On January 1st of last year, fans of the green and white were dreading the final four months of the NBA's regular season. The Celtics were about to be involved in an intense race. Not a playoff race, but a race with the Memphis Grizzlies for the NBA's worst record, and therefore the best chance to land the number one pick in the June draft. The ultimate prizes in this draft were Greg Oden, a center from Ohio State who some viewed as the second coming of Bill Russell, or Kevin Durant, the flashy forward from Texas destined to become and NBA superstar. Either one of these players could change the entire face of any franchise for years to come. Both had decided to leave college after just one year.
When the day came around for the draft lottery, Celtics fans were extremely disappointed when their club received the number 5 overall pick, the lowest they could have gotten. All those months of losing had been for naught. They could get neither of these young game changers and whoever they did pick would make limited contributions on a team already with so many young players. They essentially had two options: 1) trade superstar scorer Paul Pierce and start from scratch of 2) use their surplus of young talent to trade for another superstar in the same boat as Pierce- being a great player on a bad team.
In the weeks leading up to the draft, the rumblings started. The Boston Celtics were among one of a handful of teams trying to acquire forward Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. They appeared to be the front runners, but Garnett made it clear he would not accept a trade to Boston. The talks cooled and the Los Angeles Lakers became the front runners. With the draft fast approaching, speculation continued to mount that the Celtics would trade their pick. This became a reality on draft night when they sent the number 5 overall pick, guard Delonte West, and forward Wally Szczerbiak to the Seattle Supersonics for star guard Ray Allen and the draft rights to forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis.
This deal paved the way for the ultimate franchise-changing move: acquiring Garnett from Minnesota. The addition of another superstar in Allen to compliment Pierce changed Garnett's entire view of the situation in Boston. He agreed to a trade that sent him there in exchange for forwards Ryan Gomes and Al Jefferson, guards Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair, center Theo Ratliff, and two first round draft picks. With this deal, people around Boston were excited for the season and banking on a return to the glory that they experienced in the 1960's and 1980's. Garnett had a terrific track record before even setting foot in Boston. He is one of five players in history with at least 19,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists.
The only other people to ever do that were Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem-Abdul Jabar, Karl Malone, and Charles Barkley. People began dubbing Allen, Pierce, and Garnett “The New Big 3” after Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, and Larry Bird who led the Celtics to the 1986 NBA Title. “The New Big 3” lived up to the hype, beginning the season 26-3 in their first 29 games, rejuvenating basketball talk in Boston.
