Fire Ainge: Thanks Danny, but it's time to go

[Gomes3PC]

Seriously, how hard would it have been to say something like:

"I personally and the Celtics as an organization have absolutely no tolerance for racist remarks or behavior, and we will vigorously police for signs of any such behavior tomorrow or in any other Celtics game. We fully expect our fans to show up in force and make an impact in the game by making the Garden as loud as anywhere in the NBA through raucous cheering for the Celtics. We don't want anyone, be it a Celtic, a visiting opponent, or a fan at the game, to feel that they will be the target of racist remarks."

[Gomes3PC]

I will also add, Ainge's comments on T&R regarding Kyrie's comments are going to do the franchise literally zero favors in attracting talent. When your own players like Smart are on the record saying he's heard racist comments, you can't say what Ainge said. Completely tone-deaf.

100% needs to go after that interview. He already is looked at as a snake around the league by literally every player of every color. Now this on top of that. Its a horrible, terrible look for the organization. Inexcusable. What does that tell Tatum and Brown? Pretty much it tells them that Ainge wants them to "shut up and dribble". More or less...

I honestly feel like the three quotes from Kyrie, Marcus and Danny have damned this franchise for years even worse than we already were. Insane season.

How do we come back from these comments culturally? Pretty **** difficult until it's a whole new set of players in the league. Even then.

Nah, honestly, a fresh face in the FO would go a long way. Ainge is the one who traded IT, who says this tone-deaf stuff, who gets pinned for being a snake and ruthless.

With the right hire, you absolutely can rebuild credibility.

[SmartWentCrazy]

I will also add, Ainge's comments on T&R regarding Kyrie's comments are going to do the franchise literally zero favors in attracting talent. When your own players like Smart are on the record saying he's heard racist comments, you can't say what Ainge said. Completely tone-deaf.

100% needs to go after that interview. He already is looked at as a snake around the league by literally every player of every color. Now this on top of that. Its a horrible, terrible look for the organization. Inexcusable. What does that tell Tatum and Brown? Pretty much it tells them that Ainge wants them to "shut up and dribble". More or less...

I honestly feel like the three quotes from Kyrie, Marcus and Danny have damned this franchise for years even worse than we already were. Insane season.

How do we come back from these comments culturally? Pretty **** difficult until it's a whole new set of players in the league. Even then.

Need to blow up the front office and include some diversity in the Front Office— cant have the Austin-Danny-Zarren triumvirate making every decision.

[chrisab123]

I will also add, Ainge's comments on T&R regarding Kyrie's comments are going to do the franchise literally zero favors in attracting talent. When your own players like Smart are on the record saying he's heard racist comments, you can't say what Ainge said. Completely tone-deaf.

100% needs to go after that interview. He already is looked at as a snake around the league by literally every player of every color. Now this on top of that. Its a horrible, terrible look for the organization. Inexcusable. What does that tell Tatum and Brown? Pretty much it tells them that Ainge wants them to "shut up and dribble". More or less...

I honestly feel like the three quotes from Kyrie, Marcus and Danny have damned this franchise for years even worse than we already were. Insane season.

How do we come back from these comments culturally? Pretty **** difficult until it's a whole new set of players in the league. Even then.

Yup. Now we have three possibilities for why the team has been checked out.

1) Players hate the coach and doesn't listen to him anymore
2) Players hate the city/fans and don't want anything to do with the culture
3) A mix of 1 and 2

Now you add Danny Ainge's comments on top of this...yeah. If the Celtics want to be relevant again they either need to revamp the entire organization from top to bottom with people who can relate to young African American males (sorry Danny and Brad) preferably who has experience playing in the NBA. Or the Celtics need to be relocated to be truly competitive again (not going to happen mind you) since players do not want to play in this city. That 2nd point is on the entire fan base. Since sports fans tend to like more than one sport I wouldn't be stunned if it also bleeds into other teams too. Remember, there were whispers about Mookie Betts being apprehensive about signing with Boston because of this same exact issue. This whole thing has screwed up their entire plans.

Celtics need to choose between Brown/Tatum and Danny Ainge this offseason. If they stay the same then Tatum and Brown are gone when they get the chance. Period. This organization needs to step up and do some serious internal damage control.

[Feed Your Head]

Those comments are so lame of Ainge, Celtics players have to be be like wtf. It’s honestly embarrassing.

He gots to go.

[akhan786]

Ainge can get the hell out of here. No player with options will come here as long as he is the face of the organization.

This is getting blasted in every NBA player group text right now.

[akhan786]

What sucks is...it fell apart so quickly. I really believed in Danny and Brad. And Kyrie and Hayward.

I still can’t help but think what would have happened if Hayward didn’t get hurt in the first 5 minutes of the season. That moment of bad luck is who/what I blame the most. Maybe things would’ve blown up regardless but...I would’ve liked to see it.

Roles would’ve been better synchronized and then the youngins wouldn’t have created an awkward dynamic by not going on a fluke run in the playoffs against the worst Eastern conference ever and one of the worse Lebron teams ever.

[hugepatsfan]

Danny's comments were inexcusable. Even before the comment he was joking with them about how if something was going to get tossed on him like Westbrook last night he'd be ok with popcorn. That's an issue that players take seriously, not some off-the-cuff remarks.

Look, I don't get the impression that Danny is a bad guy. And I understand that Toucher and Rich is not the most serious avenue to have these discussions. I'm sure that like everyone else Danny has much more nuanced and developed thoughts on those type of topics. In today's climate anytime the issue is brought up that's what needs to be shared. You can't simply dismiss this and blow past the question like you do other stuff. Any question needs to be addressed head on with a well thought out answer.

[Feed Your Head]

Think about how Marcus Smart feels when he hears that ****, a guy who plays harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Dude reps Boston hard, feeds off of the fans, and has to listen to some of those same fans just **** on his race. I don’t care that it’s just a small percentage of the crowd, because the garbage they spew outweighs all of the good.

This front office needs an overhaul, NOW.

[CelticFaninLBC]

Ainge made some great moves prior to trading for Kyrie and giving up the BKN pick, which could have been Sexton or SAG. Hayward getting hurt was bad luck and signing Kemba was a panic move and a disaster. It's time for Ainge to go.

[akhan786]

Honestly heartbreaking reading this. Makes me seethe with anger and that’s not an emotion I’m used to

Read on Twitter

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[Patsfan1081]

Just gut the whole thing from the inside out. Honestly outside of Brown, Timelord, Neismith, and Pritchard I have no faith in any of the players or personnel on this team, Tatum included. This season has just been handled so poorly and it just keeps on getting worse. What’s even more frustrating is it’s spilling out beyond the sport itself, not in a way to inspire change. I’m just sick of this org and I see no quick fix.

[Feed Your Head]

Just gut the whole thing from the inside out. Honestly outside of Brown, Timelord, Neismith, and Pritchard I have no faith in any of the players or personnel on this team, Tatum included. This season has just been handled so poorly and it just keeps on getting worse. What’s even more frustrating is it’s spilling out beyond the sport itself, not in a way to inspire change. I’m just sick of this org and I see no quick fix.

Faith as in what? Just weird to name two rookies and not their best player lol.

[Patsfan1081]

Think about how Marcus Smart feels when he hears that ****, a guy who plays harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Dude reps Boston hard, feeds off of the fans, and has to listen to some of those same fans just **** on his race. I don’t care that it’s just a small percentage of the crowd, because the garbage they spew outweighs all of the good.

This front office needs an overhaul, NOW.

I mean the incident with Smart didn’t just happen recently. The fact that it wasn’t made more of a big deal at the time is something people should be upset about.

[Feed Your Head]

Think about how Marcus Smart feels when he hears that ****, a guy who plays harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Dude reps Boston hard, feeds off of the fans, and has to listen to some of those same fans just **** on his race. I don’t care that it’s just a small percentage of the crowd, because the garbage they spew outweighs all of the good.

This front office needs an overhaul, NOW.

I mean the incident with Smart didn’t just happen recently. The fact that it wasn’t made more of a big deal at the time is something people should be upset about.

I’m more talking about him saying he hears fans calling players on other team racist slurs.

[Patsfan1081]

Just gut the whole thing from the inside out. Honestly outside of Brown, Timelord, Neismith, and Pritchard I have no faith in any of the players or personnel on this team, Tatum included. This season has just been handled so poorly and it just keeps on getting worse. What’s even more frustrating is it’s spilling out beyond the sport itself, not in a way to inspire change. I’m just sick of this org and I see no quick fix.

Faith as in what? Just weird to name two rookies and not their best player lol.

Playing hard on a nightly basis/developing. I’m not a Tatum fan, I’ll admit it. I don’t believe he can be the best player on a contender, and they don’t have the assets outside of him to get that guy.

[Feed Your Head]

Just gut the whole thing from the inside out. Honestly outside of Brown, Timelord, Neismith, and Pritchard I have no faith in any of the players or personnel on this team, Tatum included. This season has just been handled so poorly and it just keeps on getting worse. What’s even more frustrating is it’s spilling out beyond the sport itself, not in a way to inspire change. I’m just sick of this org and I see no quick fix.

Faith as in what? Just weird to name two rookies and not their best player lol.

Playing hard on a nightly basis/developing. I’m not a Tatum fan, I’ll admit it. I don’t believe he can be the best player on a contender, and they don’t have the assets outside of him to get that guy.

I mean you don’t improve as much as he has, without developing. He played hard every game last season, this season he had covid. Why would you get on him for not playing hard, when Jaylen was the exact same this season (as he was banged up and fatigued himself).

[FrodoFraggins]

Seriously, how hard would it have been to say something like:

"I personally and the Celtics as an organization have absolutely no tolerance for racist remarks or behavior, and we will vigorously police for signs of any such behavior tomorrow or in any other Celtics game. We fully expect our fans to show up in force and make an impact in the game by making the Garden as loud as anywhere in the NBA through raucous cheering for the Celtics. We don't want anyone, be it a Celtic, a visiting opponent, or a fan at the game, to feel that they will be the target of racist remarks."

He handled it much worse than I ever would have expected. Sticking his head in the sand on an issue that impacts our ability to attract players is fire-able. How in the world could his response do anything but make things worse?

[BRUNiNHO91]

Think about how Marcus Smart feels when he hears that ****, a guy who plays harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Dude reps Boston hard, feeds off of the fans, and has to listen to some of those same fans just **** on his race. I don’t care that it’s just a small percentage of the crowd, because the garbage they spew outweighs all of the good.

This front office needs an overhaul, NOW.

I mean the incident with Smart didn’t just happen recently. The fact that it wasn’t made more of a big deal at the time is something people should be upset about.

I’m more talking about him saying he hears fans calling players on other team racist slurs.

How is Marcus Smart hearing this type of garbage in games and not going completely nuclear? Did he call security to remove these fans or what? No way he just heard it and let it happen right? Because if it's disgusting and disappointing enough to know the people in the crowd are allowing this **** to happen(I know if I heard it we are scrapping straight away, no **** given), it would be worst if Smart and players were letting it slide also. I knew he had the encounter with the racist lady outside the arena, which I believe was non Celtics related, but this **** is going on regularly INSIDE the Garden? How? And this comes out after Ainge's interview? What is going on within this organization right now? Yikes.

[JR Hawks]

Think about how Marcus Smart feels when he hears that ****, a guy who plays harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Dude reps Boston hard, feeds off of the fans, and has to listen to some of those same fans just **** on his race. I don’t care that it’s just a small percentage of the crowd, because the garbage they spew outweighs all of the good.

This front office needs an overhaul, NOW.

You should consider giving up your mod duties. You seem a little too invested in this issue...like an activist. The last thing this board needs is politics.