CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Twas the Night Before the Draft

by FLCeltsFan 8:21 PM

Only one more day to wait until the draft. It seems as though every time we turn around there is another trade rumor. The newest one on the Garnett front is a three way trade between Phoenix, Minnesota and Atlanta.
According to Yahoo Sports:

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett is close to going to the Phoenix Suns in a monumental three-way trade that would send Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire to the Atlanta Hawks, league sources said Wednesday.
Atlanta would move the Nos. 3 and 11 picks in Thursday's draft, as well as Zaza Pachulia and Anthony Johnson, to Minnesota.

Garnett to Phoenix has never made sense to me. Phoenix has insisted that they want to clear salary because they are in luxury tax territory. I may be wrong, but trading Stoudamire for Garnett gets them nowhere. They were very close to going to the Western Conference Finals and very well may have made it if it wasn't for the suspensions. They are close, so why ship out a young and talented center for an old one. I just don't understand this one.

In the meantime, Danny is saying that he will will more than likely keep the pick. ESPN reports:

"I think [a trade] is unlikely. I'm expecting to make our pick," Ainge, the Celtics executive director of basketball operations, said Wednesday. "I've felt that way from the beginning, that these trades are hard to come by."
Still, Ainge said, he's confident the fifth pick will make a major contribution next season to a very young team that is seen as many years away from contending for a title.
That bothers Pierce, who has won just three playoff series in nine seasons with Boston, but Ainge said he spoke to Pierce on Tuesday and there was no trade demand.
"It was a great conversation and Paul was very enthusiastic," Ainge said.
But would Pierce be happy if the Celtics kept the No. 5 pick?
"It depends," Ainge said. "There's a lot of depends and it's a long time before October, so we'll talk about that later."
The Celtics could trade for a veteran between the end of the draft and the start of training camp Oct. 1 in Italy.

The article also reports that Ainge is spending a lot of time on the phone, which means that he still may make a trade before the draft. Or maybe not.

I am beginning to think that there are people whose job is to float rumors about trades and players just to keep people off balance. Yahoo reports that Garnett to Phoenix is close. In the meantime it is reported on Phoenix radio that there are no deals on the table for Marion or Amare. And it makes you wonder just who these league sources are who say all these things. As Alice would say, "Curiouser and curiouser."

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