O.J. Mayo: ‘Would’ve been an honor to play’ for C's

Last season a trade that would have brought O.J. Mayo to Boston for Judas Shuttlesworth was basically squashed because Mayo claimed that he “doesn’t care about Boston’s banners.” After last night’s double overtime loss Mayo backpedaled faster than Rondo getting back on D, claiming that the accusation wasn’t true and he had no say in the matter due to lack of veto power. He also claimed he would have welcomed a trade to Boston and that the failure stemmed from a C’s internal debate between the front office and the players about keeping #20.

“I was in a good situation in Memphis at the time,” said Mayo. “Obviously, Boston is a big-time organization as well. Great players. It would’ve been an honor to play with KG [Kevin Garnett], [Paul] Pierce and [Rajon] Rondo. It would’ve been great to play with those guys and with [Celtics coach] Doc [Rivers].”

“I was pretty much set to come here and something fell through at the very last second. A couple of the guys wanted to keep Ray, and management wanted to make the trade.”

I personally would have done the deal Allen for Mayo last year. Allen was injured and clearly on his way out, the combo of Mayo’s offense and Avery Bradley’s defense would have been stellar. Danny Ainge also revisited his man love for Mayo in attempting to sign him during the offseason. Negations didn’t go as rapidly as the Celtics wanted and they ended up moving on to Jason Terry for 3 years $15.7 million, Mayo signed with Dallas for 1 year at $4.2 mill with a player option for next year.

I like the Terry signing more, Terry brings a lot more intangibles being a champion and seasoned veteran. Mayo clearly has talent but I think he’s a selfish player that really only cares about himself. This season he’s averaging 20.9 PPG (52.5 3P%!!!) with 4.1 RPG and 3.5 APG in 36 minutes. That’s an awesome stat line; he’s averaging what Terry and Courtney Lee basically bring. At the time I was a proponent of the trade, but looking back I’m glad they didn’t go through it. I believe he only cares about the name on the back of the jersey, not the name on the front. He would have been a bad fit unless KG, Paul and Rondo straightened him out. When Doc was on Felger and Mazz before the season, he talked about the Ray situation and said:

“I tell my guys every year, if you’re here for me to run stuff for you to look good, you’re in the wrong place. If you’re here for me to run stuff to make the team look good, you’re in the right place.”

I think that Mayo is exactly that type of player that wants and needs stuff run for him. No Ubuntu lost on O.J., I like the talent we have as well as the character of our players. The intangibles that the guys we have bring to the court every night, definitely outweigh Mayo's offensive talent. Clearly Terry cares about Celtics Tradition, getting a permanent reminder on his left bicep.

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