The Big Three: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the Rebirth of the Boston Celtics

by Michael Holley

** Selected by the Wall Street Journal among the Best Sports Books of 2021 **

A New York Times bestselling sportswriter tells the inside story of how three star players joined together to form the most dominant team in basketball and lead the Boston Celtics to their first championship in more than two decades.

The first of "The Big Three" was Paul Pierce. As Boston Celtics fans watched the team retire Pierce's jersey in a ceremony on February 11, 2018, they remembered again the incredible performances Pierce put on in the city for fifteen years, helping the Celtics escape the bottom of their conference to become champions and perennial championship contenders. But Pierce's time in the city wasn't always so smooth. In 2000, he was stabbed in a downtown nightclub eleven times in a seemingly random attack. Six years later, remaining the sole star on a struggling team, he asked to be traded and briefly became a lightning rod among fans.

Then, in 2007, the Boston Celtics General Manager made two monumental trades, bringing Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston. A press conference on July 31, 2007 was a sight to Pierce, KG, and Ray Allen holding up Celtics jerseys for the flood of media. Coach Doc Rivers made sure the team bonded over the thought of winning a title and living by a Bantu term called Ubuntu, which translates as "I am because we are." Rivers wanted to make it clear that togetherness and brotherhood would help them maximize their talent and win. What came next—the synthesis of the Celtics' "Big Three" and their dominant championship run—cemented their standing as one of great teams in NBA history, a rival to Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James's Cavaliers.

This is the team that brought excitement back to the Garden, and therefore to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. They met their historic rivals, the Lakers, in the 2008 NBA Finals, winning the series in Game 6, in a rout on their home court with a raucous, concert like atmosphere. Along the victory parade route, Paul Pierce smoked a cigar—as a tribute to legendary former Celtics Coach Red Auerbach. In a city now defined by a wealth of championships, "The Big Three" joined the club. Michael Holley, the premier chronicler of Boston sports, brings their story to life with countless untold stories and behind-the-scenes details in another bestselling tome for New England and sports fans across the country.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basketball fans are aware that the Boston Celtics have won 17 championships, a record they held themselves until the 2020 Los Angeles Lakers tied that mark. This book by Michael Holley, who has been called "the premier chronicler of Boston sports", tells the reader the complete story behind the 17th title, which was won in 2008. It is a fascinating look at the complete picture of the era of the "Big Three" in Boston, from the first day that former Celtics player Danny Ainge considered a front office job with his former team to the last chance for the team as it was constructed in 2013 to get back to the Finals.

That last chapter of the team's saga, with Ray Allen having already departed the Celtics in favor of the then-rival Miami Heat, was especially painful considering the stories from the previous chapters. For the most part, the "Big Three" players mentioned in the subtitle – Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen – all had similar NBA careers before they were teammates. Pierce had spent his entire career in Boston and was getting antsy to be able to add a banner to the rafters of the TD Garden. Garnett, having already won one MVP award in Minnesota, was growing frustrated with the inability of the Timberwolves to build off their one year of playoff success in 2004. Allen was starring in Seattle but wasn't happy with all the side talk about the team moving to Oklahoma City.

Here is where Ainge, along with coach Doc Rivers, puts together two brilliant trade packages to land Allen and Garnett to play alongside Pierce, making up the Celtics' "Big Three". It is to the author's credit that he does not try to make this seem like a historic collection of stars – indeed, he frequently mentions an earlier "big three" combination for the Celtics of Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, who were all teammates of Ainge. The latter of those three remained friends with Ainge and that connection was the key in obtaining Garnett as McHale was the GM of the Timberwolves at the time.

The story of the Garnett trade, with not only that trade itself but what Ainge did to ensure that he collected all the parts Minnesota wanted to make the trade, was Holley's writing at its finest. While he certainly writes about the on-court action well, especially during the 2008 NBA finals when the Big Three won their only championship together, it is his writing about the front office workings and the conversations between the players or players and Rivers off the court that makes the book stand out. Any reader will learn a lot about the Celtics and their use of analytics before it became as big as it is now, one very important part of why Ainge was successful at putting together team that for five years was among the very best in the NBA, making it to at least the conference finals three of those five years.

There is also good material on important items in the league that didn't directly involve the Celtics but had an impact on them, such as LeBron James moving from Cleveland to Miami and the NBA lockout of 2011. Holley makes sure to tie these back to the Celtics and what these meant to the team. This was important to help paint the complete picture of the Boston Celtics from 2007 to 2012. If this is a topic about which a reader wishes to learn more, this is an excellent source.

I wish to thank Hachette Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am I biased in writing this review? Yes. I became a Celtics fan a year before KG and Ray Allen came to Boston. I lived this book in real time. I knew I would enjoy the insider information the book would hold, and I did. But I didn’t expect to emotionally re-live the excitement of the Big Three, the rise of Rondo, the championship, the frustration of the years after the championship, the Heat hatred, and the devastation of the relationship disintegration and watching the team I loved more than any other basketball team in history go separate ways. My heart raced at times. I audibly cheered at times. I read through tears several times. It was an emotional rollercoaster that only sports can take you in and only the passion of Boston teams could kick into high gear. When the Celtics team I loved broke in many directions, my heart was also broken. I mourned the loss of that team and struggled to get on board with a new Celtics team. The book gives a different spin. Knowing what happened behind the scenes of the trades made it easier to accept. The book ended with an optimism that I was too short sighted to see at the time. And that’s really the heart of this book...a man willing to look at the long game when forming a team and not getting caught up in the here and now. I cannot recommend this book more for any Celtics fan, but it is also a great read for any basketball or sports fan in general. The money ball of basketball told through a more personal and less clinical lens. I loved it immensely!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have received this title via NetGalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review
This book covered the history of how the Celtics rebuild began, what sparked it, and what followed after the championship. It covered the relationships between the players, coaches and management. It covered how other teams viewed the Celtics. I love how in depth this book dove. It covered topics that most sports biographies miss. Learning about the connections between everyone on the team was fascinating. When I think of sports, I don't really think of the connections between players and management but this book covered it.

[Lev Macht-Greenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A banner win from Michael Holley to hang from the rafters of his library

[Ben Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice

[Patrick Bowlby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This just makes me want to run through a wall for the Celtics. Great backstories on the run of the big three. Hope Celts can raise banner 18 some day soon.

[Tom]

Fun read about the legendary 2008 Championship Celtics team with all the buildup and aftermath. Full of interesting tidbits about Boston’s best team in years and the business and team dynamics that went into it. Received as a Christmas gift and read it in a week and a half. How long til the next C’s banner will be raised in the Garden?

“Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen. On the same team.
Winning, at the highest level, was suddenly all around them. In their excitement, they couldn't stop smiling, interrupting each other with ideas, and promising that this would never be about egos. They couldn't wait to meet and share and train and mentor. They all wanted to win, and it wouldn't be long before they were told and shown exactly how it would be done.”

“It could be summarized in a single word. Ubuntu.
Tutu, the famous South African archbishop, described the concept as the height of interdependence and interconnectedness. It was one person's acceptance that their success, their very personhood was linked to another's. As Tutu described it, "A person is a person
through other persons." It was a way of being that didn't ask the individuals to lose themselves. Rather, the idea was to see individuality thrive when it was tied to a collective, and, therefore, it helped everyone. That outlook could be applied to education, polities, the economy, and basketball. Ubuntu. Rivers had Matungulu speak to the team about it, and its essence became the foundation on which they’d build their season.”

“Pierce was grimacing in that wheelchair, pointing to his knee, as the group hurried him to the locker room… The Garden crowd continued to watch the game and, now,
their phones. Any updates on Pierce? Was this it? The Celtics had torn through the regular season, survived the Eastern playoffs, and been brought to the doorstep against the Lakers, only to lose Pierce? It didn't take long for the dire thoughts to be replaced by cynical ones. Just a few minutes of game time later, Pierce could be seen bouncing out of the tunnel, shouting and clapping his hands.”

“It was all over now, and Garnett stood for an interview.
"Anything is possible!' he said, tilting his head back. He
said it again, this time louder and more melodious:
"Anything is possi-buuuulll!”

“There was a banner. An African word that centered them. A dispute that splintered them. A phrase, Anything is possible, that rallied them and their city. A Gatorade-stained dress shirt. A 3-point form so perfect it was worthy of records and movies. There was something different about being a Celtic.”

[Allen Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.themaineedge.com/sports/b...

Winning an NBA championship is hard; the road to a title demands a lot of the players on the floor. But one could argue that assembling a championship squad is even harder, a delicate dance involving winning trades, quality drafting, good signings … and more than a little luck.

Michael Holley’s “The Big Three: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the Rebirth of the Boston Celtics” tells the story of one such squad and the titanic trio that operated at its center. It’s an in-depth look at how the 2008 Celtics championship squad was assembled, from the 2003 purchase of the Celtics by a new ownership group to the hiring of Danny Ainge as general manager to the acquisition of Garnett and Allen to the eventual breaking up of the band to move the franchise forward.

It’s a remarkably well-reported book, a detailed exploration of the many ups and downs that came along with trying to assemble this sort of next-level team. Through conversations and archival research, Holley crafts a portrait that focuses on the people involved as opposed to the numbers, a fine juxtaposition to Ainge’s ongoing insistence on refusing to allow the personal to interfere with his plan.

For nearly two decades, the storied Boston Celtics franchise was mired in mediocrity. Sometimes bad, sometimes pretty good, never great, the Celtics were growing ever farther removed from their championship heyday; Boston hadn’t hoisted the trophy since 1986.

The path to change began in 2003 when the Celtics changed hands. Team owner Paul Gaston sold the team for a then-record $360 million to Boston Basketball Partners, headed up by Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca. The new owners hired Danny Ainge – then a network analyst – to take the team-building reins. Ainge hired Doc Rivers to be his coach.

And then he got down to business.

The first piece was already in-house. Paul Pierce was the 10th pick in the 1998 draft, selected by the Celtics out of Kansas. The early part of his career was marked by solid statistical performance – much of it alongside then-teammate Antoine Walker – but he was viewed by Ainge and company as the by-far superior player to Walker. He would serve as a foundational part of the championship team Ainge hoped to assemble.

The next parts would prove a little tougher.

Kevin Garnett had been an elite NBA player for more than a decade, even winning an MVP in 2004. But he was stuck on the Minnesota Timberwolves, a snakebitten franchise that could never figure out a way to give Garnett any help on the floor. Seemingly every effort backfired, leaving Garnett to play his heart out for teams destined to max out at first-round playoff exits.

Ray Allen was one of the best shooters in the league, doing his thing in Seattle. He was putting up points on the regular, but there were rumblings that new ownership had some less-than-ideal plans for the franchise. Allen was a SuperSonic – but for how long?

Thanks to some elaborate wheeling and dealing that I won’t even try to spell out here – seriously, it’s one of the best parts of the book when Holley walks you through it – Ainge managed to pull off trades that landed both Garnett and Allen in Boston. They joined Pierce and turned a long-mediocre Celtics squad into an instant favorite. For two decades, when you said “Big Three” in Boston, everyone knew you were talking Bird, McHale and Parish. Now?

Pierce, Garnett, Allen – the new Big Three.

For the next few years, this Boston Celtics squad stood as one of the best in the league – a generationally-good team, albeit one that would ultimately win just the one championship. But a title is a title; banners hang forever. And that was what these three players brought to Boston.

“The Big Three” offers insight into the people and personalities involved in this memorable era of Celtics basketball. Yes, we spend a lot of time with Pierce, Garnett and Allen, getting to know who they were and the sacrifices they made in order to make their triumvirate work. And yes, we’re given insight into Ainge and Rivers and what makes them tick; both men are among the very best at what they do, so it’s interesting to get a peek behind the curtain.

But we also get to meet some of the other folks involved – ownership, front office, players – in the championship season, as well as what came before and after. There are a few familiar names mixed in. We learn a lot about the organization’s relationship to Rajon Rondo as the headstrong youngster came into his own. We meet a young front office wonk named Daryl Morey, who would go on to assemble his own super team (with somewhat less playoff success) in Houston.

What Holley has done is bring the entire era to vivid life, capturing that relatively brief stretch when the Celtics stood atop the basketball world, taking on all comers on their way to the promised land. And yes, the multiple championships never materialized; Ainge kept his promise to himself to never let his personal feelings get in the way of moving the organization forward. It was a shooting star of a team, one that burned bright and fast before fading.

“The Big Three” is a book about feeling; Holley does a wonderful job of capturing just how these men felt about what they were doing and how they were doing it. There’s not much in the way of nuts-and-bolts statistics or game recaps – it’s not that kind of book. People who want that can look at box scores or Basketball-Reference. It’s about evoking the very human stories behind this era of Boston basketball. That evocation is Holley’s primary goal – one that he very much achieves.

If you’re a fan of the Boston Celtics or NBA history in general, you’re going to dig “The Big Three.” Michael Holley is a talented writer with a solid understanding of professional basketball both on and off the court. Honestly, even if you’re familiar with the story of this team, there’s a lot here that will likely prove new to you – it certainly did to me. The temptation is to call this book a slam-dunk, but it’s more than that – it’s a dagger three and a game-changing block and a crisp pass. As far as sports books go, it does it all … just like Boston’s Big Three.

[Muneer Uddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good sports book has a few beats it needs to cover to succeed. First, the team is assembled. Second, you talk about the growing pains when the team is first brought together. Finally, you read about how the team achieves it's goals. This book is interesting because it adds another phase: what happens after the championship banners are raised?

Holley's book shows how the post 2008 title Celtics glided from a great team to a rebuilding one. By page 100, the discussion of the title season has concluded. Their core is rent apart by animosity between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen, as well as the aging of the entire team. Doc Rivers stands by, looking on patiently while trying to keep the group playing at a high enough level to get that next championship. Danny Ainge is back in the lab, cooking up trades to try and patch holes in a roster that develops them at a breakneck pace. But it isn't meant to be.

Holley did a great job of being fair and even handed in his treatment of Allen and Rondo. We see a different side of Allen that really hasn't been portrayed in the media, that of a lonely craftsman who just wants to find his place in the league. Rondo is given the keys to the team and proves that the contract extension he received was a mistake. He's eventually shipped off to Dallas, and becomes a journeyman who finally won another title with the 2020 Lakers. But we also see the passionate side of Rondo. He's a proud man who's unable to properly express his emotion. He's not immature; he just can't bear not to win.

I recommend this book to all sports fans. It's not often you get to read about how a team dies after achieving the greatest success.

[Jessica Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celtics fans and fans of pro basketball in general will enjoy this documentary.

How did the Boston Celtics go from being one of the league dominating teams throughout the 1980s to a general contender in the 1990s to their lowest point in history in the early 2000s only to regroup and rebuild in a single year to win the NBA Championship? Michael Holley delivers an extraordinary documentary of how the Celtics were rebuilt over time centered around Paul Pierce and how they obtained Kevin Garnett from the Timberwolves and Ray Allen from the Sonics to become the new Big Three that would bring another championship to Boston!

While this book is about basketball, its not really about playing basketball. Its about the business of NBA basketball and how general managers build a championship team and a coach that was able to take three superstars and help quash egos so that they played as a team and not three individual stars. The Big Three gives a lot of insight into how trades are done, drafts are managed, and the personal life of coaches and players. It’s easy to just think of basketball, but there is so much that goes on in the front office that is mind blowing. I loved reading about how this process got started and how difficult it was for the players, coach, and manger when the fans weren’t happy but they knew that they would have it locked in for the next season.

There is some strong language throughout the book featured in direct quotes from players and coaches. I recommended this book for mature audiences that are lovers of the NBA and Celtics fans.

[Christopher Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the Rebirth of the Boston Celtics

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve never been a fan of the Boston Celtics, but after reading Three Ring Circus, about the Lakers, I was in the mood to read another book about the NBA based in the last couple of decades and this one seemed like it might be pretty good.

This book can be broken down into three sections. The first part details how Danny Ainge went about acquiring Garnett and Allen to augment Pierce and hiring coach Doc Rivers to make the Celtics a championship contender. The second part examined the Celtics as a team during the years they won and/or were serious contenders for the NBA title. The last part diagnosed what happened to the team as the Big 3 aged and Boston fell from the ranks of the league’s elite teams.

While it was obviously written by a Celtics fan, the book avoided going overboard in praising the team and its players. It provided honest criticism of players, coaches, and executives where merited and provided a fascinating look at the construction and break up of one of the best teams of the late 00’s and early teens.

For those reasons, I gave The Big Three five stars. As a stat geek I would have liked to see an appendix including the team’s stats for the years covered as well as career stats for the big three, but I still enjoyed the book without them.

[Diane Rembert · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you talk about the NBA, you have to mention the Boston Celtics. When you mention the Celtics, you have to talk about the Big Three…Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

It's hard to believe that the team are currently in the 2022 NBA Finals, was once a struggling team with dreary record. In this book, I learned that Danny Ainge has played an instrumental part in rebuilding this team. When the star, Paul Pierce threatened to leave, Ainge called him into the office and asked him what he needed in order to stay. Trades were made and losses became wins. There was hope for the team yet!

All families (in this case, team) has their issues and the Celtics surely had theirs. There was beef amongst players (Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo), players and coaches (Rajon Rondo and Doc Rivers), and the players with the franchise (Kendrick Perkins' trade). I learned so much from this book.

This book was full of analytics and statistics, and you definitely have to be a lover of the game to read this book. As I was reading, I was reminded of certain games and where I was at the time. I recommend this 💎💎💎💎book.

[Zander Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started following the NBA right around the formation of this team, in 2007. As a new fan, many of the stories following that season and Celtics team went over my head, but reading Holley's recap of this title was a short trip down memory lane, with bits of insider info throughout, and helps me appreciate and contextualize that 17th banner.

The stories mainly focus on Ainge, Doc, The Big Three, and Rondo, and their evolution and dramas year to year. A fun read if you're a Celtics fan and want insider info and quotes, but even with the insider content, the anecdotes and confirmed narratives are nothing truly out of left field and was a little more surface level than I would've liked.

Kevin Garnett's "Anything is possible" is iconic.

[Ivan Zullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a sports fan, I'm interested in stories related to sporting events.
This book represents Holley first hand version of the 2008 Boston Celtics Big Three.
I deeply appreciated both the extended span of time described and the choice to deal with the change that affected the NBA a few years after the Boston Celtics trio triumphed.
Pierce, Garnett and Allen are the end of an era. After Lebron James infamous "The Decision", the NBA has seen a huge transformation: the next big threes started been assembled by free-agent player acting as GM.
J recommend this this book non only to Celtics fans, but too NBA fans top.

[Charlie Gessner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for an easy going read, this book delivers. The story of the Big Three is not a mystery as it played out in real time for all Celtics fans. The book highlights the trials and tribulations of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen through their tenure in Boston.

Where the book really comes alive is after their championship season. You get insight into Doc Rivers, Danny Ainge, the recruitment of Brad Stevens, and much more.

Kudos to Michael Holley for a well written account of this period of Celtics history. If you love the Celtics or the NBA, you’ll love this read.

[Daniel Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recounting of the events preceding, during and after the Celtics 2007 trades for Garnett and Allen. Time is spent with all three players as well as Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and Rajon Rondo. I have fond memories of these players and attended many important games during these years. They deserved a better account. Mediocre book that doesn’t reveal anything new. Scattershot writing that meanders from place to place in each chapter. Painful reminder of how close the Celtics were to possibly two more championships if not for injuries.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4. I'm curious to read more books like this that'll provide insight and background knowledge about important moments in NBA history. Fans only get to see and know so much; this book provided that extra layer of depth behind the creation of the "Big 3" in Boston for the 2008 championship team.

I learned that Thibs coached under Jeff Van Gundy (who coached under Pat Riley) so the emphasis on defensive tenacity makes sense. Glen "Big Baby" Davis referred to himself as "Ticket Stub" as an homage to KG's "Big Ticket" moniker. Danny Ainge is a puzzle master and Daryl Morey helped create that super team before he was hired as the GM of the Houston Rockets. Managing egos and expectations is a difficult task; I'm glad that the Celtics were able to pull it together for one magical year and that KG earned his much-deserved championship ring.

The narrator has a wonderful voice and the performance was really engaging. My only gripe was his mispronunciation of Rajon Rondo's name once ("Rohan" Rondo) and Serge Ibaka twice ("Ib-ka" and "ib-e-ka).

[Mark Fidler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, especially the first half. I am a Celtics fan, and I liked many of the behind-the scenes stories about the owners, coaches, GM, and players.This book is a bit anticlimactic, with the Big Three only winning in their first season. I don't think this was engaging enough to capture the interest of a non-Celts fan, thus my 3-star review. The narrator and/or editing was disappointing with too many mispronounced player names and local towns.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! As a Celtics fan, a lot of this was nostalgic and there was a lot that I either didn't remember (particularly breakdowns of important games) or background details I didn't know about. This book does a great job connecting this story to the greater overall changes in free agency as well. This was a fun, fast paced read that I would recommend to any sports fan.

[Timothy Gammel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It can often be difficult to find an intriguing basketball title that isn’t filled with dense stats or written with only the casual fan in mind. This book has managed to appeal to the casual and diehard fans alike! I couldn’t stop reading this, and I loved the insights from those who were inside the organization during the Celtics late 2000’s renaissance

[Francois Pienaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and an easy read

Loved skipping through this book. I follow the NBA daily and at first didn’t think I’d learn anything new, but little did I know that the author had many little facts hidden in the pages completing my understanding of how the big three were formed, played and departed.

[Jakob Potemri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because there’s no other reason why. The Celtics are the balls.

Michael Holley, who I’ve watched as an analyst for many years covering New England sports on NBC Sports Boston, wrote a really intriguing read about how the 2008 NBA Champions came to be. I learned about some random 2000s NBA role players and had a good time.

[Mary Tonks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been a fan since the days of Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, this was mandatory reading. Michael Holley digs into the inside workings of the wheeling and dealing of basketball operations in attempting to build a championship team.

[Jessica Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading behind-the-scenes information about things I enjoy. This book was informative and somewhat entertaining though it wasn't the smoothest read for me, as I felt it kinda skipped around or glazed over things in some areas. But still very interesting, as a basketball fan.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid recounting of the formation of the Celtic's "Big Three," which went on to win the '08 championship.

[Todd Redlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

I love this team and hearing a lot of information I never knew before. I loved every second of this book.

[Rebecca Magrisso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read informative and insightful gives a link between the different big three eras and connects the Celtics Nets trade to the current Celtics stars Tatum and Brown

[William Junkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Team, Great Book, Great Author.

[La'Tonya Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Celtics, but I did not love this book. It just felt lite and not substantial.

[Shaun Ko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garnett patted down a team doctor's plate just because players are supposed to eat first. SO MUCH TALK ABOUT COHESIVENESS, OR MORE APTLY UBUNTU!!