Will Paul Pierce end up wearing a different jersey next year? Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

As the Celtics try to evolve from the departure of Ray Allen, one must continue to ask the question, “Is the Celtics window for a title open or shut?”

The young tandem of Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo have looked mighty impressive in their summer league games, but is it nearly enough to improve a team that was one-win away from making the NBA Finals?

The Celtics still need to make more moves to compete with the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls when Derrick Rose returns from injury.

If the Celtics see their chances at a title in the impending season dwindle or come to a complete halt, I see four moves involving Paul Pierce that they can make to improve their roster for a title run the following year. Note that draft picks are not included. This is because of the obvious reason of the inability to determine how valuable a draft pick is without knowing the success of the team during the season.

1. Memphis Grizzlies http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=7zknsty

• Memphis Grizzlies receive: Paul Pierce
  

  Rudy Gay drives around Rajon Rondo Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

• Boston Celtics receive: Rudy Gay

Yes, the trade analysis shows the Celtics on the detrimental end of this deal. Pierce in no way however can be better in the future and will only decline from his current stature.

However, Rudy Gay still hasn’t surfaced the pinnacle of his talent. Gay is a very effective scorer and plays above average defense. He may not have the star power of other small forwards in the league but he can make an extremely beneficial partner for the quick tempo Rajon Rondo.

Gay is a much more agile player than the aging Paul Pierce and Rondo would serve much better with his ability compared to Pierce. This would be beneficial to a Memphis Grizzlies team who are on the cusp of championship run but need to fill the void of OJ Mayo’s shooting ability. Pierce may walk instead of run but he is still able shooter. Pierce would give the Grizzlies a better closer compared to Gay and a veteran leader in the locker room.

 2. Chicago Bulls http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=9derg8z

• Chicago Bulls receive: Paul Pierce, Avery Bradley
  

  Luol Deng playing tight defense against Paul Pierce Credit: Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE

• Boston Celtics receive: Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler

I know it is devastating for Celtics’ fans to see Avery Bradley go, but he can be excellant trade bait for any team willing to over compensate for the defensive specialist. This is Rondo’s team and with the Celtics going to the All-Star point guard, he needs a better option than Avery Bradley in the future.

Jeff Green may be a solid starter for the C’s in the future, but they need to make an addition to their front line once Garnett relinquishes his spot on the team with his soon approaching injuries/retirement.

Deng and Gibson give the Celtics much younger pieces to help Rondo pile up his assist numbers. Luol Deng is one of the more under appreciated players in the league, he’s a coach’s best friend, and younger than Paul Pierce.

Doc Rivers would certainly like his athletic play and basketball IQ. Yes, the Celtics may lose more in this trade depending on how good Avery Bradley turns out, but with Deng coming off his 1st All-Star appearance, the Celtics may enjoy the grit the current Bull’s players may provide.

3. Sacramento Kings http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=94zhllf

• Sacramento Kings receive: Paul Pierce
  

  Tyreke Evans celebrating with Marcus Thornton Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

• Boston Celtics receive: Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton

Tyreke Evans has become expendable by Kings’ management with the signing off Aaron Brooks and the cinderella story of Isaiah Thomas. Evans was largely pursued during the trade deadline from last season, and the Kings failed to trade away the former Rookie of the Year.

Evans has the makings of being a star in the association but growing pains arose from his inability to play one position well. He shifted from point to small forward and with the Kings being heavy in guards they need an effective scorer from a true small forward like Paul Pierce.

Evans and Thornton both are dynamic scorers and  together average 33.5 points per game. The Celtics can rebuild with 4 very good guards which makes excellent trade bait in the future to acquire a big man. If the Evans experiment does fail, the Celtics can simply not resign him and they still keep the dynamic shooting ability of Marcus Thornton while not having the much more expensive Paul Pierce.

4. Atlanta Hawks http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=8lqcnwf

• Atlanta Hawks receive: Paul Pierce, Fab Melo, Jared Sullinger
  

  Kevin Garnett defending Josh Smith Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-US PRESSWIRE

• Boston Celtics receive: Josh Smith, Zaza Pachulia

Both teams easily win in this deal. Josh Smith has threatened to leave the seemingly always a first round-exit in the playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks.

Under the leadership of General Manager, Danny Ferry, the Hawks are preparing for a rebuilding period with Al Horford as their center piece for the future. Pierce gives them cap room in the future while providing a bit of leadership that Josh Smith clearly lacked.

Fab Melo and Jared Sullinger are the jewels for the Hawks in this deal. Both are prime contributors in the future for whatever organization they will be a part of. The Hawks could groom Sullinger and Melo to work alongside with All-Star Al Horford and give them valuable pieces for a future trade or championship runs.

Now to Josh Smith:  He has been linked to multiple teams like the Brooklyn Nets, but why not the Boston Celtics. Josh Smith is a defensive freak of nature and gives the Celtics’ the blocking tandem of Smith and Garnett.

Smith is also a talent that can work alongside Rajon Rondo and build a more uptempo offensive for the often stagnent Celtics of the past few years. If Smith were to go to Boston, the Heat could very easily be shut down by the stellar man-to-man defense of Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Kevin Garnett, and Josh Smith.   Meanwhile, Zaza is just a filler for cap space, but gives the Celtics a hustler and a couple of fouls throughout the game. Something the Celtics have coveted on their bench for many years.

Overall, this trade makes most sense out of the 4 trade possibilities metioned, and the Celtics need to capitalize in the prime talent of Josh Smith and convince him to play 40+ games at the TD Bank Garden for many years before he commits to another team in the impending free agency period.

Apr 11, 2012; Boston, MA USA; Boston Celtics small forward Paul Pierce (34) shoots the ball against Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Joe Johnson (2) and power forward Josh Smith (5) in overtime at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks 88-86 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

The game started in Paul Pierce’s hands, so its fitting that it would end the same way as the final ticks ran off of the clock. The Captain and his troops were able to snag a win without their facilitator Rajon Rondo–something that many doubted that they could do.

Pierce snagged the jump ball from Atlanta and you could tell that there was a sense of urgency once he scored it. This was not the time for fun and games for these Celtics. This was probably as close to a must win game as they’ve faced in a while.

The two teams traded blows during the first period and it ended in a 24 all tie. Pierce had put up nine shots in the first period and had fifteen points to go with them. He was obviously going to be the catalyst for the offense tonight which isn’t anything out of the norm when Rondo is out. Paul Pierce is an adept ball handler and can play the point forward position if need be and that’s exactly what he did tonight.

Boston didn’t really get any offense out of anyone tonight besides Pierce who finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 assists. Because of that, Atlanta was able to key on to Pierce and force him into turnovers that cost Boston some points on the defensive end. They had 14 turnovers in all to 14 assists which is uncharacteristic for the Celtics. They are normally a team who plays at a slower pace and takes care of the ball well–Atlanta did a great job of speeding the game up forcing them to play uncharacteristically.

Most notably Jeff Teague, who finished with 18 points and two assists, had done a great job of pushing the tempo early in the game. The rest of the Hawks fed off of this and used their overwhelming athleticism as an advantage over Boston. They were able to accumulate an 11 point lead twice in this game.

As we all know, basketball is a game of runs and once the score was 65 to 54 that’s exactly what Boston did. Initially, they weren’t able to get any good looks because of Atlanta’s defense. Because of the absence of Ray Allen, Atlanta is able to collapse and key in on the paint and mid range area of the floor. Boston has only hit three three-point shots in this series and they’ve all come in this game. The most consistent shooter from outside the arch with no Allen is Paul Pierce.

The only way that Boston would be able to get easy buckets without Rondo’s penetration and Allen’s shooting would be to convert missed shot chances from Atlanta into points. Being able to defend down the stretch was key in the third period. The line up that Doc employed near the end of the third was Dooling, Daniels, Pierce, Bass, and Garnett. The combo of Dooling and Daniels were able to stifle the offense of Teague and Joe Johnson. This sparked the rest of the team into equaling that defensive effort and gave the Celtics a chance in the end.

Jason Collins fouled out in the fourth quarter early and Josh Smith was forced to step into the center role. Kevin Garnett was able to take advantage and Boston was able to claw and grind their way back into the game. Smith was reportedly sidelined with a sprained knee after a collision with Garnett. If he is out for an elongated period of time, that could be crucial for Atlanta.

The series has flipped back into Boston’s favor. They’ve taken homecourt from Atlanta without their best shooter and best overall player. The series should get interesting now. Game three is in Boston on Friday.

Celtics need these guys to come through this month.

After a month of December in which the Celtics jacked up their medical bill, the team managed to squeeze out a 10-4 record. What will they do in the upcoming month? Lets take a look at the competition. First off they have 14 games, just like they did in the previous month. There are two big differences, the first of which is how many away games they have. As we remember in December the Celtics had 10 road games. This month, the team will split 50/50 and have 7 home games and 7 away games. The home games last month were against sub .500 teams. In January, half of the home games are against teams with records above .500. This includes games against Portland, Atlanta, Dallas, and LA. As for the road games, half of those will be against above average competition as well.

I guess I will just break this month down week by week from Sunday to Saturday.

January 1st through January 2nd – Home against Toronto.
The Celtics have already taken care of this game with a great team victory against the Raptors who are red hot. Regardless to the loss of 3 key starters, Doc mixed and matched the right amount of every player available to secure the team their first victory of the new year.

January 3rd through January 9th- At Miami / At Atlanta.
Both of these games will be very difficult. In any road game, but these places especially, the C’s will have to get out in a hurry and keep a lead so the crowd can’t get involved. Pierce is suppose to be back so that should help in these games. In both games the Celtics will have to play mistake free basketball as both teams, but especially the Hawks like to take advantage on turnovers turned into fast break opportunities. For the team to take both of these games without what looks to be Rondo, KG, and maybe Perk and Eddie, would deffinitely be impressive.

January 10th through January 16th – At Toronto / Vs. Atlanta / At New Jersey / Vs. Chicago.
These games are broken into two sets of back to backs. The first of which is obviously Toronto and Atlanta. This is an afternoon game into a night game, so there is a little extra time to get back home for the Celtics. This will be the first visit of the year for the Celtics in Toronto. In the big three era the C’s have had no problem with games in Toronto and have gone 4-0. This is a completely different Toronto team, though, and are playing much better. Then we know that Atlanta put it to us on our home court earlier this year.
The next back to back is in New Jersey, and back home for Chicago. Again, this is not the most difficult back to back as the Celtics will be close to home, never the less it is still 2 games in 2 nights which will finish off their 4 games in 5 nights stretch. The Celtics struggled in New Jersey early this year when the Nets had all they could do to fine a player who was not injured to suit up. They will have to have a different approach to this game. Then in the 3rd game of the year, Boston put it to the Bulls at the TD Garden. We will have to see if the Celtics just plain old have Chicago’s number as they have waxed them twice this year.

January 17th through January 23rd - Vs. Dallas / At Detroit / Vs. Portland.
We have yet to see Dallas but they are pretty much the same team they are every year. The Celtics will just need to see how Dirk does and go from there. Dallas is a team who can hang 77 on a team in one half like they did this year against New Jersey, while at the same time they can get absolutely steam rolled by the Lakers. Who knows what will happen? The game at Detroit will be tough no matter what because the Pistons will want to play their best during the return of Sheed. The home game against the Trailblazers will be tough the way that team is playing at this moment with all of their injuries. I dont know how long they can keep it up, though.

January 24th through January 30th – Vs. Clippers / At Orlando / At Atlanta
Lets face it, in the game in LA against the Clippers, the Celtics manhandled that team with exception to late in the 4th where they choked the game away. I don’t expect the same when the Clippers have to travel to the East coast to play the Celtics. If the game at Orlando goes the way the 2 matchups thus far in this season have gone, the game will be a tough, low scoring, grind it out game that the team who has the biggest run in them will come away with it.

January 31st - Vs. LA Lakers
Needs little description. This will be the game of the year where the Celtics can officially see if they got what it takes to go the distance this year. Lets just hope the Celtics can put out a full team onto the court to make that measurement.

Predicted record for the month of January- At the worst, I can see the Celtics doing no less than 9-5. I will say 10-4 assuming all of these players struck by injury make it back throughout the course of this month.

I will come back to this at the end of the month and see what happened before breaking down the month of February.

(Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)