From "Big Three" to nobodies

Courtesy of nba.com

Boston Celtics fans are now bracing for what could be a prolonged period of mediocrity.

First, veteran coach Doc Rivers fled Beantown for Hollywood glitz to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, reports are that the Celtics are trading away the remaining members of their "Big Three" -- Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- along with Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets for three future first-round draft picks and five players including Keith Bogans and Kris Humphries (the guy who gained fame for being married to Kim Kardashian for 72 days).

Translation: the Celtics are gunning for draft lottery ping pong balls, not NBA titles.

Honestly, I didn't think Boston would give up like this. After all, this is the franchise of Red Auerbach, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. If the Celtics had two losing seasons in a row, it would have been a cause of great concern from the Back Bay to Boston Harbor -- which makes me wonder how Boston survived eight consecutive losing seasons from 1993-94 to 2000-01.

Now, it seems like Celtics general manager Danny Ainge -- himself a great player during his Boston Garden days -- is more interested in having his team emulate the Cleveland Cavaliers after LeBron James' departure than try to stay competitive in the mediocre Atlantic Division. Hell, he's even trading away three of his best players to one of his divisional rival in order to acquire a bunch of warm bodies. And who is to say that Ainge doesn't look for a place to trade Rajon Rondo to once Rondo's knee fully heals?

Frankly, it's just going to be too weird to see the Boston Celtics -- arguably one of the greatest franchises in any North American professional team sport -- wallowing with the likes of the Washington Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats and Toronto Raptors near the basement of the Eastern Conference. It will be like watching the New York Yankees challenge the Miami Marlins for the worst record in baseball, or the New England Patriots suffer more losses than the Cleveland Browns.

But this will be the Boston Celtics' fate, and it's going to be ugly. Possibly as ugly as the 1996-97 season (15-67 record).