Doc Rivers admitted that trading Kendrick Perkins was difficult emotionally and it is unclear how it will pay off for the Celtics on the floor. Boston dealt Perkins to the Thunder in a trade that brought back Jeff Green as the main acquisition.

"The bottom line is: We’ll see," said Rivers. "We think we did pretty well today... Whoever is the single best player in the trade, that's who you try to get. Whether that's Jeff Green or Perk, we don't know that. Krstic is a good piece for us as well. He spreads the floor, which I think is great for Rondo. Jeff Green spreads the floor, too...

"We needed to get that [small forward or power forward] swing guy. One of the things I was just saying is that this gives us the ability -- like the year we won it -- at times we can go small with Green at the 4 and Kevin at the 5, with Paul and Ray spreading the floor. We've been trying to get that lineup ever since [Jame] Posey left. You forget how many times we did that in the playoffs, which was every fourth quarter. We haven't been able to duplicate that and, in some ways, it's hurt Rondo."

Boston will now rely heavily on Shaqulle O'Neal.

"Shaq's a key component of this," said Rivers. "We need to get Shaq healthy and Shaq will be healthy. If Shaq plays great, this deal was actually really good for us. That's on Shaq. We have to get Shaq in great shape, get him ready, get him healthy. He's really going to be important for us in the playoffs."