while that line of thought is accurate for Pierce and Allen, I honestly think that Garnett is the ultimate superstar (with Nash, Kidd and Duncan).

He makes players around him better and also does the little things like boxing out and set a pick for whoever.

The point about buying an NBA championship is actually right… I don’t remember anyone doing it in one year… And they won’t do it as well. Remember that they have an easy trip to the finals, but beating the Suns/Spurs/Mavs is a different thing.

Stop hating on Boston because we didn’t get Garnett. They did a smart thing, those other players were never gonna develop, you cash in and try to win when you can, Lakers should take notes. Now they have a “window”, so does Phoenix, Dallas, Miami, SA, Houston. That’s not even counting Detroit, Cleveland, Utah. The Lakers aren’t terrible, but they ain’t contenders either. I’m sure Boston would rather be a contender for 3-4 years than hope all that crap they gave Minny developed.

Also, Pierece is a natural leader, Garnett defers (see successufl season with Cassell and Spree). It’s already proven Garnett can thrive in a “big 3″, same for Ray Allen (see Cassell and Big Dog).

Well, they’ve got three superstars who add up to 26 +26+22=74 points. That should get it done. Each of them gets about 4 assists a game. Not bad. They add up top 13+6+4=23 rebound per game. Pretty good. So, that gives us a feel good sense of what to expect?

Wait a minute.

Each of them acquired those numbers as the superstar of a different team! Someone set them picks. Someone passed them the ball. Someone blocked out. How can they get those stats without any role players? If they ARE the role players, what are their roles–and how might that effect their numbers?

Championships are won by defense. What are their defensive stats? Who takes on the “go-to” guy from the other team? Why should these defense guys play their hearts out to enhance the stats of teammates who have already used up money that would give them new contracts with more money?

Now this is an 82 game season–not counting the playoffs. How many minutes do each of them expect to play, and who are their backups when they are on the bench? What if, heaven forbid, one, or as happened to the Lakers last year, all of them got injured at least for part of the season. What are the contingency plans?

Now we have three veteran stars from three different systems. Is the Doc up to pulling a “Phil Jackson”–with half of his role players from last year gone? Who’s the captain, and whose team is this anyway: Paul’s, or Ray’s, or Kevin’s?

And, by the way, has anyone tracked the history of teams that tried to buy themselves an NBA championship?

As for the Lakers, what we have is what we have. I highly doubt the Lakers will make any big splashes this summer. I know that we Lakers fans are getting desperate b/c all of our hopes have been dashed: 1) Yao and Amare were resigned; 2) KG is gone; 3) Kobe is demanding a trade, but the team is going to roll the dice and see how this squad will do. I don’t know, maybe Sun Yue will be the answer and become the Chinese reincarnation of Magic. Wow, that’s desperation…

Lakers should be looking to package Kwame/Cook/Farmar. That could land us a real wing player to cover Walton’s defense.

The joke among league GM’s is that McHale only talks to two or three executives and in fact this is the second major deal McHale has orchestrated with his old team.

On the financial front, the Celts are stuck with a KG salary of $24 million for next year–even after negotiating away most of the trade kicker. What almost any team would have LIKED to negotiate, would have been a reduced salary for the next year all the way down to the mid level exception–$6 million. That’s the fantasy number that some Laker fans were dreaming about for KG once he opted out and immediately cast his lot with us. At that level the Celts would be in a position to patch some of the obvious holes that will appear once the three superstars start playing together.

Instead, KG apparently was hoping to negotiate the $5 million dollars given up back into future years, keeping compensation at $24 million per year or above. At that figure, the Celts have placed themselves in the rarefied atmosphere of the ‘Nicks–and their strategy: patch now, pay double, and pray that the chemistry works itself out, because there is no tomorrow.

For instance, if Indy is truly on rebuild mode, they would not need Odom. By all means, they will want 2-3 young players as part of the package and not a half-a-star Odom which does not make them a playoff team anyway.

I also contend, that if we have to trade any PG, let it be Crittenton. His value is up there right now. I just cannot envision playing with Fisher as the starting PG with Crittenton coming of the bench. More so the other way around. That would be the Smush-defense-part2 for us…. we have to keep Farmar.

At this stage, its best to explore the “rebuilding” teams needs and inquire if they might be interested in a Critt + Bynum future (not so bad if you ask me, esp in the East) and Kwame + Sasha’s expiring for their star. These 4 players add up to a total salary of 15M already.

Crittenton PG, Sasha SG, Kwame PF, Bynum C. Throw in Radman SF and that is already a 1-5 lineup there.