Are the Boston Celtics Once Again on the Cusp of Rebuilding?

Is this the end of the line for this incarnation of the Boston Celtics? Any longtime Celtics fan sees the eerie similarity to what is happening to this year's Boston Celtics and those great Celtics teams of the 1980s. The difference between those Celtics teams and this team is that they had already played a number of years together before age and injuries caught up with them. Thus, the Celtics of the 80s with the nucleus of Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin Mchale had a long run of success, playing in 5 finals in a 7 year period and winning 3 together.

The so-called "new big three" had all passed the age of 30 when they started playing together. After winning the title in 2008, Kevin Garnett had injury problems the following season, which included him being held out entirely of the 2009 playoffs. The Celtics then lost to the Orlando Magic in the second round. Additionally, Leon Powe, an integral bench player in the title run of 2008 was also out with a knee injury.

After the Celtics championship in 1986, the handwriting was on the wall for that team. Bill Walton, who had resurrected his career with a 6^th man of the year award in 1985-86, once again had injury problems in the 86-87 season. Kevin Mchale was also injured throughout the 87 playoffs and finals, which he attributes to shortening his career, by playing when he should have been sitting. Larry Bird was beginning to develop back problems. He never played a complete season after the 85-86 campaign, including missing all but 6 games of the 88-89 season.

We now see the same thing happening to the Celtics of today. Kevin Garnett is sitting frequently. Paul Pierce has to sit from time to time with injuries. Ray Allen keeps soldiering on, as the elder statesman of this big three, much like Robert Parish.

There is probably not a Celtics fan out there who regrets putting this team together, as the Celtics were able to win another title. The unfortunate part about it is that it happened at a late point in this big three's careers, where the possibility of putting a string of championship runs together was limited by Father Time.

It seems as if the Celtics have been rebuilding since 1986. They have had this resurgence where fans have once again come to enjoy winning and a rowdy Garden. It seems like a passing dream, however, as the Celtics are now looking at rebuilding again while their new big three are breaking down and dealing with age and wear and tear.