Longing for good old days of Celtics trades for championship-caliber talent, not payroll flexibility, and other thoughts

Boston Globe

27-06-2025

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We loved it. Through the years, the Celtics traded Paul Westphal for Charlie Scott, Cedric Maxwell for Bill Walton, and let's not forget Red's Mormon grandson, Danny Ainge, swapping Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and two future first-rounders for
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Fast forward to June 2025 when NBA players' contracts are moved in order for teams to get under the dreaded 'second apron.' Successful, stable rosters are broken up in the name of mid-level exceptions, supermax players, frozen first-round picks, expiring deals, matching salaries and TPE (traded player exceptions) as basketball operations bosses bow at the almighty altar of luxury tax penalties.
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Got all that?
Neither do I.
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All you need to know is that NBA salaries are really large and the league legislates against dynasties. Red couldn't win eight championships in a row in this century. The league won't allow it. This is 2025 and teams trade portfolios instead of playmakers.
And that is why Celtics fans woke up to read painful headlines on back-to-back days this week. First it was
Fans were still shaking that one off when
We knew this was coming and now it is happening. New Celtics owners just saved almost a quarter of a billion in future salary and penalty payments, while the team got younger and able to improve thanks to newfound payroll flexibility.
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Swell.
So now what are you supposed to do with that 2024 championship poster featuring Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Al Horford, Holiday, and Porzingis?
Oh, and as you already know, Tatum shredded his Achilles' and is lost for most (if not all) of next season.
So it turns out that that wonderful group came away with only one banner. Just like
One championship. When it felt like they were bound for multiple rings.
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It used to be possible to win more — back in the days before LeBron took his talents to South Beach, forever scarring NBA owners and putting them on a path to a stifling collective bargaining agreement that promotes parity and punishes smart teams willing to spend (like the Celtics).
Larry Bird and Co. went to five Finals in the 1980s and won three. John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, and Dave Cowens won two championships and had a 68-win season in a three-year-span in the '70s. And, of course, Bill Russell and Red combined for 11 rings in 13 seasons between 1957-69.
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That's all gone now. It went away with the low-post game, the pick-and-roll, the give-and-go, and the white picket fence.
And as the Celtics descend to the big middle, we're left with a less interesting league that covets 3-pointers and payroll flexibility.
⋅ Quiz: 1. The Pacers became the latest NBA team to fail to win a Finals Game 7 on the road. Name the four teams that have done it; 2. Name eight men named Joe who won at least one baseball MVP award (answers below).
⋅ John Henry, who also owns the Globe, and
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⋅ Red Sox jersey No. 11 is free again. Baby Boomers remember 11 as the Sox number of Frank Malzone and Luis Aparicio. Bill Mueller and Clay Buchholz wore it for world champion Red Sox teams in this century. Devers had it from 2017 until he was traded. 'Carita' is wearing No. 16 for San Francisco, only because the Giants retired Carl Hubbell's No. 11 in 1944.
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⋅ Devers is the Giants' best hitter since Barry Bonds. Here's a comparison of Bonds's first eight big league seasons matched up against where Devers stood when he was dealt to the Giants last week:
Bonds — 4,123 AB … .283 BA … 222 HR … 679 RBIs.
Devers — 4,074 AB … .279 BA … 215 HR … 696 RBIs.
⋅ Devers clearly deserves a lot of the scorn he's received in Boston, but some of the post-trade smearing was out of bounds. Nobody believes Devers cared about Kristian Campbell taking grounders at first base. Similarly, there was too much noise about Devers poisoning teammates in the clubhouse. He certainly set a poor example at the end, but largely kept to himself and had little impact on anyone else. Too many folks who've never been in a locker room made a big deal about Sox players not rushing to Devers's defense to speak up for him. This is a universal truth in professional sports. When you've gone, you're gone.
⋅ Can we agree that David Ortiz should no longer be taken seriously? Before taking to X to display photos of his unreturned texts from Raffy, Ortiz said, 'Devers disrespected the Red Sox and his teammates by arriving at spring training out of shape.'
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⋅ Intent on cramming in more commercials,
⋅ On the plus side for NESN, we had intrepid sideline reporter Jahmai Webster renting a kayak to broadcast live from the choppy waters of McCovey Cove.
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⋅ Does any professional athlete break more bones than
⋅ The Red Sox were swept in their May series in Detroit and won't see the Tigers again until the final three games of the season at Fenway. No one in baseball is sleeping on the Tigers. Detroit went 31-11 down the stretch last season and arrived at this weekend 51-31, tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball and good for a
⋅ I guess
⋅ Gleaned this nugget from Mike Sielski's 'Magic In The Air' book on the history of the slam dunk: In the summer of 1968, after graduating from high school in Roosevelt, N.Y., Julius Erving dunked over Bob Beamon in the middle of a pickup game at the Kennedy Rec Center in Hempstead. 'The whole gym fell on the floor,' reported Doc's high school teammate, Leon Saunders. A couple of months later, Beamon won the gold medal in the long jump at the Mexico City Olympics with a jump of 29 feet, 2½ inches, a world record that lasted 23 years. '[Beamon] probably would have dusted Julius in the long jump,' Saunders told Sielski. 'But going straight up? That was a different story.'
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⋅ Hope
⋅ Former St. Sebastian's basketball star AJ Dybantsa, an incoming freshman at Brigham Young projected as the No. 1 pick in next year's NBA Draft, is scheduled to
⋅ RIP Scott Miller, a terrific baseball scribe and wonderful man who died from cancer last weekend. A pillar of integrity and grace, Miller's latest book, 'Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter and Always Will,' is fresh off the presses and a great read.
⋅ Quiz answers: 1. 1968-69 Celtics vs. Lakers, 1973-74 Celtics vs. Bucks, 1977-78 Bullets vs. SuperSonics, and 2015-16 Cavaliers vs. Warriors; 2: Joe Cronin, Joe Medwick, Joe Gordon, Joe DiMaggio (3), Joe Torre, Joe Morgan (2), Joe Mauer, Joey Votto.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at