For the Boston Celtics to unstick themselves from the NBA's version of purgatory, all they have to accomplish is something that's never happened in their storied history.
The only roster component the Celtics lack is a superstar. That's a funny way to look at it, but it's true. They have a whip-smart coach in Brad Stevens, enough quality role players to fill two benches and an emerging, youthful leader in Marcus Smart. They had enough brains and talent to scrap to the woeful Eastern Conference's seventh seed. But any NBA team's ceiling is defined by its franchise player. The Celtics do not have one, and their futile attempts to acquire a potential game-changer in the draft left them reliant on free agency to find him.
This is less an opportunity for the Celtics than a problem, which is where they separate from other crown-jewel NBA franchises. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks are inherently desirable teams free agents flock toward. The market in which they play makes them a contender for almost any marquee free agent. The Celtics have a bleak history when it comes to wooing superstars.
The Celtics have never attracted a major free agent. They have attracted big names like Dominique Wilkins, Rasheed Wallace and Shaquille O'Neal, but all three came to Boston as NBA ancients to finish their careers. Only one free agent Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge has signed since he took over in 2003 has averaged 10 or more points points as a Celtic, and you wouldn't name him with a million guesses. It is Mike James -- an eminently forgettable point guard -- who averaged 10.7 points over 55 games in 2003.
The inability to land free agents did not prevent the Celtics from winning the 2008 title with a roster Ainge built by holding on to Paul Pierce, using draft picks to acquire Ray Allen and turning Al Jefferson and other assets into Kevin Garnett. The best free agent on their 2008 title team was ... who, exactly? James Posey? Ainge's penchant for trades doesn't help them now, this offseason, when the superstar the Celtics need in free agency will almost certainly remain out of their reach.
"Free agents will come," Ainge said Tuesday morning. "But we have to create an environment that makes players want to be here. I think we have a fantastic ownership group. We have a fantastic head coach. We have a lot of quality young players. So free agents that see themselves fitting in with our culture, our team, they'll come."
Despite the optimism of his words, Ainge spoke with resignation. The Celtics would love to land Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge, but Love figures to re-sign with Cleveland and Aldridge has shown no interest in Boston. The best free agent to show interest in the Celtics is former Georgetown star Greg Monroe, who told the New Orleans Advocate he plans to visit Boston this week.
Monroe, a strong low-post scorer and defensive liability, would improve the Celtics. He wouldn't change their station in the league's hierarchy. He would become another merely interesting piece on a roster full of them. The frustrating thing for the Celtics, that's the only kind of player they've been able to acquire.
The NBA forces teams to ask an unfair question: Is it in our best interest to try and be better? The Celtics, perhaps, have more right to be frustrated by the notion than any other team. Ainge hired a bright coach to maximize his team's limited talent. He assembled a roster with enough ability to sneak into the playoffs even as he sought a franchise player. The Celtics have put forth an honest organizational effort into being respectable.
And yet, that has brought them no closer to a title. It has only kept them on the NBA's maddening treadmill. While the tear-it-down 76ers have embarrassed the league with their putrid play, they've racked up three top-five draft picks -- three real chances to land the franchise player Ainge covets. The Celtics have been stuck in the middle of the first round. Their reward for trying has been a higher degree of difficulty to break from mediocrity.
Despite Ainge's efforts to move up on draft night, he failed to parlay his assets into an elite prospect, most painfully when the Charlotte Hornets rejected a meaty offer for the No. 9 pick -- which the Celtics would have used to nab Duke's Justise Winslow -- to take Frank Kaminsky. Their fortune may change next year, when the Celtics will use the unprotected first-round pick they acquired from Brooklyn in the savvy trade that sent the aging Garnett-and-Pierce tandem to the Nets.
The Celtics still possess valuable assets, that unprotected Nets pick chief among them, and Ainge always seeks a chance to trade. Some franchise-shifting players could still be available -- DeMarcus Cousins, perhaps? -- but now that the draft has come and gone, the opportunity to swing a deal has decreased.
Sports on 07/01/2015