When looking at the two teams who reached the Finals this year, it’s clear just how difficult it is to reach the pinnacle of the NBA. Look at the gauntlet that the Golden State Warriors had to navigate in order to reach their level atop the NBA pyramid: Stephen Curry improved dramatically since his rookie year and overcame his injury woes from a few years back, Klay Thompson turned out better than anyone could have expected, Draymond Green became the second best player of the 2012 draft after Anthony Davis despite being the 35th pick, and, speaking of the 2012 draft, the Warriors got two key players out of that Monta Ellis trade that anti-tanking truthers have been criticizing for four years. The Warriors traded Monta Ellis for an injured Andrew Bogut in order to preserve their draft pick that was top seven protected that year… and they drafted Harrison Barnes with the seventh pick.
On the other side, the Cleveland Cavaliers are only in the Finals because the best player since Michael Jordan decided to come home to Cleveland, marking the first time that a free agent in any sport has chosen Cleveland specifically because it’s Cleveland. Oh, and they also had to draw the first pick in the 2011, 2013, and 2014 NBA Drafts, producing Kyrie Irving and the two picks that became Kevin Love. Want to know what the odds were about of drawing those picks? About 74 out of 1,000. Sounds rare, doesn’t it? Well, the funny thing is that I lied, and you should actually divide that number by 1,000. The Cavs had a 74 in 1,000,000 chance of getting those picks!
In the NBA, you need a lot of luck to compete. That’s not taking anything away from the teams who are at the top of the NBA mountain, as I’m sure that Joe Lacob would try to kill anyone who suggested that the Warriors didn’t deserve some credit for being “light years” ahead of other teams. But you need a lot of luck and a at least one of the top five players in the league, otherwise a championship is a pipe dream.
The Boston Celtics know that, and they realize just how much farther the road to a title is. Without a top 50 player on the roster at the moment, the Celtics have decided to bank on their organizational structure and build a contender through that route.
The C’s recently extended head coach Brad Stevens and General Manager Danny Ainge, as owner Wyc Grousbeck realizes that the Celtics can’t compete without the organization itself having a great rep around the NBA. Players don’t only sign with the Miami Heat because of the weather, forgiving media, and lack of state taxes, although all of those factors are pretty nice. They also sign in South Beach for Pat Riley. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks may be able to offer teams more worldwide marketing opportunities than any franchise other than Manchester United and FC Barcelona, but players notice that those franchises are run by the Buss family and James Dolan.
Boston deals with a perception issue that few other teams do, as well. As Amin Elhassan candidly stated in ESPN’s 5-on-5 piece on the Celtics’ offseason plans, Boston battles a perception that the city isn’t friendly to young, black males. It’s a perception that the city has battled for a long time now, and it’s a perception that was absolutely true a few decades back. As a native of Boston, I feel that the perception isn’t the reality anymore, but it’s impossible to blame a person in the whirlwind of free agency for being reluctant to truly consider a city out of fear that he might not feel welcome there.
The Celtics can’t do much about the perception of Boston as a whole, but they can build up their image in the minds of players around the league. Players all talk to each other, and word travels fast when one organization gets a rep as a place that truly cares about its players. The Celtics may not find the right guy in free agency, either because of bad fit or a negative perception about the city as a whole, but players’ willingness to play in Boston will always matter, as Kevin Garnett demonstrated in 2007. Garnett, who faced racial problems in his native South Carolina as a high school student that he has admitted profoundly affected him going forward, waived his trade kicker to come to Boston in the summer of 2007. He took a chance on the Celtics because of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and an organization that seemed to know what it was doing. Luckily, the C’s did know what they were doing, and Garnett’s risk paid off. He is and forever will be a Celtics hero in Boston. The Celtics are beef themselves up as a suitor for the next player who faces a similar decision as Garnett’s.
