IS LOYALTY DEAD AND BURIED???

By QUETT WALKER

The NBA free agency season is here yet again and I’m sure that you have been hearing about the trades that have gone down.

So far we have witnessed the usual types of trades involving players, draft picks, contract and cash swaps etc. However, the biggest news is the fact that an unusual situation has presented itself where a coach has been traded for draft picks. That’s right folks, head coach of the Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers, has been traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for draft picks. Boston wasn’t done there. The savvy and gutsy President of Basketball Operations, Danny Ainge, orchestrated a blockbuster trade with the Brooklyn Nets. This involves trading Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry to the Nets for Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace, Marshon Brooks, Kris Humphries and Kris Joseph, along with future draft picks. Obviously, the biggest names involved in this trade are Kevin Garnett and - yes ladies and gentlemen - long time Celtic Paul Pierce.

The Boston Celtics have traded Paul Pierce!!! Sound the alarm?? The answer would have been yes 20 years ago but in this day and age, the answer would be an astounding no. Long gone are the days where players would have spent their entire NBA career with one team. Long gone are the days of the Magic Johnsons, the Larry Birds, the John Stockons, the Isiah Thomas’, the Reggie Millers, the Kobe Bryants, the Dirk Nowitzkis and the Tim Duncans, all of whom have had their tenures with one team. Nowadays, it seems like only the pursuit of money and championships are at the forefront of every player’s mind and presents significant damage and a blatant disregard for the game that is the NBA. In this new era, the cutthroat mentality of GM’s and basketball owners whose main goal is to operate their teams within the salary cap limit so as to pay as little luxury tax as possible, also presents a notable detriment and an indifference to the game that is the NBA.

As we have experience over the last 15 – 20 years, players and teams alike don’t care as they once did. The fact that the Knicks can trade Patrick Ewing, who was the face of that franchise at one point, still baffles many to this day. The Sonics trading Gary Payton is another shock that was sent through the NBA world. Everyone at the time would have surely expected these two players to retire with these respective franchises.

The GM’s and owners are not solely to blame here. As we have seen, players have colluded in an attempt to play together on the same team in hopes of being able to win an NBA championship. Although the most publicized instance of this happened with the Miami Heat in 2010 with Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, they have shouldered most of the blame and scrutiny for something that has been going on for many years now. Everyone seems to have forgotten the situation in 1996 when Charles Barkley went to the Houston Rockets to join Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in hopes of winning a championship. What about the situation in 2004 when Karl Malone and Gary Payton joined the Lakers to play with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in hopes of being able to lift that Larry O’Brien trophy? The majority seems to have neglected the fact that in 2007, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett came to the Boston Celtics to join Paul Pierce, which allowed them to win the championship that year. Also, many seem to have trouble recalling the signing of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash by the Lakers last year to play alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol which made them the instant favourites to win, and they may have been in the NBA Finals to compete against the Miami Heat had they not been setback with all of those injuries. 

The situation with Paul Pierce saddens me quite a bit as I’m one of his biggest fans and he has done quite alot for the storied Celtic Franchise; more than anyone else has done in the last 20 years since the days of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. However, Pierce is just another victim of the modern version of the no limits, no holds barred NBA.

We are in a growing trend today where loyalty has quickly gone out of the window and this saddens us true and die-hard NBA fans. Can the damaged image of the NBA be restored to the glory days where guys just played for the love of the game and GMs and team owners held loyalty in very high regard? 

That is yet to be seen but I wouldn’t count on it anytime soon. 

Don’t hold your breath ladies and gentlemen.