Buck bleeds Green
Tattooed vet Terry: ‘I’m a Celtic for life’
MILWAUKEE — It didn’t make any impact in Games 3 or 4 here, but there will again be a Celtics leprechaun on the Bucks bench for Game 6 tonight.
The tattoo Jason Terry got when he signed with the Celts in 2012 remains on the inner left arm of the veteran guard.
“It’s on there,” said Terry, who’s been a DNP after playing in the first two games of the series in Boston.
“I tried to rip it off the other night,” he said with a smile, “but it wouldn’t go.”
The tattoo is of the Celtics logo holding aloft an NBA championship trophy. Terry got the elaborate body art shortly after signing a three-year free agent deal beginning at the $5 million mid-level exception. Danny Ainge brought him in to help fill the void left by Ray Allen, who’d bolted for Miami, leaving a trail of hard feelings in his wake.
Terry was joining Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and he was clearly excited about going for a championship ring to match the one he’d gotten as part of the 2011 Mavericks.
But all his Boston hopes and dreams dissolved when Rajon Rondo tore his right ACL and the Celts were dispatched in six opening round games by New York. A little more than two months later, Terry was swept out in the Brooklyn trade with Pierce and Garnett as the C’s went for a big dig rebuild.
He has a 10.2 ppg average in 26.9 minutes with 24 starts to show for the 201213 season. And the tattoo.
And, rather surprisingly for a 40-year-old shooter who’s been on seven teams and played for six of them, that one year — and the ink — still mean a lot to him.
“I’m a Celtic for life, man,” Terry said while still part of the effort to defeat that club. “I can honestly say that when you’re a part of an organization that is a championship organization and first class, it’s something that you’ll always cherish and remember.
“Though we didn’t have the success that I thought we would have, I’ll (never) forget being in Game 6 at home and New York blew us out. But by the end when everyone knew it was over, the fans were unbelievable. It felt like we were up 30. They were going crazy for us, and those are things that you’ll carry with you forever. And I’ll always remember being in Phoenix, on the road. We had more fans than Phoenix had.
“There’s just something about putting on the green and white that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”
The trade to Brooklyn hit quickly.
“I wish I could have seen it coming, but I cherish the moments I was there in Boston,” Terry said. “I honestly cherish every single moment. My relationship with Doc (Rivers), my relationship with Danny Ainge, talking on the back of the bus about personnel with Danny. We had a conversation about Isaiah Thomas before he was even a Celtic. Me and Danny Ainge were talking about him on a road trip. But, you know, golfing with Wyc (Grousbeck, part of the ownership group). Those are relationships that you’ll cherish forever. Being on the plane with Cornbread (Cedric Maxwell) and him saying, ‘Hey, give me $5,000 and I’ll let you get the number 31.’ It was like, are you kidding me? I’ll never take your number. Give me a different number.”
As someone who’ll wind up as an NBA coach when he retires, which could possibly be soon, Terry certainly understands the business side of the game. He doesn’t resent being dealt.
“No, it was a great trade,” he said. “And for me at that point in my career, I didn’t want to rebuild. I wanted to be part of something special for an opportunity to win. So going with KG and Paul made it easy for me.
“Originally I was not supposed to be in that deal. Courtney Lee was. But KG said, ‘Danny, listen. Jet’s at a point in his career where he wants to win. Bring him with me. Put him in the deal. Do what you’ve got to do.’ That’s how I was in that trade to Brooklyn.”
And because he signed a second one-year deal here last September, Jason Terry and the Celtics logo will be on the Milwaukee bench tonight.