get the kind of return he wants with guys like Bass and Green.

So, my guess?  Ainge stands pat.  Stands firm.  Stands tall in the pocket while it collapses around him.  And I think he’ll be rewarded for it.

When it comes to the trade deadline, right now it’s pretty simple math:  No move is a good move.