Questions regarding the futures of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are right around the corner
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| Time to move onward? |
Yesterday Jackie MacMullan wrote a piece for ESPN Boston entitled "Paul Pierce not giving up the ship." She touches on Pierce's contributions and struggles this series, and notes that each remaining game could be his last as a Celtic. MacMullan also gives a sobering reality check regarding the current state of the team:
"We all know the potential scenarios by now. When the Celtics finally succumb to the younger, faster, deeper Knicks, the front office will take a good, hard look at this broken roster, which has the smallest margin for error of any professional basketball team in these parts in recent memory, and they will make some tough decisions.
The inevitable word -- rebuilding -- seems imminent.
The Celtics likely will gauge interest in Pierce and KG on the trading block, as they did before the trade deadline. They could buy out Pierce for $5 million (he's due to make $15.3 million) or use their amnesty clause to waive him. Garnett, who took only seven shots in this win, has not been himself and might be looking at yet another offseason surgery that could convince him it's time to retire."
I never really considered the notion seriously that Garnett might retire until watching this series. Maybe his nagging injuries will heal, but he looks like he could be on his last legs. Seeing Pierce fumble away passed and routinely turn the ball over in double teams has me questioning his future as well. Neither of them seems physically capable of handling the load they have to for this team for a full game. If they're to return next year, in order to succeed I think they would both need greatly reduced roles. But is that something either Pierce or Garnett would want, and are they even capable of doing it? I don't know what the right answers are, but the questions are about to start coming in full force.
Follow Mark on twitter @LucidSportsFan
