[Zen653]

Give me a break dreamer. By that point the Celtics will have to pay Rajon Rondo.

Read the Collective Bargaining Agreement. After a certain number of years with a team (usually three), a player can be re-signed for any amount, up to the league maximum salary. That's how the Knicks ended up with a payroll north of $120 million, even though the soft salary cap is somewhere at around $55 million. That's how your Lakers of the late 90s managed to pay everyone. It's called the Larry Bird Exception.

NBA Salary Cap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Boston's case, the Celtics could currently use the Bird Exception to sign Tony Allen to a 6 year maximum salary extension. Obviously the team won't do that, but the point is that players with 3+ consecutive years service time (without being traded or waived during those three years) do not count against the team cap for any purpose other than assessing luxury tax. By the time Rondo's contract expires in 2009-10, he will have played in Boston for five years, thereby allowing Ainge to invoke the Larry Bird Exception.

Now I'm sure there's some type of payroll number the Celtics won't want to exceed, but it's certainly possible for them under the league's rules to keep together Pierce, Garnett, a third superstar, and Rondo.

Ummm.. Pierce is not even in Kobe's league. Last time I checked, Kobe has 3 rings compared to Pierce's 1. Kobe is a Hall of Fame player, while Pierce is not.

Pierce thoroughly out-played Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals. In general, though, I agree with you that Kobe is a significantly better player. I've heard no one claim otherwise. As for the rings, Kobe never won one without Shaq, and he wasn't yet the player that he is today during L.A's referee-aided three-peat. Pair Pierce (or any All-Star swingman) with Shaq in his prime and he'd have the three rings too. Do you really think Kobe would have had more rings than Pierce at this point if he had spent the last 10 years on the Celtics? Supporting cast matters.

And, of course, Pierce is a Hall of Famer. The NBA isn't as rigorous as MLB when it comes to enshrinement. You don't have to be Jordan-Magic-Bird level good to make it into the Hall. Look at some of the names in Springfield (Joe Dumars, for instance) and it becomes clear that any player with at least 5 All-Star appearances and a championship gets into the HOF. (Some get in with less than that.) Pierce has crossed the 5 All-Star appearance/1 ring threshold and will get into the HOF on the first ballot. He also holds the NBA all-time record for consecutive free throw shots in the playoffs. I know that sounds like a lame record, but historians love that type of thing. Plus, he's now an NBA Finals MVP and has been involved in some of the greatest playoff comebacks in league history (overcoming a 20+ point 4th quarter deficit against the Nets and overcoming a 24 point deficit on the road against the Lakers.) He also gets bonus points for being a Celtic. The Hall loves Celtics and Lakers.

Kobe not a team player?

Do you see how he scowls at his teammates in the open floor? He yells at anybody who doesn't catch one of his bad passes. Don't take it from me, read Phil Jackson's book. Don't you think Jackson would be in the best position to comment about his own player? Kobe is one of the most hated players in the league - hated by his own team. He forced Shaq out of L.A, tried to force Bynum out of L.A, then tried to get himself out of L.A when he couldn't win anything alone. Only Memphis' gift of Pau Gasol quieted Kobe and don't be surprised if that changes too.

He did pretty good this year leading without Andrew Bynum. With Bynum healthy, the Lakers are the favorite next year, not the Celtics.

The Lakers were favored this year by you and 7 out of 8 ESPN experts. How did that work out?

Defense wins championships. The Lakers don't play defense. Until that gets resolved, the Celtics are still the better team. Counting on an 18-19 yearold kid coming back from a season-ending injury to be the difference between a championship and a 39-point blowout seems like wishful thinking. This Lakers team would have lost to Cleveland, Detroit or Boston in the Finals because all three of those teams play excellent defense. New Orleans also would have been a tough match-up for L.A in the Western Conference Finals. San Antonio might also have one final run in them in 2009. For whatever reason, the Spurs excel in odd-numbered years: championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007.