Basketball is BACK in Boston

Did the Celtics mortgage their future to get Kevin Garnett in kelly green? Absolutely. Does it matter? Not to me and it shouldn't matter to Boston sports fans either because basketball is a factor in Beantown again.

That's what a superstar caliber player--something the Celtics haven't had since Bird retired--can do. Sure, it hurts to lose a quality player like Al Jefferson but, unlike the SportsGuy, I was never convinced he was a franchise player, somebody you could build a team around. He always felt like a poor man's Elton Brand which is a nice piece but not the keystone that would keep you from getting one of the NBA's all-time greats.

Outside of Big Al the Celtics gave up very little. Gerald Green was a perennial slam dunk champion but he was never going to be an annual all-star, the draft picks don't hurt a ton and Boston fan's should THANK Minnesota for taking Ratliff and Telfair. I will, however, be sad to see Ryan Gomes go because he's precisely the player Ainge will have to go out and find now that the Celtics are short five players. Who will come off the bench? Who will play tough inside and knock down open baseline jumpers? Gomes did those things remarkably well, but Boston has a couple of months to sort those things out.

Even with those question marks, the Celtics are immediately a contender in an Eastern Conference that was won last year by a Cleveland team featuring LeBron James and the four guys who showed up for noon ball. How can you argue with that? Will you watch more Celtics games next year?

I know I will and let's face it, the future was not a luxury Rivers and Ainge had. They had to move now and with this collection of talent they embattled leaders of the Celtics have probably bought themselves two years.

Now the only question is: is it too late to reinstall the elevated train tracks at Haymarket? I have a feeling this team is going to be on TV quite a bit.

Name your price Portland

The Celtics are screwed.

I'm a bit ashamed at how tense the NBA's Draft lottery was for me. When have I ever cared about this event with more than passing interest? How did determining the draft order become as excruciating as having my Derby trifecta foiled yet again?

And I'm not even a Celtics fan. More of a Boston well-wisher. An interested NBA fan who thinks it would be nice if the Celtics were at least watchable.

That's not going to happen for some time.

Let's be honest, the Celtics prospects of being good anytime in the near future are far worse than inversely proportional to the odds they bucked to end up with the fifth pick in the Draft. They have one player worth keeping on their current roster, Al Jefferson, and he's far from a franchise cornerstone. Nice player? Yes. The kind of guy who wins you playoff games on his own? No.

Paul Pierce should be immediately shipped to Minnesota--might as well go straight up for their seventh pick--so he and Kevin Garnett can wallow in their "good-to-great without anything close to a championship" status together. (Side note: Portland had as good a shot at winning the lottery as Minnesota did. The NBA gods hate Garnett and the Celtics. Fantastic.)

You can barely even call the cupboard bare. Tony Allen and Ryan Gomes are solid contributors...if they were on the Spurs where they could play 16 minutes a game and feed off Duncan double-teams. Gerald Green is young and athletic but so was Kerri Strug.

Beyond everyone mentioned above, you have Perkins, Olowokandi, Powe, Ratliff, Ray, Rondo, Scalabrine, Szczerbiak, and West on the current roster. Don't listen to anyone who tells you it's not the end of the world, it is. I don't care how deep this year's draft is, who can the Celtics draft that will help the team in even the near future?

No matter who it is, it will always feel like choosing the door that had a donkey and cart behind it on Let's Make a Deal. To spare that poor player and the seven Celtics fans remaining in the world such a cruel fate, I've prepared a couple of different offers for the Portland brass and their keys to Duranden:

1. Paul Pierce, Gerald Green, the Bruins, the gyroball owner's manual and Schilling's bloody sock - You have neither a baseball nor a hockey history to speak of, now you do.
2. Al Jefferson, Eliza Dushku, Tom Brady and Boston will take total responsibility for everything J.R. Rider, Bill Walton, Ruben Patterson and Sebastian Telfair have ever said or done or will say and do - It's like an incredibly attractive steak with a decent low post game to remove all the black eyes your city has experienced in the past 30 years.
3. Al Jefferson, Paul Pierce, Gerald Green, 3 1/2 games off the Red Sox current lead over the Yankees, a lifetime contract for Doc Rivers AND Curt Schilling will ghost write Zach Randolph's blog for an entire season - That is, in order, everything the Celtics have, the only thing Bostonians have to hang their hat on currently, the only thing worse than this lottery draw and instant, unwanted headlines for an entire year all in one package.

Of course, Danny Ainge is willing to listen to any reasonable counteroffers. Or just any counteroffers. The only thing that's untouchable is the 2004 World Series.

The Morning Walk-thru - Bird was ahead of his time

The Legend never worried about GHT...The Yun' Ball Coach sent along the accompanying photo last week and while the late Dennis Johnson is definitely the focus (and reason this photo probably surfaced), check out Bird giving an interview to Marv Alberts with an old-school white can of Miller Lite in his hand.

Forget the champagne that DJ has collared, it's the original Lite beer for the Hick. Only thing that could make this picture better is if Bob Uecker were somehow involved.

Notice that the can is nearly as long as his shorts. Those were the days.

Seriously, you guys. Seriously...Thanks again to the Yun' Ball Coach for this story from chicagosports.com about current Cubs backstop, Michael Barrett: Barrett seriously bleeding Cubs blue.

Apparently Michael likes it in Chicago and I'm fine with that. He hits as well as any catcher and if we're going to fault him for his defense on this team he's probably only fourth or fifth on the hit list. Check out his love letter to the Cubs:

"I will put no deadline or nothing on anything," Barrett said. "For me, I feel like I've been through a lot as a player, and I feel completely blessed to be a part of this team. For me, if there's a distraction that keeps you from appreciating putting on a Cubs uniform, then something ain't right. That's the way I feel."

Spoken like a true catcher, and...

"I feel indebted to this organization for what it's done. It believed in me at a time when a lot of teams and a lot of people gave up on me. . . . When you have that grace extended to you, it's easy to come to the yard and be appreciative."

Maybe it's just me, but isn't loyalty like this, even if it ends up only on paper, far too rare? As a fan, the one thing I never understand is why we don't see more of this. Wouldn't this be the approach of most any fan out there? Find a team and city you like and do everything you can to stay there.

Hardly ever happens, though. I guess when your career has a 10-year shelf life (if you're lucky), maximizing your earnings becomes that much more important, but good for Barrett for saying all the right things even if it's only February.

Seriously.

Didn't I tell you?...In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, I made the case for Prince as perhaps the best performer the big game had ever seen and he pretty much delivered.

In that same column, I also listed four other options for equally intriguing selections, one of which was the Boss. Well, guess who is being rumored as the front-runner for XLII? (Idolator via Deadspin)

I love being right.