Once the celebrating is done, Ainge has to get back to work

By: Byron Parker

While the Boston Celtics are still basking in the glory of their NBA Title, the off-season is basically here and Danny Ainge will have a few things to sort out. A successful off-season from last year brought home a title, and even though Ainge probably won't be looking to make any drastic changes like he did last year, he will still be looking to keep his team well-structured. Now that they are considered a championship caliber team, they must remain that way and depending on how the team looks at the beginning of next season, that will determine whether they still have what it takes to remain the championship caliber team that they are now. With many key Celtics becoming potential free-agents the off-season will be the Celtics only challenge going into next season.

A repeat isn't out of the question for this franchise. The Big Three are all signed up until 2010 and players like Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The core of this team won't be affected next season. But there are six players who become potential free agents over the off-season--Sam Cassell, P.J. Brown, James Posey, Scot Pollard, Tony Allen and Eddie House. All of these players have played a crucial role in the Celtics being able to bring a title back to Boston; whether it was in the regular season or the post-season. The only name that really doesn't really stick out at you in terms of importance to Boston's run at the title would most likely be Scot Pollard--no disrespect to Scot. The chances of him remaining in a Celtics uniform is very slim. He can be effectively used to take up space in the paint for another team, but the Celtics really don't show any need for him so he'll most likely be gone next season. Hell, retirement could be the next step for him if you consider his career not having an upside what so ever. If you look at P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell, their age is catching up to them as well and they may be pondering retirement. P.J. Brown was called out of retirement and his presence helped the Celtics in many ways, but he has his ring now and retiring may be his next option. It is tough to see Brown coming back, especially considering the talent that's on the bench with players like Powe, Davis, etc. He's 38 years old and winning the NBA Title maybe the icing on the cake for his career. The same standards apply for Sam. He's also 38 and he was basically called in to bring his veteran presence to the team, and guide Rajon Rondo in the post-season. That he did, and now it may be a wrap for his career. The Celtics will probably look to get younger rather than older, and Cassell wouldn't help out that case.

The most important name of the bunch is James Posey. Posey showed off his importance to this team by playing solid basketball throughout the season, and turning it up a notch in the playoffs. He was a constant threat on the floor for Boston as he was able to lock-down the offensive threats on the opposing teams, while he came up big offensively himself. He scored about 9 points a game in the Finals while playing about 25 minutes. He's a gamer and after helping teams like the Miami Heat and the Celtics win NBA Titles, he would be hot in the free-agent market if he were to opt-out of his two year contract with Boston. With this said, he most likely do just that. After teams see a guy like that come up big in his years of playing in the playoffs, they wouldn't mind having a piece like that on their team. He's not just a veteran presence--he contributes to his team by scoring, playing defense and he is sometimes reliable in crunch time. If he is open in the corner for a three and your team is in need of a big basket, Posey can hit it for you. James is important to the Celtics, but if he gets another offer from another playoff contending team that's hard to refuse, then I see him out of Boston next season. It's no secret that the team would love to keep him on the roster but his list of suitors may be pretty long.

Tony Allen and Eddie House are also two names among the ones mentioned in the list of potential free-agents coming out of Boston. House has hopped from team to team throughout his NBA career, and there is question to whether or not he will be a Celtic next year or not. He is a solid guard who is always prepared to play and can come in at any time to put up some quick points if you catch him on the right night. When Cassell injured his wrist and Rondo struggled in the playoffs, House came right in and made his presence felt. During the Finals, House saw 19 minutes a game and used them to his advantage by putting up 8 points a night. With his ability to quickly pull the the trigger from the perimeter, he can definitely help a team out with offense off of the bench. If I was Ainge, that would be a guy that I would look to bring back, for the fact that he brings so much more energy off of the bench than people think. He isn't a bad guy to have sitting on your bench. But with his history in not really having a home, he may not be back. Ainge may feel better knowing that he can do better than House with him earning about $1.5 million. And I feel that teams may be looking at him to lock him up for a couple years longer than the Celtics held onto him. In Allen's case, Gabe Pruitt may be ready to step in to take over the back up point guard position behind Rondo. That leaves Allen in a tough situation. But it's not like Allen didn't have any sort of presence on the court. He played his role as a reserve and though he made mistakes, those were only mental blunders that can only be fixed with experience. With only three years in the league and knee injuries that forced him to miss time in his career, he can only get better as a player. But the decision to bring him back sits on Ainge's shoulders. It's no secret that Ainge would like to see more out of Allen, but how patient will he be with him? He is a restricted free-agent and there is no telling how his situation will fair out. It's really a toss-up for him. For some reason, I believe that the Celtics will keep him for his consistent defense and his energy. But if a team offers him a deal that the Celtics are unwilling to match, then say bye-bye to him.

If/when the Celtics organization figures out what is going to happen with these potential free-agents, then there will be a lot of shoes to fill on the bench. They will have the last pick in the NBA Draft and whoever they choose will most likely be the next step in rebuilding the bench. Some minor off-season signings may help that out as well. But Ainge will have another busy off-season this year. He doesn't have to bring in anymore big names in order to win another NBA Title, but pending on the decisions made by those in the front office regarding the potential pool of free-agents coming out of Boston, there will be a search for role players who can come in and do what they are called upon to do. After all the celebrating is completed, Ainge will have to go right back to work and decisions by himself and the players will have to be made. It'll be an interesting off-season for the NBA Champs.

The future will be bright in L.A.

By: Vince Vitale

Despite Boston's six game dominance of the Lakers, their future still looks bright. Especially considering the fact that they made it to the NBA Finals without Andrew Bynum. Drew was their starting center at the begining of the year and will be back next year, along with the all of other starters. Now close your eyes and imagine--Fisher pushing point, the closest thing to Michael Jordan at the other guard, and the versatile Lamar Odom becoming a dominant small forward. Pau Gasol will most likely slide down to the power forward spot where he belongs and Bynum will return to the starting line up. He will be the dominating inside presence that the Lakers lacked this year. He will compliment the frontcourt players so well, that the team can only become better. The Lakers will surpass Boston's bench because Cassel and PJ Brown will likely retire. Kobe will have another MVP type season and the Lakers will begin their quest to becoming a dynasty.

Now the important thing is keeping the pieces of the puzzle together. Look for Laker management to draft a scoring type combo guard to come off of the bench. As the West continues to get older, the Lakers can remain the favorite. Steve Nash is past his prime, so the Suns aren't the same threat that they used to pose. The same case can be made for Tim Duncan and the Spurs as well. The Mavericks have chemistry problems with their team and New Orleans is still one peace away from contending. Meanwhile in the East, Detroit should fall apart soon--for better or worse, and the Cavs need to find the Robin to Lebron's Batman.

With all this being said, a repeat of this year's Finals are very realistic as of right now, and I see the Lakers getting their revenge.

Minaya's firing of Randolph is pitiful

By: Byron Parker

Disgraceful, Pathetic, Classless.

These are words that can describe the way that Willie Randolph was fired from the managerial position of the New York Mets. It's really a shame that Willie had to hear his name in the air like this for these past several months; especially after the terrible collapse that the Mets suffered from the last 17 games of last season. They had a seven game lead in the NL East division with just 17 games to go but his players struggled to hold it by going 5-12 during those last few weeks and they ended up losing the division on the last day to the Philadelphia Phillies. But how much of that should be put on Willie? He had his team playing good baseball up until that point and they were arguably one of the best teams in the NL in 2007. They just happened to go into a funk during the last stretch of the season, causing them to lose the division. The fact of the matter is that they still finished at a 88-74 record, two games under 90 wins and 2nd in the NL East. Not a bad record for somebody who was in their 3rd career year as a manager.

Yes, it's understandable that New York wants their teams to be on top of things but it can't always happen. The way that the Mets got impatient with Randolph is ridiculous. Firing him when they were only one game under .500 (34-35) and winning 3 of their last 4 games was just classless. Randolph was literally a base hit away from the World Series in 2006, when Carlos Beltran had the opportunity to send the Mets to the promise land, but instead he decided to look at a two-strike pitch right down the middle of the plate. Ever since that, the Mets have had expectations that have been very high but they haven't been able to meet them. Is that the manager's problem or the players? If you've seen the way the Mets have played for the past 9 months, then it looks as though the players are responsible for that because they've looked like a mess at times this season. Just mental blunders that can only be fixed by the players, not the manager. We know that the Mets are a skillful team, but they haven't had their heads together since last years meltdown.

Whether or not it was Randolph's fault in not getting his team in the right mindset to battle with the NL East, the way he was fired was pathetic and classless. They waited until they got to the West coast to fire him so he can't at least be comforted by family when he recieved the news. The guy has been under scrutiny for the longest and he has had pressure on him since last year. If there was a right time to fire the guy, it was after last years meltdown. Therefore, he could of had the opportunity to find another job in the time that he was unemployed. But instead, he has to wait for the right job opening which we don't really know how long that will take. The Mets weren't playing terrible baseball when he was fired; they were just falling behind quickly. But Omar Minaya was just too impatient and he decided to hit the panic button, well before the season could have been decided. They have yet to fall out of contention and they still have the team that can get them right back in the race. With the Phillies running away with the division, they Wild Card spot is yet to be decided and the Mets have a chance to take that spot away. But for some reason, the Mets management feels that they should be like the Yankees and be the team that owns their division, but just because they're from New York doesn't mean that they have to be like the Yankees.

They could've waited until the all star break to see where they were at. Minaya should be gone because he is the one that put together this team who he thought would've been the "new" NY Yankees. Instead, it's full of a bunch of overpaid, overachievers who never showed any disliking of Randolph and they've continually stated that Randolph wasn't the problem with the Mets struggles. He has had their support over the past year or so, and Minaya still feels that it's Randolph's fault. Yeah Omar, you're real classy.

With this going on, I hope that the Mets go on to play terrible baseball and go on to finish under .500, just to show Minaya the mistake that he made. Karma will play a factor in this firing. I'm hoping an NL team will hire Randolph so that he can beat up on the Mets every year and knock them out of the playoffs. That is how much I am disgusted in the Mets management.