As a Celtics fan I never thought that I would actually hear myself saying this but the team is actually worth watching this year. The additions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett have single handedly turned a franchise that had largely been forgotten since Larry Legend's retirement into an instant contender in the horrific Eastern Conference.

The fact of the matter is this: Danny Ainge may be a terrible executive but the trades for Allen and Garnett all of the sudden make him look like the most intelligent guy on the planet even though we all know the opposite is true and in reality he made these moves for the same reason that every bad and below average executive (regardless of sport) makes moves to save his own skin and to keep the pink slip from coming his way at the end of the season.

The questions that now need to be asked are: Will these moves appease the superstar talent? (clearly it has) and the other question that needs to be asked is can three players who are used to being leaders on the floor "play nice" and share the ball and quite frankly only time will tell on either of these questions.

As for the question of whether or not they have the potential to be NBA champs the answer is quite simply yes that they DO have the potential and that it IS possible for them to reach that milestone because if one thinks about it how many teams in the East are going to be able to compete with them besides Detroit? And possibly Miami? There are no legit contenders in the East to compete with Boston other than those two teams I mean Cleveland did NOTHING to improve their squad, the Knicks are in salary cap hell (I know I know Boston is too but they just got there, New York's been that way under Isiah "I can't run a team without running them into the ground" Thomas for years.) Toronto? No. Ever since Vinsanity left that team hasn't been the same and although I'll give Bosh his due he is a great player but he can't carry that team on his own he's going to need help. Orlando? Like Bosh in Toronto Dwight Howard won't be able to carry the team on his own Jameer Nelson will really need to help out if Orlando wants to avoid another mediocre season.

In conclusion, if all goes well (and with the moves Boston made it should go well) The C's should be one of the leading if not THE leading contender in the East and provided they don't choke come playoff time (because history is not on their side as far as getting past the first round goes in the Paul Pierce Era they don't get to the second round often having won only three playoff series since Pierce was drafted in 1998) so here's hoping the moves pay off and then maybe they can finally hang that 17th championship banner in Boston.