By now, every Celtics fan has heard about KG's guarantee of the next two championships. This could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing.
Now, there have been other guarantees that I can think of off the top of my head. After the Lakers won the championship in 1987, Pat Riley came out and guaranteed that the Lakers would repeat. No team had repeated in 18 seasons. Talk about putting pressure on your team. But, the Lakers rose to the guarantee and did indeed repeat as champions in 1988.
A little bit more recently, Mo Williams guaranteed that the Cavs would beat the Magic and go on to the Finals. Unlike Riley's Lakers, Mo's Cavs didn't make good on his guarantee.
Now, these two guarantees are a little different from KG's. Both Pat Riley and Mo Williams announced their guarantees at a news conference to all the press and fans. Apparently, KG's guarantee was to Wyc who made the guarantee public. Now, a guarantee is good motivation, but it is only as good as the personnel to back it up. Riley's Lakers were able to back up his guarantee, but Mo's Cavs didn't have what it took to pull it off.
As for KG's guarantees, I believe that the Celtics with KG, Pierce and Ray Allen still have enough in the tank to win 2 more championships. But, there are a lot of things that could happen between now and next June that make a guarantee tenuous at best. The Celtics were a KG knee injury away from a championship this past season. In order for the Celtics to win, they will need some luck in order to stay healthy. They will also need Danny to do a better job of building the bench this season then he did last season. With a little luck and a decent bench, the Celtics should win it all next season. What KG's guarantee does is to give the team an extra measure of motivation.
With the news coming out that KG is the most fired up that Wyc has seen him and that he is guaranteeing a championship next season, it has me very excited for next season to begin. It should be a fun season if KG doesn't spontaneously combust before we get there.
With the first big rumor of the offseason involving Ray and Rondo going to Phoenix, there has been a lot of discussion on both sides of this issue. Personally, I don't want to break up a very effective starting lineup. I think Ray deserves a shot at another ring with the Celtics. He has a lot of basketball left in him and keeps himself in excellent shape. I know all the arguments about the expiring contract and sll. I just think a classy player like Ray deserves better. As for trading Rondo, he took a huge leap in the playoffs this season and is just going to get better. He is a jump shot away from being a top 5 PG. If I were Danny, I'd be looking to add to the bench and get rid of the players who haven't been producing, not the ones who have. I don't like the idea of messing with the chemistry on that starting unit.
After being subjected to the LeBron and Kobe commercials throughout the playoffs, they finally got a Dwight Howard commercial and it is great! I love it! Now they just need a Dwight puppet to move in with Kobe now that LeBron moved out without giving notice.
Speaking of the puppets commercials, this is priceless!
Well, the Magic let me down in game 1. They couldn't hit the broad side of a barn tonight and it wasn't because the Lakers were playing such stellar defense because they got to the hoop and got open shots but just couldn't make them. Watching the Finals without the Celtics, knowing that a healthy Celtics' team could have beaten either of these teams is pretty painful. The Magic just have to win one game in LA and then hold serve at home. Losing game 1 doesn't mean anything. The Magic lost the first game against the Sixers and pulled out that series. Let's hope they are just slow starters and will come on strong in game 2.
The WNBA season starts tomorrow. My favorite player, Lisa Leslie will be playing her final season this year. She's like the Ray Allen of the WNBA A very classy lady both on and off the court.
