"Danny Duh's" Dense Acquisition of Telfair Will Hurt Celtics in the Long Run

Maybe it's me, but I just don't understand what possessed Boston Celtics general manager, Danny Ainge, whom I have affectionately renamed Danny "Duh," to pull the trigger on a trade that brought the C's the talented, but heretofore, enigmatic, young point guard Sebastian Telfair when the Celtics already have an exciting young player, not to a mention much more mature and responsible one, in promising point guard Delonte West.

In Ainge's haste to transform the Celtics into more of an up-tempo team, similar to the Phoenix Suns (like every other team in the league these days, it seems) "Duh" acquired Telfair and forward/center, Theo Ratliff, a competent veteran player who, unlike Telfair, will help the Celtics immediately.

Now don't get me wrong, I think the Celtics transaction did help them on a couple of fronts. First and foremost, they unloaded the hefty contract of the uninspiring Raef Lafrentz, who is nothing more than a near, seven-foot, three-point shooter.
However, I think Ainge's acquisition also hurt the Celtics from another standpoint.

First of all, Boston wanted to transform West into a point guard after the smooth lefty played the shooting guard position throughout his college career at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, which, in itself, was not a bad move. West is not a 6-5 wing player and at only 6-3, would have been an undersized shooting guard in the NBA.

However, after two years of honing his skills at the point, and becoming a legitimate starting quality point guard, the Celtics want West to take a back seat to Telfair, who comes to Boston with plenty of fanfare from his highly publicized high school days in New York City, but nothing else, besides a growing reputation as a head case that was recently helped along by some strange events surrounding his stolen $50,000 necklace and possible retaliatory-connected shooting of Hip-Hop star, Fabolous.

Personally, I don't care for Telfair, or his off-court drama which also includes an arrest last February for carrying a loaded gun in a bag on the Portland Trailblazers private jet, which he wisely claimed belonged to his then-girlfriend - and that he had accidentally grabbed the wrong bag.

Either way, I just can't rationalize "Duh's" decision to change point guards after putting so much time and effort into West, who is twice the shooter - and obviously has twice the character - of Telfair. Not only that, but now the Celtics are lying for a young man they barely know, turning themselves into flea-infected carriers who have already gotten bitten by laying down with Telfair.
At the Celtics recent preseason game against the New York Knicks, the Celtics public relations staff told media members that Telfair left at halftime because of "sickness" when, in reality, it was because New York police wanted Telfair to look at a lineup of suspects.

This week, both Ainge and head coach, Doc Rivers, defended their actions - and lies - while simultaneously trying to defend the transplanted Portland Jailblazer.

I'll admit - I could be wrong here and Telfair could turn out to be both, a quality player and peron, but for some odd reason, I can just see Telfair turning out to be another version of his cousin, Stephon Marbury, who was another highly publicized point guard out of New York and has been nothing but trouble since he made his NBA debut.

Maybe it's me, but I sure do miss the days of Bob Cousy, JoJo White and Tiny Archibald. Heck, I'd even take a backcourt of Ainge and Rivers at this point - just not a front office of the pair who are proving themselves to be quite incompetent in their respective capacities as GM and coach.