Shams: Brad to replace Ainge

[Johnny Bball]

Apparently there's a rule that doesn't allow Boston to trade 3 first round picks/or recent first round picks and salary filler and it always has to be Brown and Tatum. Who knew.

[Los_29]

The bottom line is Brown and Tatum both had career years and Boston barely squeaked into the playoffs. They aren't good enough to win a championship.

[PerfectJab]

Just curious, why is it titled with Brad instead of Stevens?

[Kreamy]

What happened to Mike Zarren? Ainge's right hand man and heir apparent for the past decade. He turned down so many interviews for jobs to run his own team - Philly, NO, Washington, Sacto and Detroit just to name a few. He has a very impressive resume and seems more than qualified.

https://www.sloansportsconference.com/people/mike-zarren

[Raps in 4]

The bottom line is Brown and Tatum both had career years and Boston barely squeaked into the playoffs. They aren't good enough to win a championship.

Tatum had a much better season last year. He spent half of this year battling COVID.

[WaltFrazier]

I'm still puzzled why Stevens left college coaching. At 25-30 wins per year at his young age he could have caught or got close to Coach K's all time wins eventually. Maybe it shows how the NCAA status has fallen off.

On the Dan Patrick show today, Chris Mannix of SI, a New Englander, said it was crazy how they wouldn't have tried to get Sam Presti from OKC, Boston native, great GM, been at OKC long enough, etc. Instead of a totally inexperienced exec.

Stevens will go back to coaching eventually. He is a coach.

[WaltFrazier]

Brad Stevens with the huge promotion...who goes from head coach straight up to head of basketball operations? Who did Brad have to sleep with to make this happen?

Isn’t that what Pat Riley did, or am I remembering wrong?

Stevens is 44. Riley coached till he was much older before promoting Spoelstra to replace him, and moving to the front office.

[WaltFrazier]

Ainge was with the C's a long time for a GM. He said today his heart attack a couple years ago made him rethink his life and what he wants to do with the rest of it. I take him at face value.

[Rassbusta]

So that's what happens when you draft too many point guards but then backtrack to Kyrie and Kemba... Wooosh. I think Ainge is a great Exec. to be honest. So if Masai bolts MLSE step up to the plate! Sixers bombed last year and got Morey and Doc. I guess that is their take on accountability in a bubble and Covid Olympics. Thank gawd we didn't do 7-11 like the Celts. Maybe Brown and Tatum are the new Marner and Matthews. Crowned stars far too early.

I think the racism thing got Danny in the end. Not saying he's racist, but he's not exactly "woke" either. So he needs to spend some time in the wilderness. Raps have a reputation of being a woke franchise, so Ainge wouldn't be a good fit.

Celtics seem to have been ordered (by the league?) to bring in a black coach. Since the Hawks haven't extended Nate McMillan yet, Celtics should jump in with a pot of money. Why hire the guy who was fired before Nate came in and did a great job?

I would expect them to hire a black coach. They have had black coaches in the past, so it isn't like this is going to be some historic hire, but in today's NBA you need a coach that can relate first hand to players, and young black men like Tatum and Brown are going to expect that the franchise does the right thing. This is a premier opening and it would send a good message.

I don't think Ainge is racist either, but he is totally out of touch. I don't care for the "woke" white folks either, as they seem to come across as trying too hard and hardly back it up with real actions but being out of touch isn't preferable either. The Celtics organization as a whole though has done some serious work in the black community and made some real investments, more than pretty much any other franchise from what I can see.

You can say what you want about the city of Boston, I agree it still has race issues like any other city, but the franchise has done some real work. Also to be fair as a black man who grew up in Toronto and currently lives in Boston I feel more comfortable moving in professional circles in Boston than Toronto, as I see WAY more folks that look like me in positions of authority in Boston than Toronto, but that's a topic for another day.

[Johnny Bball]

What happened to Mike Zarren? Ainge's right hand man and heir apparent for the past decade. He turned down so many interviews for jobs to run his own team - Philly, NO, Washington, Sacto and Detroit just to name a few. He has a very impressive resume and seems more than qualified.

https://www.sloansportsconference.com/people/mike-zarren

Seems to me you already have an answer to you own question, like we all do, and suspect.

[Johnny Bball]

I'm still puzzled why Stevens left college coaching. At 25-30 wins per year at his young age he could have caught or got close to Coach K's all time wins eventually. Maybe it shows how the NCAA status has fallen off.

On the Dan Patrick show today, Chris Mannix of SI, a New Englander, said it was crazy how they wouldn't have tried to get Sam Presti from OKC, Boston native, great GM, been at OKC long enough, etc. Instead of a totally inexperienced exec.

Stevens will go back to coaching eventually. He is a coach.

Coach K stepped down a couple hours after Stevens took the job. I have to wonder if he would have gone back to college a lot quicker than that if it was in a different order.

[tecumseh18]

I would expect them to hire a black coach. They have had black coaches in the past, so it isn't like this is going to be some historic hire, but in today's NBA you need a coach that can relate first hand to players, and young black men like Tatum and Brown are going to expect that the franchise does the right thing. This is a premier opening and it would send a good message.

JB (the brains of the Tatum-Brown outfit) especially would insist that the C's to "do the right thing". There seemed to be some tension between him and Stevens during the season. I've read that one or the other had to go this off-season. I don't know if this will be alleviated by Stevens ascension to head of basketball operations.

Of course, a black coach in Boston wouldn't be a first. Bill Russell the man himself was the C's player-coach at one time. And Doc won the championship there. An random idea I saw on twitter was to bring in Ron Stackhouse. I think he would work well with all the youth they have.

Yeah, Danny's probably not "racist". I just meant that he appears to be tone-deaf to the issue.

You can say what you want about the city of Boston, I agree it still has race issues like any other city, but the franchise has done some real work. Also to be fair as a black man who grew up in Toronto and currently lives in Boston I feel more comfortable moving in professional circles in Boston than Toronto, as I see WAY more folks that look like me in positions of authority in Boston than Toronto, but that's a topic for another day.

It's the off-season for the Raps (and Celtics). Three weeks until the lottery. What the hell else do we have to talk about?

What year did you leave Toronto? Yes, the political and business elites here tend to be a lot whiter than the 50-50 mix from which they're ostensibly drawn. I think part of that is a Canadian culture thing. We've always had an entrenched elite (Family Compact), and there isn't as much social mobility as there is in the US. This goes back even before the immigration boom of the 60s and 70s.

The second and third generation of those immigrants are graduating from universities, but the cost of professional schooling has gone up exponentially. U of T law school tuition is now $33K/yr. York (Osgoode) is $26K. It's almost as if they're trying to keep the "riff-raff" out.

Do you think that the fact that "WAY more people look like you" in your Boston professional circles is just an historical accident (black people have been in the US in significant numbers for 400 years)? Or is it easier for black Americans to get a professional education in the US than in Canada? Or, is it just easier for black Americans (and you) to land a professional job in Boston than in Toronto? In other words, is the downtown Toronto professional class more racist than the Boston professional class?

[ATLTimekeeper]

Ainge was with the C's a long time for a GM. He said today his heart attack a couple years ago made him rethink his life and what he wants to do with the rest of it. I take him at face value.

He got pushed out because his team collapsed for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. It didn't take him two years to decide that pursuing a title wasn't worth it anymore. The guy has always been one of the most consistent liars in the NBA, and his constant b.s. caught up to him with this recent round of failure, sending his reputation into the toilet.

[WuTang_OG]

seems the ywent after Sam PResti ... wonder if they called MAsai

[Raps in 4]

Ainge was with the C's a long time for a GM. He said today his heart attack a couple years ago made him rethink his life and what he wants to do with the rest of it. I take him at face value.

He got pushed out because his team collapsed for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. It didn't take him two years to decide that pursuing a title wasn't worth it anymore. The guy has always been one of the most consistent liars in the NBA, and his constant b.s. caught up to him with this recent round of failure, sending his reputation into the toilet.

If Boston failed this year, so did we. COVID hit them hard this year like it did us. Losing to the runaway title favourites in the first round, while missing your second best player due to an injury, isn't really a collapse.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Ainge was with the C's a long time for a GM. He said today his heart attack a couple years ago made him rethink his life and what he wants to do with the rest of it. I take him at face value.

He got pushed out because his team collapsed for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. It didn't take him two years to decide that pursuing a title wasn't worth it anymore. The guy has always been one of the most consistent liars in the NBA, and his constant b.s. caught up to him with this recent round of failure, sending his reputation into the toilet.

If Boston failed this year, so did we. COVID hit them hard this year like it did us.

Of course Toronto failed this year. Was anyone arguing otherwise? We paid the price for chasing Giannis, winning the title and Lowry ageing.

Beyond covid, the Celtics have been leaking oil on the way up and that's why Ainge was pushed out and Stevens assigned to the desk job. This year their play-by-play man called out Tatum and Brown for just playing for numbers to make the all-star team. It's pretty much over when the company men are doing that.

[Raps in 4]

He got pushed out because his team collapsed for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. It didn't take him two years to decide that pursuing a title wasn't worth it anymore. The guy has always been one of the most consistent liars in the NBA, and his constant b.s. caught up to him with this recent round of failure, sending his reputation into the toilet.

If Boston failed this year, so did we. COVID hit them hard this year like it did us.

Of course Toronto failed this year. Was anyone arguing otherwise? We paid the price for chasing Giannis, winning the title and Lowry ageing.

Beyond covid, the Celtics have been leaking oil on the way up and that's why Ainge was pushed out and Stevens assigned to the desk job. This year their play-by-play man called out Tatum and Brown for just playing for numbers to make the all-star team. It's pretty much over when the company men are doing that.

I don't think we failed at all this year. COVID knocked us out of the playoff race (we were one of the hottest teams before everyone got infected). We then pivoted and tanked.

Both teams still have their cores, and those cores are still young and productive.

[mihaic]

I think that with Masai's indecision & wishy washy behaviour, Raptors should counter Boston's move and replace Masai with Nurse . Forget 4d chess moves by coach, that is straight 5D chess

[KL78192020]

Ainge gets a lot of flack, but he did trade for a star in Kyrie, it just didn't work out.

[Anticon]

Ainge was with the C's a long time for a GM. He said today his heart attack a couple years ago made him rethink his life and what he wants to do with the rest of it. I take him at face value.

He got pushed out because his team collapsed for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. It didn't take him two years to decide that pursuing a title wasn't worth it anymore. The guy has always been one of the most consistent liars in the NBA, and his constant b.s. caught up to him with this recent round of failure, sending his reputation into the toilet.

If Boston failed this year, so did we. COVID hit them hard this year like it did us. Losing to the runaway title favourites in the first round, while missing your second best player due to an injury, isn't really a collapse.

You can't compare our season with Boston. We were building a contender at the same time as Boston.

We built a contender, albeit a short lived one. Boston failed to do so, has really been in decline since 2019.

Ainge is leaving because they missed their window to contend, and needed someone new to get them their.