What will Danny do? As C's start road trip and trade deadline nears, huge decisions loom

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

The NBA trade deadline is harrowing enough for players around the league, but when your general manager has a history of February roster shakeups and is playfully nicknamed "Trader Danny," it's all the more distressing.

So forgive Boston Celtics players for having mixed emotions as they embark on their annual post-All-Star trek out west. Oh sure, it's nice to get away from Boston's snow-crusted roadways and single-digit temperatures, but the start of the Celtics' five-game trip is a not-so-subtle reminder that some might not be on the flight back from Utah next Monday night.

While Kevin Garnett's insistence at All-Star weekend that he will not waive his no-trade clause appears to strengthen the odds that Boston may simply settle for less-splashy free-agent additions to fill out its injury-depleted roster, the one thing you can count on is that Danny Ainge and his staff won't be afraid to pursue a more eyebrow-raising avenue if an opportunity presents itself to improve this team -- now or in the future.


If you were Danny Ainge, would you try to trade KG in a deal that weakens the Celtics in the present but improves it in the long run?

No way ... I still believe this team has a shot at a title and dealing KG would end those hopes.
Yes ... time to face facts: this Celtics team is not going to win a title. As hard as it is, Danny has to do what's best for the C's going forward.

Boston's trip opens Tuesday night against the Nuggets, and minds will be racing back to 2011 as the team was in Denver when Ainge delivered maybe his most jaw-dropping deadline move, dealing Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City in exchange for Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic and a first-round pick (Fab Melo).

Then it's off to Los Angeles, where Eddie House showed up to a practice back in 2010 well aware that he was about to be shipped to the New York Knicks in exchange for Robinson. That same year, Ray Allen and his expiring contract breathed a monster sigh of relief when the deadline passed without him changing jerseys, and Allen -- in a noticeable funk before the deadline -- erupted for a team-high 24 points that same night in a win over the Lakers that served as a preview of that year's NBA Finals.

Amid all the rumors and potential distractions of this week, the Celtics can't lose sight of the business at hand. Boston soared into All-Star Weekend a season-best four games over .500 and playing its most inspired ball of the season after winning eight of its past nine before the break.

But seven of those eight wins came inside the comforts of TD Garden. The lone road win required a rally from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit in Toronto, while wobbly legged Boston later stumbled in Charlotte on the second night of a back-to-back (one night after topping the Nuggets in triple overtime).

Ainge will get to watch just two of these five road games before he has to decide which direction to take the Celtics.
Can the Celtics, having lost three key rotation players over the past three weeks in All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo (ACL), rookie Jared Sullinger (back) and Leandro Barbosa (ACL), truly make a charge at their lofty championship goals with this current roster? The next five games might show us just how resilient this team is.

If only Ainge could file for a trade deadline extension. He'll get to look at only two of these five games before having to decide which direction his franchise will travel.

The Celtics are hoping this West Coast trip goes better than their last glance at the Pacific. Boston closed out the 2012 calendar year by getting absolutely throttled while losing three straight to the Clippers, Warriors and Kings -- by a total of 69 points -- and falling to 14-16 on the season.

A lot has changed since then -- both good and bad. Boston has lost three key rotation players, but Avery Bradley returned at the start of the new year and the Celtics are 14-8 since his defensive re-infusion into the starting lineup.

Since Rondo was lost for the season, first-half underperformers such as Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and Green have been fantastic, providing Boston with a much-needed pick-me-up amid its roster depletion. But it's Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett who have put the Celtics on their shoulders lately and kept the team afloat.

The 35-year-old Pierce is doing his usual "give the game what it needs" routine while averaging 17 points, 9.4 rebonds and 7.2 assists over 36.4 minutes per contest over the past nine games. He has done his best Rondo impression, posting two triple-doubles in that span.

SportsNation: Garnett's Future?
Kevin Garnett says he'd like to stay with the Celtics for the rest of his career. Would it be better for him to waive his no-trade clause? Cast your votes!

The 36-year-old Garnett, fresh off his 15th All-Star appearance, is averaging 17 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest over his past nine, while shooting 51.2 percent from the floor. Boston is limiting opponents to a mere 87.8 points per 100 possessions when Garnett is on the floor during that span.

Of course, that sort of production is exactly why the general managers of other contenders are likely buzzing Ainge to gauge their availability. Pierce and Garnett are not only playing some incredible basketball, but they've got the big-game experience and championship pedigree that could push another team over the top.

Ainge must decide if the Celtics still have enough around Pierce and Garnett this season to give Boston a chance at pushing themselves over the hump after falling minutes shy of another NBA Finals appearance last season. If the deadline passes without a whimper from Boston, it speaks volumes about what Ainge believes this group is still capable of achieving.
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Hawks seem determined to deal Josh Smith

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

You don't have to listen too closely to hear trade chatter about Kevin Garnett and Josh Smith.
It didn't take long, coming out of All-Star Weekend, from the trade chatter to crank back up again.

Some fresh dribbles of that chatter follow in the lead-up to the NBA’s 3 p.m ET Thursday trade deadline:


The Atlanta Hawks have convinced numerous teams that they're definitely trading Josh Smith this week, largely because they see the unpredictable lefty as a virtual lock to leave them in free agency this summer.

So ...

Destinations?

One team close to the situation consulted Monday night predicted that the Nets would ultimately land Smith via a three-way trade after ESPN's Chris Broussard reported Feb. 11 that Smith is a prime Brooklyn Nets trade target.

Another team pinpointed the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks as the strongest contenders to win the Smith sweepstakes. The big worry for both of those teams, though, is whether they could really risk trading for Smith when convincing him to re-sign for the long term is likely to be a serious challenge in either city. Especially with Smith said to be angling for a max deal … and with nobody confusing the Suns or the Bucks with Mikhail Prokohorov's Nets.

Broussard, furthermore, tweeted early Tuesday that the Washington Wizards have made anyone on the roster available for Smith, apart from John Wall, Bradley Beal or Nene Hilario.

Which brings us to the Boston Celtics.

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com on Monday that the Boston Celtics have, indeed, registered their interest on the Smith front, with the caveat that they also remain highly interested in the Clippers' Eric Bledsoe.

Yet a Boston deal for Smith, sources said, would almost certainly have to be built around Paul Pierce, because Kevin Garnett isn't waiving his no-trade clause to go to the Atlanta Hawks if he's not willing to waive it to go to the Clipperland. And the prospect of Celtics front-office chief Danny Ainge exiling Pierce to the Hawks for Smith, after everything Pierce has done to restore the Celtics to glory over the past half-decade, is still hard to imagine.

At least for me.


According to one theory in circulation on the personnel grapevine, Celtics officials could be moved this week to try to make the case to Garnett that waiving his no-trade provision to accept that long-rumored trade to the Los Angeles Clippers would be the best thing not only for himself but for the long-term health of the franchise. Combine that approach with the expected lobbying from the L.A. side by good buddy Chauncey Billups, as the theory goes, and maybe Garnett will ultimately relent and consent to a swap.

Have to add three follow-up caveats here, though:

1. After spending a solid 15 minutes in the same room with Garnett in Houston as part of ESPN Radio's All-Star Weekend team, I became convinced that KG isn't waiving that no-trade clause. For anyone or any team. My impression is that it's going to take more lobbying than anyone out there can muster.

2. Broussard reported late Monday night on "SportsCenter" that Billups has already warned the Clippers that Garnett's position appears to be firm … and that Garnett spelled out the exact same thing to Chris Paul last summer when Paul informed KG that the Clippers wanted to pursue him via trade.

3. Even if Garnett did wind up with the Clippers this week, after all the bluster against the idea, I still struggle to picture the Celtics telling Pierce that they're going to send him to the Hawks for the good of Boston's long-term health. The deal might make sense for Atlanta -- since Pierce's $5 million buyout for next season would extend the Hawks' window of flexibility and create a new set of options -- but it still looks like as an impossible sell in Boston.

I've always thought Rajon Rondo, not Pierce or Garnett, would be the first member of Boston's star trio to be dealt. There simply might not be a shake-up move available to the Celtics at this deadline now that Rondo has been lost to a season-ending knee injury.

There's more on that subject.

The Clippers, according one source close to the situation, would not be willing to surrender both Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan to Boston even if Garnett was willing to waive his no-trade clause.

Is that posturing? An absolute stance?

We'll find out for sure between now and the deadline, but the source insisted that the Clippers feel that a Bledsoe-and-Jordan combo is too much to surrender for a 36-year-old who isn't sure how much longer he'll be playing.



The consistent word out of Houston, incidentally, is that the Rockets -- long known to be Smith fans -- are far more likely to pursue J-Smoove in free agency than to try to trade for him this week.

The Rockets are expected to use their leftover salary-cap space from last summer to extract an extra draft pick from teams looking to shed salary for luxury-tax reasons right before the trade buzzer.


Veterans who remain available in trade talks this week include San Antonio's DeJuan Blair, Cleveland's Omri Casspi, Charlotte's Ben Gordon, Brooklyn's Kris Humphries, Oklahoma City's Eric Maynor, Minnesota's Luke Ridnour, Phoenix's Sebastian Telfair and Washington's Jordan Crawford.

Orlando, meanwhile, continues to seek no less than a first-round pick for sharpshooter J.J. Redick, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

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These next two games could very well set the table for what DA does before the deadline. Hard to imagine 2 games meaning that much, but they very well could depending on how we play.

Hi,
I don't think the 2 games (before the trade dead-line) will affect DA's decision. I think he's already decided what to do, who stays and who goes.

IMO, Celtics, in their current state, aren't a contender. I don't believe that any trades that might be doable this season will bring the team to that level. Therefore I won't be mad if DA stays put or trades KG and PP (will be very sad) as long as it line the team up for a solid and fast re-build.

AK