kevin garnett is officially going to the boston celtics.

[antoinewalker]

this was just reported on espn sportscenter. expect a link soon from the espn website.

[antoinewalker]

here is a link from yahoo: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

[ty]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...-celtics_N.htm

[me770706]

cant complain, we had no realistic shot and at least he's not going to LA or Phoenix

[Mavs Rule]

This just vaulted the Celts to the NBA Finals vs the Mavs, IMO.

[Janett_Reno]

Very good for both teams but i would have made Boston take Thud Hudson. He sux and he makes a ton. Mn doesn't make the playoffs with Garnett and they won't make it now but if you move Garnett and Thudley, look at what you free up to build. Now in 2 to 3 years, if they keep drafting good and play the young good taent they have, then in a few years with Orlando, these two teams could be the best. McHale can't make more bonehead deals. The downfall for MN, will the fans pay to watch a young like D-League team now and support them?

With Garnett, it was about Garnett. He is a great player but he was stuck with McHale and no help and McHale was stuck with Garnett and no help for Kevin.

Now Danny Ainge puts up or shuts up. No excuse if this team is healthy as it should be from a 1 to 4 finish in the east. Now pressure turns to the Cavs to get Mike Bibby. Detroit needs to try to retain Webber. Miami must get younger, replace a Kapono, and Smush Parker i don't see helping much. Orlando is a tough match up.

I know it will make the MN fans very mad at this trade but they was stuck in a hole. Give Hudson away for a 6 pack and play these young players and get experience for 2 years down the road and then make the playoffs.

[rabbitproof]

Good for the C's fans...

[dude1394]

so garnett's threat to opt-out wasn't such a threat after all?

[antoinewalker]

the celtics gave up all of their youth but this is a trade they had to make in my opinion. they already traded for ray allen but he alone wasn't going to catapult their team to contending status. they needed another solid veteran and with kg, they get that and much more.

i think this trade instantly makes the celtics a contender in the eastern conference but their lack of a bench may shine come playoff time.

[Evilmav2]

Originally Posted by dude1394

so garnett's threat to opt-out wasn't such a threat after all?

I'd bet that the Celtics acquisition of Allen, in addition to a good sales job on the part of Ainge & co, probably changed Garnett's mind about the desirability of playing in beantown, and ultimately, I'd guess that's why we saw the deal finally go down today...

[antoinewalker]

they have a solid starting 5. rajon rondo will be a great point guard in the league. he averaged 3.8 apg last year in only 23 minutes a game. considering he was a rookie last year, those are very promising numbers.

i said earlier that the celtics' lack of a bench may hurt them come playoff time but if lebron james and all the crap he has on his team made it to the finals last year, i find it very believable that the celtics will be there next year.

[kingmalaki]

Gotta see what the do with their bench but if those those 3 stay healthy I don't see why they can't contend in the East. Hell, I would expect them to win the East...depending on how the Heat come back from all their injuries.

Either way this trade is good for the Celtics and the league in general. The East needs some teams that can really contend....

[Hitman]

At the very least, this makes the Eastern Conference more interesting.

I know KG, Pierce and Allen will be high on my NBA league pass priority list next season.

Should be fun. Looking forward to the season.

[SeattleMavsFan]

wow that is one heck of a team. that's 3 superstars in my opinion. They will definately be tough to beat next year.

[Dirkenstien]

Wow. What a difference one offseason makes.

From least to beast, Boston is for real this season.

[ty]

All three clutch players.

[Flacolaco]

Any reaction from the Phoenix news papers?

[MavsX]

fine with me, better than phx or LA

[Male30Dan]

Oh thank God Phoenix didn't get him!!!

[Tokey41]

Congrats to C's fans, they will be a threat for a couple years now. Personally I think the Allen move was terrible (he's gonna be spent either this season or next), but it did land them Garnett (i'm assuming) so they will have an excellent shot at the finals... especially in the east... for a few seasons. Then again if Allen declines drastically this season will KG stick around after his contract is done? Or will they force him to an extension beforehand? A couple aging stars is better than none I guess.

[purplefrog]

Celtics acquire Garnett for five players, two picks
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
07/31/2007

In a trade that will shift the balance of power in the NBA's Eastern Conference next season, the Boston Celtics finally acquired 10-time All-Star forward Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday in exchange for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, center Theo Ratliff and guard Sebastian Telfair, as well as two future first-round draft picks.

The trade had been discussed for months and was nearly consummated on draft night in June. But the talks stalled when Garnett indicated he was not interested in playing for Boston and would opt out of his contract — which has two years and $45 million remaining — after next season.

The Celtics then suspended talks with Minnesota and turned elsewhere, acquiring veteran guard Ray Allen from Seattle on draft night for a package that included the fifth overall pick. With Allen in the fold alongside fellow All-Star Paul Pierce, Garnett became intrigued about playing in Boston, and the talks picked up.

"The conversation never stopped" after the draft, said a source with knowledge of the talks.

The 31-year-old Garnett is expected to get a multiyear contract extension from Boston as part of the deal.

But Garnett, along with Allen and Pierce, would make the Celtics, a moribund franchise for most of the last 15 years, one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference.

The 6-foot-11 Garnett's career averages of 20.5 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists will dovetail nicely with Allen's 21.5 career scoring average and Pierce's 23.6 scoring average, giving Boston a terrific inside-out presence and providing Garnett with the best pair of teammates he has played with in his 12-year career.

[purplefrog]

I was pretty close to predicting a similar trade to this a few months back. I think I suggested the Celtics would trade a bunch of their young players and their first round draft pick for Jason Terry. Terry... Garnett... basically the same quality of player.

[alby]

Another team jumping us =]

[SaltwaterChaffy]

I wouldn't be worried about the Celtics passing us. They are going to have initial chemistry problems, they have absolutely no depth, an unproven point guard, and a terrible coach. a year from now, I'll be worried about them.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by alby

Another team jumping us =]

Coming from nothing, they made the right move rolling the dice. I still am not convinced that giving up josh/devin/diop would have been worth it.

[foglemann]

So, since this is the domino we were all waiting for, now what. Do we have a realistic shot at Kobe or any other high profile player that could be available? Can we add a real sized 2 guard? These are the questions that now can be answered.

Ricky Davis would seem like a bargin guy now, he will not want to be one the JV T'pups squad. Possible S & T with Cro?

Good move for both teams BTW

[mqywaaah]

Atleast he didnt go to Phoenix. Man! Can you just imagine how PHX would be if they did? Geesh thank god! As for the Celts, good to know that they might give the Detroit some competition as contenders in the East.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Am I the only one that thinks a team of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett looks like a window of opportunity that is rapidly closing?

[DelNegro]

Originally Posted by Dirkadirkastan

Am I the only one that thinks a team of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett looks like a window of opportunity that is rapidly closing?

No. But if you're the Celtics and have been completely irrelevant for the better part of two decades maybe a 4-6 year window of being competitive is worth it.

[nikeball]

doc rivers will screw this up and bill simmons will be livid

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Trade Kicker 101: Lots of math involved in a KG megadeal


By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Updated: July 30, 2007

As we inch closer to a real, live Kevin Garnett trade, you will hear and read more about the trade bonus in Garnett's contract -- more commonly known as a trade kicker -- and how it factors into Minnesota's forthcoming deal with Boston.

The following four-step breakdown dissects the trade-kicker specifics involved here and some of the other math variables tied to this megadeal.

But first some background: A good deal of this knowledge comes from ESPN.com capologist/Trade Machine maestro Nick Silva and our dear friend Larry Coon. Professor Coon not only has a handy knack for distilling salary-cap complexities into understandable English while running one of the best Web sites known to man -- his NBA Salary Cap FAQ -- but also is a former student and teacher at the prestigious Titan Tech ... which is more commonly known as Cal State Fullerton.


Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images
Yup, dealing Kevin Garnett is complicated on many levels.

On to the breakdown:

1. Garnett only has a limited ability to waive his trade kicker. He can't just waive it to make a trade easier -- even if he wanted to -- no matter what you've heard or read. The rules state that Garnett only can waive the amount necessary to make a deal legal based on salary-cap rules.

So how would this work in real life?

Garnett's salary for next season is $22 million and the trade kicker is $6.75 million, meaning that Boston would have to accommodate $28.75 million in salary and send out at least $22.92 million in a trade if Garnett is to receive the full bonus.

But the latest incarnation of the trade is believed to include the following five Celtics for a total of $18,921,547: Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes. If no other Celtics are added to the deal, Boston could only take back $23,751,934 in salary, meaning Garnett would have to consent to waiving nearly $5 million of his trade kicker … $4,998,066 to be exact.

Garnett's take-home trade bonus would thus be reduced to $1,751,934. But the assumption is that he would more than make that back in the long-term extension he's expected to receive from the Celtics as part of this extravaganza.

2. Garnett is one of only a handful of current players whose trade kicker causes such havoc.

The league's most recent labor agreement stipulates that a trade kicker cannot raise a player's salary above the maximum salary allowed. Yet players such as Garnett, who were signed prior to the 2005-06 season, have seen their contracts grandfathered in and are not subject to this restriction.

The problem is that a language error in the new agreement made grandfathered players like Garnett -- as well as Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and a few others -- technically untradeable. This necessitated an amendment which stipulates that such players can be traded, with the player's full trade kicker applied to the trade and waived only in the circumstances explained in No. 1.

League officials, I'm told, preferred putting Garnett and Co. in position to collect their full trade bonus as opposed to giving them what would amount to no-trade authority. This way the teams retain more control and can always choose not to do a trade if they don't want to pay the bonus.

3. If a Garnett trade had been completed before July 1, Garnett's trade kicker would have been charged in equal amounts to Boston's payroll last season and next season at $3.375 million each. Completing the deal after July 1 requires Boston to charge the entire $6.75 million to its 2007-08 payroll.

That's one big reason why trading for Garnett after the draft became a virtual impossibility for the Phoenix Suns.

Phoenix, sources say, was Garnett's preferred destination if he had to leave the only team he has ever played for, but the Suns wanted to complete a deal without getting deeper in luxury-tax purgatory …and without surrendering Amare Stoudemire.

Yet since the Suns are over the luxury-tax threshold, even after shedding Kurt Thomas' contract, they'd have to pay $13.5 million just for Garnett's trade kicker, without even accounting for his salary or the assets they'd have to give up to get KG.

While the salary-cap math in a hypothetical KG-to-Phoenix deal might have allowed Garnett to waive some of his trade bonus and thus make things a little more palatable, the most likely scenarios after July 1 would have had the Suns incurring astronomical costs to make this happen.

The Celtics, by contrast, will only stray into luxury-tax territory after adding Garnett, but sources say Celtics ownership is comfortable doing so for a player of Garnett's stature.

4. The longest extension Garnett can sign with the Celtics is a four-year deal. Garnett has two seasons left on his current contract and the total -- contract plus extension -- can't exceed six years.

Sparing you all the complicated calculations, side restrictions involved here and unknowns about where the salary cap will be in July 2009, Coon contends that the most lucrative extension Garnett could sign is a four-year package worth an estimated $116 million.

Trust me: You won't get a more bankable figure than that.
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.

Link

[alby]

Ray Allen - 32 years old
Kevin Garnett - 31 years old
Paul Pierce - 29 years old

what a team.

[alby]

Reggie Miller played until he was 40 - so I wouldn't be too worried about Allen
Centers last a long time in this league - so don't think Garnett is done already
29 years old is still considered a prime year - so Pierce is far away from having his window closed

However, between the three--they are in for 60 million worth of payroll per year..
hitting the luxury tax with three players is killer

[alby]

latest news has Boston keeping Gerald Green and sending out two first rounders instead

Green would vastly help their depth

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Ainge still scoring for Suns

Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 31, 2007 12:00 AM

We've decided that Danny Aingehas taken the same philosophy he had as a player to the front office of the Boston Celtics:

Keep firing, and eventually something will go through.

And it appears after all his errant attempts to fix the Celtics, he finally might have connected on a Kevin Garnetttrade.

Reports were rampant that the Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves have reached terms on a deal that will send Garnett to Boston for a package that will include at least five players - including forward Al Jefferson- and a first-round draft pick.

Earlier, talks between the two clubs had fallen apart reportedly because Garnett has an option out of his contract after next season and wasn't especially interested in playing for the Celtics.

Then Ainge landed Ray Allenin a trade with Seattle.

So the idea of joining Allen and Paul Piercein the watered-down Eastern Conference must have appealed to the Big Ticket.

The deal is expected to be accompanied by an announcement that Garnett has agreed to a contract extension with the Celtics.

Now, if you were in the camp that thought that the Suns would be crazy to change their core to acquire Garnett, you are celebrating.

And if you were in the camp that thought that the Suns ought to do whatever it took to get Garnett, you should still be celebrating.

That's because if the Suns weren't going to get him, they sure didn't want him falling into the hands of the Lakers, Warriors or - heaven forbid - Dallas Mavericks.

Our spies tell us that was exactly what the Suns were worried about, and Dallas was a much bigger concern than anybody realized.

There is a downside, however. The Mavericks might still be in the market for yet another big man.

Or they just might feel compelled to make certain that the Suns - having jettisoned Kurt Thomasfor luxury-tax relief - do not replace him with anybody of quality.

Either way, they could submarine the Suns' effort to sign free agentP.J. Brown. At the right price, he would make a nice replacement for Thomas.

But with Dallas out of the Garnett picture, the Mavericks might feel inclined to overpay for Brown.

We don't know where that would leave the Suns, other than continuing a search for "a big man" that has lasted nearly four decades.

Anyway, since draft night, the Celtics have gone from a lottery team overloaded with young players that nobody in Boston cared about to a club with three aging but very talented stars that should contend in the Eastern Conference.

Suddenly, the Celtics are relevant again.

And to think Ainge bamboozled his old Celtics buddy Kevin McHaleto do it.

As Ainge liked to say when he was hoisting three-pointers for the Suns:

"Conscience of a rattlesnake."

Link

[Flacolaco]

That's coming from a paranoid Suns reporter.

I'm not buying any of that.

[alby]

please don't overpay for PJ

[mkat]

Originally Posted by DelNegro

No. But if you're the Celtics and have been completely irrelevant for the better part of two decades maybe a 4-6 year window of being competitive is worth it.

i don't know if they've even 4-6 years....

[Dtownsfinest]

Damn. I think the Celtics are the only team in the NBA with 3 superstars on their team. Celtics went from looking like a complete mess to looking like one championship contenders all in one offseason. Great move for them. I think the T-Wolves did decent. I would've wanted Rondo in on the deal as well. Al Jefferson is going to be a beast. I think he has the potential to be one of the best power fowards in the league when he's fully developed. I imagine that's probably what held the deal up for so long is that Ainge didn't want to give him up. Celtics have absolutely no youth at all now but at the same time they have 3 superstars who are all in the 30 year old range. They have atleast 4 years left together. If Robert Parish can play until he's 42 I think KG can play atleast 4 more years at a high level.

[craggmac]

Oh yea, Celts are back!! Way to go Danny Ainge.