After the Dust Settles...

Yes, the Kendrick Perkin's trade is old news by now if you're a Celtic's fan. I wanted to wait a few days for everything to calm down or as titled above, for the dust to settle.
I wanted to see Green and Kristic atleast 1 game before I made any assumptions. As anyone from the older generations would say, "to assume makes an ass out of You and I." No ass-making here.
As most Celtic fans were, I was blindsided by the Kendrick Perkins trade. Losing Nate....mixed feeling on that one. We've seen Perk grown into a beast Center, not just scoring, but an above average rebounder and scary defensive presence. Some would say maybe Perk's best years were behind him after tearing his ACL in game 7 of vs. the Lakers last year, but I tend to disagree. It was great to have Perk back this season (a couple weeks earlier than expected). I felt as though our team was complete again, especially with Shaq nursing an achilles injury and Jermaine.....wait, where's Jermaine again? Bottom line, Perk being traded hurt. The only real upside to the trade was getting a young, talented player in Jeff Green. Kristic was great with the Nets a few years ago and was also making his way back from a knee injury that has kind of kept him below his potential the past couple years with Thunder. Overall, I think the trade was somewhat even, especially now that they say Perk will be out 2-3 weeks with his newest knee problem.
After watching Green and Kristic play their first game in a Green jersey, I was impressed. Green dropped 7 pts and Kristic had 9 pts and 6 boards (all offensive), even in limited time with foul trouble. I watched Green as a Hoya and was always one of my favorites. The night the Celts drafted him I was excited, until minutes later he was involved in the trade to the Sonics for one Mr. Ray Allen. So, yes, kind of a homecoming for Green. To me, he's a younger, raw version of Pierce, which is exciting.
Overall, I'm still not sure what Ainge was thinking getting rid of Perk and Erden on the same day. Hey Danny, remember Shaq and Jo are hurt? Haha. He had to have had something in mind. With a number of players being bought out, we can only hope Troy Murphy joins the Green. Although, I wouldn't mind having Leon Powe back either. Hell, let's take both. Chris Johnson just isn't enough. And yes, Sheed is staying retired (thank god). We don't need a center who shoots 3's, we need a defensive presence.

So for now we'll keep picking up the pieces and look foward to game 2 with the new guys....1 hour, 40 minutes from now. Who knows, maybe they finally got that first practice in? Expect more tonight. I do.