Someone has to spoil the party, might as well be me. The Celtics won't win it all. Easy to say, I know, we're only into our third week of the season. But annointing them as the next great franchise is silly. They'll do very well during the season, exceedingly well against teams that have little talent and and diminishing motivation. But they aren't built to last. Not as constituted anyway.

They have two problems:

The Trio.

The Rest of the Team.

Problem with the trio is simple: Age. Paul Pierce is 30 and coming off his first injury-riddled year. He's playing as many minutes or more as he ever has. Kevin Garnett is 31 and is playing many minutes, too. Last two years he's been nicked a little with no serious injuries. That said, his game depends on his athleticism and the minutes without rest will wear on him. Ray Allen is 32. And has a history of brittleness, britality, brittlofcity... he's gets hurt a lot.

It is easy in the short haul for them to show up and win. When the playoffs come and the Trio is tired from 40-minute nights those hand-to-hand combat battles with the likes of Duncan will seem like swimming against the tide carrying a 200-pound pack. Which brings us to the other issue.

The rest of the team is worlds apart in talent than the Trio. That shouldn't be surprising but what it means is that to win games the Trio must play all those minutes. They need to find/develop three players that can be on the floor and take some of the heat off the Trio. Is Eddie House one of those guys... maybe. James Posey... meh. What they need is for Kendrick Perkins to become one of those guys. He has to play 30 competent minutes. Be someone the opposition can't leave alone, hit the boards and play good defense. Rondo has to hit shots, so they can't leave him alone, play great defense as defensive basketball starts above the arc. The third guy they need to move forward is Scalabrine. Did you laugh? Were you shocked? I'm kidding. They need Tony Allen to get back to where he was a season ago, without the turnovers. Be able to spell Pierce and Allen, play tough defense and run the other team ragged. If not, they have to find players and that will cost the future, setting up the Trio as a quick flameout before the green goes back to the lottery, if they miss.