Weirdness with the Austin ainge hiring…

bkohler · Post #1 » by **bkohler** » Tue Jun 3, 2025 3:51 am

I’ve been reading all the stories about the hiring of Austin ainge and a few things stood out.

1. Ryan Smith hired him without talking to Danny
2. Ryan said Austin has final say in personnel decisions
3. Ryan said they needed to clarify the organization structure.

All of which makes me wonder…. Who was making the decisions? Was/is there some conflict inside the front office? Is Danny really not going to have the final say? How in the world did Danny not know?

It’s all… weird. If I were a betting man I’d bet on Zanik finding new employment soon.

red4hf · Post #2 » by **red4hf** » Tue Jun 3, 2025 10:22 am

I've literally never heard of this Ainge before yesterday...... Granted, I don't follow NBA executives that much, but still.......

Post #3 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Tue Jun 3, 2025 2:39 pm

I haven't seen it reported that Smith hired Ainge Jr. without talking to Ainge Sr., only that:

"Smith told ESPN that he led this hiring and informed Danny Ainge of his decision."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45434542/jazz-hire-celtics-austin-ainge-president-basketball-ops
Which doesn't mean he didn't talk with Ainge Sr. first in order to even think in the direction of hiring Jr. in the first place.

EDIT - nevermind, found a source that says he didn't tell Ainge Sr:
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/280622/Austin-Ainge-To-Have-Final-Decision-Making-Authority-With-Jazz

As for organizational structure, instead of it being Zanik and Ainge Sr. like it has been until now, it'd be Zanik and Ainge Jr. At least that's my impression.

Utah's general manager, Justin Zanik, will remain in his role after Ainge's arrival, sources told ESPN, with team governor Ryan Smith telling ESPN that he envisions the two complementing each other in the day-to-day front office operations, with "separate and unique skill sets to help elevate our departments."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45434542/jazz-hire-celtics-austin-ainge-president-basketball-ops

Let's keep in mind that Zanik had already left the Jazz once for the Bucks, and that he has some health issues and so he might not want to do all the work by himself anyway.

As far as Austin Ainge, I don't know much about him but he seems to be a well-regarded executive, whose next step would have been GM with his next team, as he was assistant-GM before that. I don't mind this hiring. In the end, it's all about the results. Who makes the decisions, I don't care as long as the results are good.

bkohler · Post #4 » by **bkohler** » Tue Jun 3, 2025 2:59 pm

I don’t think the Austin hiring is bad, I think it just gives a look under the hood where things might not be as black and white as it appeared.

I’m still very confused about Danny’s role now. Also confused by why we were looking for a PoBO instead of just elevating Zanik.

My confusion increased after listening to David Locke this morning saying that the big direction change isn’t not tanking, it’s no longer holding vets looking for massive value wins. Sounds like we’ll sell off the vets for whatever we get now…. But again what’s changing? Does Danny not get a say as CEO? Is he stepping down? Is there an undisclosed health problem or other dynamic?

Post #5 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Tue Jun 3, 2025 3:21 pm

bkohler wrote:I don’t think the Austin hiring is bad, I think it just gives a look under the hood where things might not be as black and white as it appeared.

I’m still very confused about Danny’s role now. Also confused by why we were looking for a PoBO instead of just elevating Zanik.

My confusion increased after listening to David Locke this morning saying that the big direction change isn’t not tanking, it’s no longer holding vets looking for massive value wins. Sounds like we’ll sell off the vets for whatever we get now…. But again what’s changing? Does Danny not get a say as CEO? Is he stepping down? Is there an undisclosed health problem or other dynamic?

My previous post was a bit of a mess. Anyway, looks like Danny might be reducing his role, and perhaps he's going to be in effect mainly a high-level advisor? Not sure. The biggest change I can see is better clarity about management roles, as reported in the RealGM link. I assume that with Danny's relationship with both Smith and Austin, he'll still have involvement and influence on all levels. As long as they keep the tank going and not pivot to rushing to build a mediocre team, I'm fine with it.

Daddy 801 · Post #6 » by **Daddy 801** » Wed Jun 4, 2025 12:40 pm

Locke said that there were some rumors Ainge Jr. was starting to be scouted. My guess is Ainge and Ryan always knew that Ainge Jr. was going to take over doing the dirty work.

Also this allows the Jazz to say they “did something”
about the tanking of last season, then trade all the vets, and just be young and tanking. Or maybe that’s just my wishful thinking. But it makes sense. Ainge Sr. doesn’t want to do the daily work. He wants to sit with Ryan and hangout while still yielding a ton of power.

Post #7 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Wed Jun 4, 2025 3:45 pm

Daddy 801 wrote:Locke said that there were some rumors Ainge Jr. was starting to be scouted. My guess is Ainge and Ryan always knew that Ainge Jr. was going to take over doing the dirty work.

Also this allows the Jazz to say they “did something”
about the tanking of last season, then trade all the vets, and just be young and tanking. Or maybe that’s just my wishful thinking. But it makes sense. Ainge Sr. doesn’t want to do the daily work. He wants to sit with Ryan and hangout while still yielding a ton of power.

Yep, I think they said so in the press conference, that Ainge Sr. didn't want to do the day-to-day stuff. Definitely heard it somewhere.

bkohler · Post #8 » by **bkohler** » Wed Jun 4, 2025 6:47 pm

Inigo Montoya wrote:
Daddy 801 wrote:Locke said that there were some rumors Ainge Jr. was starting to be scouted. My guess is Ainge and Ryan always knew that Ainge Jr. was going to take over doing the dirty work.

Also this allows the Jazz to say they “did something”
about the tanking of last season, then trade all the vets, and just be young and tanking. Or maybe that’s just my wishful thinking. But it makes sense. Ainge Sr. doesn’t want to do the daily work. He wants to sit with Ryan and hangout while still yielding a ton of power.

Yep, I think they said so in the press conference, that Ainge Sr. didn't want to do the day-to-day stuff. Definitely heard it somewhere.

That was his reason for retiring from Boston years ago so that makes sense. It's just a weird thing to say that Austin has the final say but Danny is higher up in the org... that normally means he'd have the final say.

AingesBurner · Post #9 » by **AingesBurner** » Thu Jun 5, 2025 12:54 pm

You can’t involve Danny in this conversation, of course he will have bias and say to hire his son to get him closer. It’s a smart move.

bkohler · Post #10 » by **bkohler** » Thu Jun 5, 2025 10:26 pm

AingesBurner wrote:You can’t involve Danny in this conversation, of course he will have bias and say to hire his son to get him closer. It’s a smart move.

Good point.

Also... I know he's not Danny Jr... but I think he's going to be Jr for me for a long time.

Catchall · Post #11 » by **Catchall** » Thu Jun 5, 2025 10:35 pm

Celtics have new ownership. That puts the writing on the wall for the current executives, including GM and Ast. GM. I'm guessing Ryan Smith and Austin Ainge have some relationship, and Ryan made an offer to Austin to make the jump and take a promotion with the Jazz. I can't imagine Ryan Smith would do this without informing Danny. More likely, Ryan Smith is taking the lead on this so it doesn't look entirely like nepotism.

Danny Ainge has said he wants to play less of a day-to-day role, yet you see him at the Combine and the Pro Days. Maybe he's ready to scale back.

Hiring Austin does look like a vote of less confidence in Justin Zanik.