Between January 7 and February 24, 2007, the Boston Celtics won one game. The team they beat was the Milwaukee Bucks. During that span, the Celtics went 1-22. It was, perhaps, the worst 23 game stretch in the history of the NBA’s most storied franchise. And it was brutal to watch. What is remarkable about that stretch is that the Celtics were not often blown out. They were relatively competitive in those games. They did get blown out by the Lakers by 28 and followed that up with an 18 point loss to the Jazz, but there were a lot of 7 and 8 point losses during that painful run.
What I recall from that period was just how much I enjoyed watching the Celtics. When I write that it was “painful” I mean that in the sense of losses. It’s never fun to watch your team lose 22 of 23 games. What I enjoyed in watching those games, though, was the effort. It was there. This was a team that was just undermanned.
On January 22, the Celtics lost to the eventual NBA champion Spurs. By 4 points. I remember watching this game in my dorm room in college, as I did the vast majority of those 23 games. Look at this starting lineup mismatch:
Spurs:
Fabricio Oberto
Tim Duncan
Bruce Bowen
Manu Ginobili
Tony Parker
Celtics:
Ryan Gomes
Delonte West
Al Jefferson
Kendrick Perkins
Gerald Green
The Celtics reserves that night included a young (and overmatched) Rajon Rondo, Sebastian Telfair, Leon Powe, and Allan Ray. No, not Ray Allen. Allan Ray.
There was no Big 3. Pierce was hurt. Garnett was a Timberwolf. Allen was a SuperSonic. Rondo’s line that night featured 30 minutes of 12% shooting and 3 turnovers. The Celtics leading scorer was Delonte West. The Celtics fell behind the Spurs in the 2nd quarter, but fought back in the fourth, coming within four points of knocking off the Spurs.
One of the silver linings of this 2006-07 season, one which the Celtics finished 24-58 was the upcoming NBA Draft and the promise of a lanky, sharpshooting Freshman from the University of Texas named Kevin Durant. And if not him, there was the big, athletic, Freshman-who-looks-like-a-Vietnam-Veteran from Ohio State named Greg Oden. I was a Durant supporter from the start and became enamored with the thought of the Celtics finishing with the second worst record and having the lottery balls fall their way so that someone else could take Oden first overall and the Celtics could have a future Hall of Famer fall into their laps.
I was sitting in a restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska on May 22, 2007. It was the night of the NBA Draft Lottery and the Celtics had the best chance at the best pick (the second). This was the era before smartphones. I was left to the text messages of a friend and fellow Celtics fan, Matt Minton. Before my meal was put in front of me, I got the message. It was a string of mashed key strokes. It looked like this: lkdajfiodjgiofdjfodjojo. It was and remains the Minton trademark, used to express anger, outrage, uncontrollable excitement, and general extreme emotion. The Celtics did not have luck on their side. They drew the fifth overall pick in the draft. My meal was ruined.
With that fifth pick, the Celtics drafted Jeff Green, an experienced but underwhelming forward from Georgetown. Green was not a Celtic for long, however. Realizing that they were staring down another season like the 2006-07 season, the Celtics decided to give up on their youth by acquiring veteran players hungry for a championship. Gone were Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Jeff Green, Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, 2 first round draft picks, and a second round draft pick. Incoming were Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and a rookie named Glen Davis.
The 2007-08 Boston Celtics were anything but the 2006-07 Celtics. The two teams looked and played nothing alike. The new Celtics were a defensive powerhouse. They were mean. They were physical. And they were winning.
On June 17, 2008, a year after one of the worst seasons in franchise history left the team with no direction and no hope, the Celtics lifted their first Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy since 1986. It was the first title I got to experience. There was jumping, chest pounding, smiling, and tears. And that was just me. There was the epic Kevin Garnett post-game interview. And KG was right. In that moment, anything was possible.
3 1/2 years later, on January 11, 2012, I asked myself if it was worth it. I thought that 2007-08 title would be the first of at least a few. I was wrong. The Celtics would get back to the finals once, but lose in Game 7 to the Lakers. 2010-11 ended with a very quick and quiet second round defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat. The young, dynamic Heat and the aging, banged-up Celtics looked like teams from different eras. Something had to be done, right?
Well, yes. But instead nothing was done. The Celtics tried to acquire Chris Paul, a player who would help them in a marginal way, for a short period of team, and add to the team’s youth in no way, but he made it clear that he didn’t want to come to Boston. And who could blame him?
Coming into the 2011-12 season, it was clear that there was not the personnel to make this team work, given such a grueling schedule. Add to that a foot injury to 34 year-old Paul Pierce (the youngest of the Big 3) and one could expect the Celtics to get off to a slow start. But, my God, is this slow or what?
On Wednesday, the equally old and slow Dallas Mavericks rolled into Boston for the Milk of Magnesia Bowl. The Readers Digest Festival. The Lawrence Welk Cup. The Celtics of 2006-07 would have beaten the 2011-12 Dallas Mavericks on pure youth. These were two old, tired teams, dragging through sludge. This was ugly. This was the 2011-12 NBA season for old teams.
I expect more of the same for the Celtics. Looking ahead at their schedule, I see some periods that will be an utter struggle. And for a team who finds itself 4-5 (with wins over 4 of the NBA’s worst teams) that’s not going to be good. From March 11-23, the Celtics will play 0 home games. They will play 8 road games. That’s 8 road games in 12 days. From LA (Lakers and Clippers) to Oakland to Sacramento to Denver to Atlanta to Milwaukee to Philadelphia. In late April, they’ll play 5 games in 6 days, including a back-to-back that will take them from Miami to a home game against Atlanta, back on the road to Toronto.
The road is an unforgiving place when you’re at the end of your career, when your knees are weak, when your feet are ailing, and especially when you don’t have a lot of help around you. This season is going to be an unforgiving one for the Boston Celtics. But this season isn’t the biggest concern. Next season is.
Where do you go from here if you’re the Celtics? Is Rajon Rondo the Point Guard of the future? You don’t bring back Ray Allen, do you? And you certainly don’t bring back KG, right? And with two first round picks (both of which will likely be mid-round picks), what direction do you go in? Last year the Celtics drafted E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson from Purdue, both veteran college players. Yet, even with a wealth of college experience, the two former Boilermakers are averaging a robust 1.8 ppg. Combined. They can’t find the court on a 4-5 team. The year before last, they drafted Avery Bradley. If you were to call Avery Bradley an “abject disappointment,” Kwame Brown would get jealous. Bradley has been, in a word, “useless.” There is no young foundation in Boston, save for Rondo.
And so that brings us to Rajon Rondo. Rondo has gone from an abysmal shooter to a reluctant one. Next year’s starting lineup is going to look a lot different and may even involve two rookies for all we know. What do you do, if you’re Boston, about your reluctant-to-shoot Point Guard, with a very friendly contract? Rondo has had plenty of time to become a more willing and better shooter. Neither has happened. Someone will need to score points along with Paul Pierce.
The last area where a team can build for the future is of course through free agency. It’s harder in the NBA because, generally, you’re not going to find a lot of in-their-prime free agent talents. You’ll either get undrafted rookies or veterans playing out their career. The Celtics have made a habit out of signing those guys in recent years. And there will be plenty of them in 2012. But that won’t get the Celtics back onto the Boulevard of the Elites. In fact, it’ll take them further off course onto Middling, Directionless Drive.
I keep going back to 2007. I keep asking if it was worth it to win that one title. Couldn’t the Celtics have built a team around Jeff Green, Rajon Rondo, Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, Ryan Gomes, and Paul Pierce. Maybe had one more down year, ended up in the lottery, and drafted Eric Gordon, Brandon Rush, or Roy Hibbert? Rondo, Pierce, Green, Jefferson, and Hibbert with Perkins off the bench? It wouldn’t have won a title, but it would have been something right?
Or was 2008 the point? Does it seem like it was a mistake because the only championship came so soon? Would it have been better for the Celtics to have lost the 2008 final, and come back in 2008-09 to win the championship? Or is this all just fantasy? I know that answer.
Still, above all else, I go back to May 22, 2007. All that floundering in 2006-07 was for not. All that losing. Playing all of that youth. What did it get? Jeff Green, who now finds himself back with the Celtics, but unable to play because of a heart condition. When I watch the 2011-12 Boston Celtics, it’s just not fun. And it’s only going to get less fun from here.
Mid-Atlantic Bias 
If you asked every Boston Celtics fan if they wish they could go back in time and undo the KG & Allen trades to take their chances building around West, Rondo, Green, Jefferson and a (very) disgruntled Pierce, the answer from at least 90% of them would be a resounding NO! I count myself amongst that 90%.
You didn't just get one title. You got a title, two finals appearances, four relatively deep playoff runs, and dozens of unforgettable games. (And honestly, you were a KG knee injury in year 2 and a Perkins knee injury in year 3 from concievably winning 3 titles.) Most importsntly, you rejuvenated basketball in Boston. This was an unforgettable era, even if it was only four+ years.
If you can make moves to win a title NOW, you do it. Winning a title in the NBA is extremely difficulty. That's why tons of young energetic teams with good cores and loads of potential never win shit. Celtics would have almost surely remained one of those teams.
Whatever. This is ugly and downright miserable to watch right now, but the title was worth it, and we'll see how it pays out next year when Boston has the most cap space in the league.