The trade shocked me. I love Perkins, as a player and as a guy. He is genuine off the court, and he works his tail off in games and in practice.

But, as we all know, the NBA is a business, and the Celts felt a deal had to happen.

The trade tells me a few things about the team’s outlook.

What We Learned

1. Kendrick Perkins would not have been retained after the season. The Celtics know that Perkins’s defensive prowess in the paint is a major asset, and Perk will likely garner numerous lucrative offers from teams willing to (over)pay for his services.

2. Boston is not worried about the Orlando Magic. Having Perkins gave the C’s a clear advantage over the Magic, since he could guard Dwight Howard. However, Orlando is still trying to find an identity after re-tooling their roster.

The Heat, Bulls, Lakers, Spurs and Knicks are all more relevant to the Celtics than the Magic, and these teams should be.

The Celtics have the personnel to let Howard score his 30 points and snatch his 15 rebounds, but keep guys like Jameer Nelson, Gilbert Arenas and Hedo Turkoglu in check.

3. The Celtics are not sold on Perkins’s offensive progression. Boston viewed Perkins as expendable simply because he was an offensive liability. Although he was able to hide his deficiencies through the play of the other starters, he was clearly a defensively oriented player.

Having both Rajon Rondo and Perk on the floor on offense was making the Celtics easier to defend.

Teams don’t mind leaving Rondo alone (daring him to take jump shots), and can shade off of Perkins, relying on the time it took Perkins to hesitate, up-fake, or take the ball to the floor.

Essentially, opposition had free defenders to prevent Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen or Paul Pierce from scoring.

4. Delonte West is an upgrade over Nate Robinson, and Boston knows it. Nate Robinson was only expendable because Delonte West is a better point guard (to back up Rondo), a more consistent offensive player, and a stronger defender.

This brings me to my next point, why the trade makes sense for the Celtics.

It Makes Sense

First, Nate Robinson, although fun to watch, a high-energy defender and a light-it-up type scorer, he was inconsistent offensively.

Enter West, who can do what Nate Robinson does defensively, and even more offensively. West is significantly larger than Robinson, and he has a skill set of a natural point guard.

The Celtics have never truly been able to find a back up for Rondo, and West gives the second-unit a desperately needed point guard.

Now, in terms of what the Celtics got: Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic.

Jeff Green is a good player. He has averaged just under 15 points per game in his young career, along with 5.8 rebounds per game.

The Celtics have been looking for somebody to replace James Posey since the lock-down defender and three-point specialist moved on to New Orleans, and they finally have found their answer.

Green is a tall forward, at 6-8, so he has the size to guard power forwards and small forwards (LeBron James, for instance), but the quickness to keep up with slashing 2-guards. Also, he has been playing at power forward, where he is slightly undersized.

On the Celtics Green will be able to play his more natural SF position, where the size mismatch is in his favor.

Nenad Krstic is young (27), but has seen his numbers take a dip this season. Nonetheless, he has averaged 10 points per game over his career, and is a player who (unlike Perkins) is an offensive threat with jump-shooting capabilities.

He is certainly not as much of a defensive presence, but at 7-0 he can block shots.

Also, people think that without Perkins the Celtics will be lost defensively.

Boston didn’t look lost without him for the first half of the season, and defense is as much about being mentally strong as it is about being physically capable (as in guys can step in, embrace a way of playing, and add to their game).

Let’s look at the starting lineup, post trade (assuming Krstic will have the starting job over Shaquille O’Neal).

Defenses now have four players to focus on, meaning less double teams keying in on the C’s “big three”. This makes the offense more dynamic.

Here’s the much improved second unit:

Jeff Green starts on almost any other team in the NBA, as does Delonte West. Von Wafer, for some reason, has been lost on the Celtics bench.

He has an average jumper but is explosive when driving through the lane, and Doc has consistently praised his defensive awareness. He is similar to Marquis Daniels in terms of abilities, but he has more upside.

Glen Davis will surely be in contention for sixth-man of the year, and he too could start on many teams.

The second unit is, quite frankly, the best in the NBA, and strong enough to compete with many first units.

Overall, the Celtics gained what they desperately needed, a young, healthy swing man who can play defense but also score. They lost out defensively, but Shaquille O’Neal is still in the mix, and if Jermaine O’Neal comes back, the team will have another big body to take up space.

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However, the Celtics obtained the rights to to an undersized big man who was considered overweight and borderline useless. After a year learning the ropes of the game from Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis emerged.

Currently, “Big Baby” is one of the league’s best sixth men. He can put points on the board, take charges and defend multiple positions. Essentially, he’s always the spark of energy for the generally older Celtics team.

As of now, it seems reasonable to consider Glen Davis a candidate for the sixth-man of the year award. Davis is currently averaging 10.8 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, .94 steals per game and 1.4 assists per game.

What makes Davis so dangerous is his versatility. He has the physical size to guard power forwards and some centers, but the quickness and speed to guard small forwards. Davis is quick to the ball and arguably the best player in the NBA at taking charges.

Charges are huge momentum swingers, and basketball is a game of runs and momentum. A charge results in a loss of possession (potentially a 5-point swing) and puts a team in foul trouble.

Considering Davis only averages 29 minutes per game, he is putting up some impressive numbers.

Critics and fans both figured that injuries to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Marquis Daniels played a major role in the team’s inconsistencies. However, the Celtics were the fourth seed in the East because of their amazing start to the season, when they were healthy.

See the problem?

Last season at this time, Boston was dominating the league. This season, although 6-2, the Celtics are getting thinner and thinner at Power Forward and Center. Last season, injuries triggered a period of late game collapses and blown double-digit leads.

Kendrick Perkins is out until January with the injury he suffered in the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaquille O’Neal is 38-years-old, and just one week into the season is suffering from sore knees.

Of course, Shaq’s injury problems are to be expected. He won’t be playing more than 15-20 minutes per game, and is very much a role player. However, Jermaine O’Neal was also sidelined with a sore knee.

I hope the Celtics’ training staff is giving the O’Neal’s some extra rest to make sure they can stay healthy for as much of the season as possible.

As of now, Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis and Semih Erden are the team’s only big men. Erden is tall, but he is also raw. This season is his fist in the NBA, and Garnett is no longer the 38-40 minutes per game rock he once was.

Essentially, the C’s are painfully thin at a place where they need to be deep.

Boston needs to get healthy at big man to remain at the top of the East, and the team cannot go the whole season with important players (whether role players or starters) on the bench.

Delonte West has two games left on his suspension, and Kendrick Perkins will be a massive boost (no pun intended) when he returns in January.

If the Celtics are able to maintain their high-level of play until they get some bodies back, they’ll be poised to make a run at the first or second seed in the East.

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However, they could have made runs at picking up guys like Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Mike Miller, Joe Johnson, or even Mario Chalmers.

I thought Joe Johnson could have been a huge pickup for Boston, but after signing a maximum contract with the Atlanta Hawks it was very clear that he was more interested in a big-contract and staying with his team than finding a place that had more talent or potential to win, which he could have done.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Lakers and Heat both have extremely talented rosters. Boston does have a lot of talent, but not the “sexy” talent like Miami or L.A. has with guys like Kobe Bryant, Wade, or James. Because of their current set of players, Miami and L.A. were able to pick up the second-third tier players like Blake and Miller, taking away players who could be pivotal on a Boston bench.

In grading an offseason, the fundamental question that needs to be asked is, did the team improve? Obviously the Cavaliers had a tough offseason…it would be very difficult to support and borderline unrealistic to say that the Cavaliers improved.

The Knicks, on the other hand, landed a very talented Amar’e Stoudemire who could bring some status to New York basketball.

Did Boston improve?

I would say yes, and although they could have done more, they certainly improved enough to keep themselves in contention for a title. Both Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal add depth where they clearly needed it last year, adding two very big bodies inside.

Depth  might be an issue towards the end December right before Kendrick Perkins returns, as exhaustion and small injuries may start playing a factor in player performances. Further, without Rasheed Wallace (retiring), the Celtics will eagerly await Perk’s return.

Jermaine O’Neal is a strong offensive player and can get rebounds, something the Celtics sorely needed when Perkins was injured/catching a breather. Shaq is a guy who can clog up the middle of, well, anything, including a basketball court.

The two will create a platoon to allow Perkins and Garnett to rest. While obviously not as defensively minded as Kendrick and KG, they will be able to pull down rebounds and score. Throw Glen Davis into the mix, and, when healthy, the Celtics have a very unique and dangerous combination.

I think the Celtics could have used another scorer off the bench. Right now their major threat is Nate Robinson and a lot may ride on guys like Luke Harangody (impressive thus far), and the oft-injured Marquis Daniels.

The major blow Boston will have to deal with is the loss of Tony Allen. Those who did not watch Tony play throughout the season did not realize his vast improvement, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, he became a guy who could drop some points by slashing to the basket while playing lock down defense on anybody, from LeBron to Kobe.

However, the Celtics drafted Avery Bradley. Although very raw offensively, Bradley is supposedly an NBA-ready defensive player, who should be able to cover one, two, and the smaller-sized combo-guard.

Overall, the Celtics would certainly have benefited from holding onto Allen and/or adding another perimeter scoring threat. The team didn’t have the high-profile pickups like maybe the Heat or even Los Angeles, but they certainly made their team better.

The offseason is not over, and for the Celtics to jump into the A range they’ll need to sign a small forward or shooting guard who can score so that the backup role doesn’t fall completely in the hands of untested players.

Grade: B/B+

Tony Allen possesses ridiculous athleticism, defensive intensity, and an upside as high as one of the elite 1-on-1 defenders in the NBA. This past season as a Celtic, Allen finally showed fans what he was capable of, especially in the playoffs.

His athleticism was shown by his beautiful finishes at the rim and a dunk during which he pulled his arm back and dunked around and over Anderson Varejao.

However, it was his defending that earned him a top spot on the bench.

Tony Allen was vital in the Celtics playoff run. He offered rest to Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, and slowed the likes LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, and on a lesser scale, Vince Carter.

Offensively, Allen was a player who could slash to the basket and on occasion finish with emphasis. While he is not nearly an offensive threat, he was a serviceable 4th or 5th option.

TA is a unique player in that he gives a team defensive versatility.

Think of him like Darelle Revis on the New York Jets.

The Jets have the capability to stick Revis 1-on-1 with any wide receiver in the NFL, knowing that Revis will succeed. This allows them to send blitzes to rush the quarterback or double cover other offensive threats.

Allen allowed the Celtics to do the same. In the Finals, he covered Kobe Bryant. While Bryant still put up points, Ray Allen and Tony Allen made him take many shots which were very much forced.

This lead to Kobe’s low overall shooting percentage of 40% from field goal range, and 31% from beyond the arc.

Against the Heat, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were both inconsistent when guarding Wade, but when Tony played against Flash, he not only allowed Pierce and Ray to get into an offensive rhythm (instead of overworking themselves defensively), but also made life very difficult for Wade.

Wade ended up scoring a remarkable 56% from the field, but T. Allen received limited playing time.

Defensively, the C’s only needed to concern themselves with Wade, the Heat’s major offensive threat. They knew they could let Wade go for 30 and still win through team offense, which Tony sometimes struggled with.

However, when he did play, there was a noticeable drop in Wade’s energy level.

While not always statistically shown, Tony Allen can go 1-on-1 with the best players in the NBA and allow other players to play a team/help defense.

With the new big three in Miami, Tony could have guarded Wade or LeBron, while the Celtics could double team the other. Kevin Garnett, although aging, can still handle Chris Bosh with the help of Jermaine O’Neal and when healthy, Kendrick Perkins.

Without Tony, the Celtics will presumably double James, which will put Wade in 1-on-1 situations with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Marquis Daniels. All are capable defenders, but with each one the Celtics sacrifice in a significant fashion defensively.

With Tony Allen, they wouldn’t have to.

Three of the top players in the entire NBA, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and of course LeBron James all on one team. That means 60% of the Heat’s starters are Olympic Champions.

Most people believe that makes the Heat the best team in the NBA, most certainly the East.

Overall I agree, Miami is not only the team to beat, but they clearly have the most talented roster, regardless of who they add. However, as of now, I would argue that the Celtics would beat the Heat, as would the Lakers. No, not just because it would be 5-on-4.

The Heat need to add a big man to play center.

Whether it be Shaq or another free agent big man willing to take a pay cut to win a ring, Miami needs a player who can bang around with the likes of Andrew Bynum, Kendrick Perkins and Dwight.

I think that is Miami’s primary concern as of now, and if they are able to find a big, bruising center, they will have a nearly completely unbeatable team.

Now, if they added a spot-up three point shooter like Mike Miller or J.J. Reddick, or even a slasher like Matt Barnes to come of the bench, they will be extremely dangerous.

No matter who the defense tries to double team, they will always be threatened by the long shot.

So right now, a healthy Celtic or Laker team is superior to this star-studded Heat team (which has not shown they can work together as of yet), but if Miami can find a way to make two or three acquisitions which add depth down low and give them another three-point shooter, they will be virtually unstoppable.

Losing a 13-point lead from the third quarter, suffering some frustrating calls from Joey Crawford’s crew, and running an offense that seemed stuck on isolations can be pretty painful.

Still, there is a lot to be proud of. Obviously, in Game Seven of the NBA Finals, winning is the only thing that matters, but I think it’s fair to say the Celtics had a great run in the playoffs to even make a Game Seven in the first place.

Looking back, every Celtics player has something to hang his hat on. Rasheed Wallace turned it on the playoffs, Rajon Rondo was clutch throughout the postseason, and, despite his offensive struggles, Ray Allen held the best player in the world to below 35 percent shooting. That’s resiliency.

Paul Pierce, trying to will the C’s back into it at the end of the game, couldn’t get a late call but still gave a gutsy performance. Kendrick Perkins was huge inside, Glen “Big Baby” Davis was, too, and Nate Robinson was effective off the bench.

Of course, Tony Allen, my favorite reserve, played great defense on #24.

Lastly, Kevin Garnett played well after being dominated in Games One and Two by Gasol.

There comes a point in time when you have to look at a basketball series and appreciate it for what it was, win or lose.

I will only complain about one thing—the calls that Pau Gasol gets are ridiculous. You cannot look me in the eyes and say that’s not true. Sorry.

There’s a point when I think the last game turned in favor of the Lakers. I think it’s going to be overlooked, but at the end of a quarter, Brian Scalabrine played terrific defense against Lamar Odom, forcing a bad Laker possession and an eventual airball.

Davis snagged the rebound aggressively, but he was unable to make a good pass to Rondo, and the C’s lost the opportunity to close the quarter with a bang.

The window might have closed on the Celtics, with the futures of Ray Allen, Doc Rivers, and even Pierce unknown, but you will always be able to look back to Game Seven and know you saw amazing happen.

As a Celtics fan, the team played well, they played with heart. The scoring should have come, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Credit the Laker defense.

Although, one must credit the Celtics’ defense, too. Throughout the course of the series, except for Game Six, the Celtics’ defense was solid.

For a team that was not supposed to make it out of the Eastern Conference Semifinals? A gritty Game Seven performance is not a devastating heartbreaker.

Sleep well, Celtics fans. There’s a lot to be proud of.

After each game, it seems like the winner has a mass of momentum in their favor. After Game 1, the Lakers looked unstoppable, but were dropped by the C’s in Game 2.

Of course, Boston looked like they were looking to end the series after winning the second game. Unfortunately, after a near pounding by the Lakers, Los Angeles seemed to be gearing up for another road victory which would put the Celtics in a choke.

Now that the C’s have won Game 4, it would be easy to say that they have lots of momentum on their side.

These two teams are so evenly matched, however, that one small drop in level of play by the Celtics will easily cost them a game.

The Lakers do have a slight advantage in this series as of now. They have to win two of the next three games (as does Boston), but they have two games at home to do it.

Andrew Bynum, however, is clearly not healthy, and the Celtics dominated inside after he was deemed ineffective in the latter part of Game 4.

Game 5 is on Sunday, so Bynum will have a couple days to rest his meniscus-torn knee, but Games 6 and (assuming there is one) 7 would be played with only one day of rest.

Picking a team right now to win the series is really just a toss up, but I like the Celtics to win.

They have played sensational defense, even in there losses. Doc Rivers has pointed out that offensively they have been getting spectacular, open looks, but have been unable to drop easy shots.

Naturally, basketball is a game of ups and downs, so if the Celtics go on a tear where they start making these open shots (Rondo missed 8 layups yesterday, and Kevin Garnett missed 4 usually automatic jump shots).

Also, Ray Allen has been slumping. I don’t expect another 8 3-point game from him, but I do think he’ll be back to nailing his open-look threes come Sunday.

Also, many don’t realize how well the Celts have defended Kobe Bryant.

He has scored 20+ points in all of the games thus far, but these are coming on 10-20, 10-25 shooting nights. As in, Kobe’s getting his points, but taking 50% more shots than he normally would to get there.

Tony Allen is harassing Bryant to the point where some of his threes look like Kendrick Perkins is taking the shots, and although Bryant has made some ridiculous shots over Ray Allen, he has been heavily contested.

Further, Kevin Garnett finally seems to be owning Pau Gasol in the post offensively, and the Celtics are playing Perk against Gasol when Bynum is out or Odom is playing.

This makes Gasol have to constantly bang it out with the strong, heavy and physical monster that Perkins is, and although Pau is not as soft as he used to be, the man is still not your “bang it out” big man.

The biggest advantage the C’s have though, is their bench. Glen Davis and Nate Robinson (as apparent) both bring massive amounts of energy to the game, and as already mentioned Tony Allen is a lock down defender.

Rasheed Wallace, sometimes inconsistent offensively, has the length and mental ability to get inside of Pau Gasol’s head, and Michael Finley, although he has not played, provides veteran leadership and a last resort spark.

The Lakers rely on Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown off the bench. Both players are good, but they don’t bring the same explosion the C’s bench can.

Also, LA has Lamar Odom off the bench, but he is very inconsistent, and after playing two rather solid games is due for a couple of tough performances.

I guarantee that in either Game 5 or Game 6, if not both, Odom will be a no show.

It sounds like the Celtics are just a hugely better team after reading all of their advantages, but one monster performance from Kobe Bryant or even Pau Gasol, and these advantages will easily be neutralized.

We all know that’s not far out of the realm of possibility.

I will also say this.

The refereeing in this series has been disgusting. (That’s really, really, really, really bad.)

Watch four possessions of the game, and you’ll find at least one blown call.

At least they’re not favoring one team though. They’re equally screwing both teams. Hopefully that changes.

Ending on a positive note, these next few games will be exciting.

Bold Prediction: Paul Pierce catches fire in Game 5 and drops 28.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have consistently outplayed and often dominated their opponents throughout this relatively unexciting playoff season.

Expect that to change.

The Celtics and Lakers are evenly matched. The Lakers can drop 100 points on any team, but the C’s can hold a group under 90 points on any given night.

It’s firepower versus firepower for these Finals games, and you can expect amazing to happen.

So, what will win either team a Finals?

It comes down to four key match ups.

Lamar Odom vs. Rasheed Wallace: Both players come off the bench for their respective teams, Lamar for LA and Wallace for Boston.

Both are extremely versatile, they can play strong defense, are viable threats to shoot the three point ball, and can post up smaller defenders.

However, both are also extremely streaky and fairly inconsistent. The team that has their sixth man play better in a game will win that game, because the Celts cannot match up with Lamar and the Lakers cannot match up with Rasheed.

Tony Allen vs. Kobe Bryant: Tony Allen was key in the Celtics victory over the Cavs, as he played strong defense on LeBron and was actually a threat offensively, driving to the basket.

Against Orlando, on the other hand, he was ineffective, as despite playing good defense, he was an offensive liability. If TA can get to the rim and play with some control offensively, the Celtics have a major option in stopping Kobe.

Kendrick Perkins vs. Andrew Bynum: Although Perk will be matched up against Pau Gasol for some possessions, the majority of Perk’s time will come down low against Bynum.

Andrew has a bum knee, and Perk is too strong and aggressive for Bynum to compete with without being at full strength.

If Boston can exploit this matchup, the Celtics will dominate the paint.

Rajon Rondo vs. Derek Fisher: Rajon Rondo is fast, quick and explosive, plus he’s playing the best basketball of his career. Fisher is old, slow, and will have trouble keeping up with Rondo, on both sides of the ball.

If Rondo can get to the hoop, draw fouls on the Lakers bigs, and shut down D-Fish as a defender, the Lakers will have trouble winning games.

Obviously, both teams will be relying on their superstars, but these three match ups will be very important in determining the outcome of the series.

I have the Celtics in 6.

LA has shown they can be exploited defensively after facing the Suns, while the C’s showed that if they played a poor game, they’d lose… surprise surprise.

LA won’t score 100 points night-in and night-out against Boston like they did against Phoenix, and their defense is not good enough to go head-to-head against the Celtics, who also have a deeper bench.

Most of all, I like the Rondo – Fisher match up, and I think Doc Rivers is a smart enough coach to exploit the hell out of it.

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Are the Celtics better than the Magic? That is, will we see games resembling the first part of the game, or the second part, when the Magic were dominating.

My answer is neither. There will rarely be occasions where you see the Magic or Celtics dominate each other as much as they did last night. Expect games to resemble the second quarter and the end of the fourth period, where the teams were going back-and-forth, with last minute plays playing a major part in the game’s outcome.

How can I say this confidently?

Well, looking at the game, the Magic had about a week before they had to play, and they have not played a legitimate game in almost a month.

Before playing the Celtics, the Magic had yet to lose a playoff game, and they were clearly rusty from their layoff after sweeping the Hawks.

They pulled it together in the 3rd, but were still rusty throughout parts of the game, missing open threes they generally drained (especially Rashard Lewis), while Dwight Howard could not get his and-1s to drop.

Expect similar defensive battles, however, as Dwight Howard and his Magic are a hellishly good defensive team, and KG’s defense is not a slacker either.

After seeing Game 1, I think the Celtics win in six games.

Paul Pierce has the ability to go one-on-one against Mikael Pietrus, Vince Carter or Matt Barnes and absolutely unload, as does Ray Allen, who was getting open at will beyond the arc.

Last year, you will remember, Ray Allen could not shoot the three against the Magic, so having him playing well will be a boost for the C’s (who also have KG).

Also, Rajon Rondo owns Jameer Nelson, and Hedo Turkoglu, who presented matchup problems for the Celtics, is in Toronto.

Lastly, Rasheed Wallace has proved over his career to be Dwight Howard’s Kryptonite, as his long arms and rebounding abilities test Superman’s.

Both the Magic and Cavaliers built their teams to best suit their needs against each other, meaning they expected to play each other in the playoffs.

Unfortunately for them, the C’s built their team to face the Cavs and the Magic, so Boston has a fundamental advantage.

The Celtics are healthy, and by winning game one in Orlando, have effectively earned home court advantage for the series.