The trade

There's been a TON (I measured, and it came out to exactly 2,000 lbs.) of discussion and debate since last Thursday as to whether the Boston Celtics' big draft day trade for Ray Allen was good or bad for the franchise.

Personally, a week later, I still vote "good."

It seems I hold the minority opinion and that most people have judged the deal to have been desperate and shortsighted, but I don't know... I think Ray probably has a couple more All-Star caliber years left in the tank, and I think that it's important that Paul Pierce has gone from the brink of demanding a trade out of town to describing himself as "thrilled to death" about the status of the team. Anyways, that was a long, wordy sentence that didn't get to the point of why I'm writing this post.

I'm writing this post not to praise Danny Ainge's latest move, but to mourn the loss of Delonte West in Celtic green.

Basketball-wise, my biggest problem with the trade is probably a nagging fear that Jeff Green or someone else we could've snatched with that 5th pick will become an NBA mega-star down the line and haunt us for the next decade-plus. But as an emotionally involved fan, my biggest problem with the trade is that I'm going to miss the hell out of Delonte West. I hope Sonics fans enjoy and appreciate one of my favorite players I've watched over the years.

It's not just that Delonte always played hard and tough, that he's a Great (with a capital "G") shooter, or that he's the rare guard who has a real knack for blocking shots. On-court attributes aside, D-West's also just about the coolest guy ever. And I'll close these ramblings with the following evidence to that end...

- The infamous Valentine's Day piece from ESPN.com
- "Delonte West, Uncut" on FSNE
- Delonte on the new ball/old ball controversy
- "WIAHHHHH HANGAHHHHH" commercial
- Delonte's contribution to the series of FSNE commercials with Lucky
- A YouTube mix - watch the whole thing for the clips of Delonte talking ("COOKIES!")