Boston Celtics: What Happens If Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce Retire?

Paul Pierce’s retirement is approaching. Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Flickr.com)

The Boston Celtics are rapidly approaching the end of the Paul Pierce–Kevin Garnett era.

Pierce, a career Celtic, is scheduled to become a free agent after next season. He’s owed a bit more than $15 million in 2013-14 and reportedly has no plans of retiring.

Garnett, meanwhile, is strongly considering retirement after enduing an injury-plagued 2012-13 campaign. A source told Greg Dickerson of CSN New England that Pierce has likely played his last game as a Celtic, which leaves retirement or trade as the two possible  alternatives. So, in a nutshell: Bet on Garnett to return, but hold your horses with Pierce.

Skepticism still exists with Garnett, though. He won’t have surgery on his left ankle. Instead, he’ll defer to rest. These nagging injuries are likely to resurface, though, and should Garnett give it a 19th go around, his brittle knees will also almost assuredly become a hurdle that he’ll have to overcome.

A Celtics team sans Garnett and Pierce is an eerie thought. Pierce has spent all 15 years of his professional basketball career in Boston and Garnett has spent his last six seasons in Boston. That’s a hard connection to break, especially in Pierce’s case.

As for the stats, Pierce averaged 18.6 points this past season after averaging 19.4 points in 2011-12. His decline hasn’t been as blatant as Garnett’s, who logged just 29.7 minutes per game this past season. That equals his lowest minute total since the 1995-96 season, when he was a rookie. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Garnett’s role is being relegated because of his limited mobility and thus, lack of production–14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds.

So, they’re both slipping in the effectiveness department, which is to be expected. And while the Celtics do have some talent to compensate, they don’t have an overwhelming amount of it.

Kevin Garnett could retire this offseason. (Photo Credit: Mark Runyon, Basketball Schedule)

Let’s go down the list:

Jared Sullinger turned out to be one of the biggest steals of the 2012 draft at the 21st overall pick. His season was cut short just as he was starting to come on, though, as back surgery in February put him on the shelf for the remainder of the season.

The Ohio State product averaged 6.9 points and 5.9 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per game. Scott Helman of the Boston Globe questions whether Sullinger could eventually mold into the next Garnett, which, I’ll admit, is bit bold. It’s premature to be even mentioning the two in the same sentence, but Helman’s speculation does show that the Celtics have high hopes for the steal of the 2012 draft.

Further, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Bass, Jason Terry and Jeff Green are all under contract through 2015. Green holds a player option for the 2015-16 season and of the four guys listed above, his role might be the most critical.

The final piece among Boston’s core is Avery Bradley, who will enter next season in a contract year. The 22-year-old guard averaged 9.6 points on 40.2 percent shooting in 28.7 minutes per game this past season.

Upon further review, the Celtics do have a strong nucleus of players. Not a nucleus that wows you, but a solid unit of players nonetheless. But outside of Rondo and Green, who averaged 17.8 points over his final 21 games of the regular season and 20.3 points in six playoff games, general manager Danny Ainge doesn’t have cornerstone-like pieces that can step in and replace Garnett and Pierce.

Bradley possesses potential, but he still hasn’t tapped into it. Bass has his bright spots. Terry is a glue guy. And even Green can’t be considered a building block until he avoids the injury bug.

The caveat: Boston has roughly $76 million on the books for the 2013-14 campaign. So, they don’t have much money to toss around, which likely means they’re stuck with their current corps. But if Garnett retires, the Celtics won’t owe him the $24-plus million over the next two years. That’s a chunk of money they could put towards bulking up their front line.

But we might be making a bigger deal out of the end of this era than necessary. The Celtics survived without Rajon Rondo from late January on. And despite a depleted Kevin Garnett, they managed to still stay afloat. Paul Pierce’s scoring prowess helped greatly, but they’ve proven to be a competitive team with two of their best players being injured or less effective.

At some point, though, the Celtics will be without Pierce and Garnett. The absence of the two will be definitely be noticed, but a new era might be a good thing for the Celtics.