Ainge on WEEI today (7/22)

[Celts17Pride]

Nice summary from CelticsWhat35 on CelticsBlog.

Below is what Ainge said on WEEI:

*going on vacation shortly

*still has to take care of the coaching staff

*very few calls from teams trying to get our players

*free agents want more $$, but if they can't get it, they want to play for a team that gets a lot of nationally televised games

*Doc, Danny and teammates (esp. Paul)love Tony Allen

*can't expect Giddens (#30 pick) to play significant role in rookie year, but from a talent standpoint, he is great ("a young Paul Pierce" in some regards)

*thinks Rondo will have a special year next season

*thinks the Celtics will be a better team next season

*Doc really wanted Eddie back

*best perimeter defender (statistically) in the playoffs was Paul Pierce (#2 Ray and #3 Posey); says Tony Allen is their best perimeter defender overall

*Rondo put up 300 jump shots the day after the Finals were over; Big Baby also working very hard to get minutes next year

*Bill Walker would've gone in the 20's or better in the draft if not injured

*Perk doing very good after surgery; will be 100% for training camp

*we have our top 9 guys in place

*thinks Patrick O'Bryant has a bright future and can do some things that no one else on the team can

*if the playoffs started today, he'd like to improve the center position

*no conversations about Devean George

[Gomes3PC]

Wonder what exactly they are having BBD working on. Losing weight? I'd have to imagine that's priority #1. Jumpshooting from about 15-17 feet would be another one IMO. If you are an undersized big, it's important that you can draw out the tall guys to the perimeter and knock down a shot. Learning about defensive rotations through game film is also probably right up there, as he was a fouling machine as a rookie.

[BillessuR6]

BBD is in contract year, so this will be his most productive offseason of his career, IMO. Until he is in contract year again...

The most important news for me is Rondo was working on his jumpshot...

I would like to hear what our plan is with Walker...

[DonBolivar]

Wonder what exactly they are having BBD working on. Losing weight? I'd have to imagine that's priority #1. Jumpshooting from about 15-17 feet would be another one IMO.

If you watch Big Baby before games, when everyone else is done warming up and leaves the court, he stays behind with Clifford Ray and shoots about 20-30 17 footers. Ray feeds him the ball from the post and Big Baby shoots a few feet behind the elbow, left and right.

I think the developing the 15-17 footer has been a priority. For a big guy, he has pretty good handle so if he can shoot a 15 footer he can also use that to take a slow defender off the dribble.

[ParticleMan]

Interesting that Ainge felt Ray was a better perimeter defender in the playoffs than Posey. I agree that Pierce was #1.

Glad to see the team is still high on Tony. He can be a really important piece if he gets back to where he was.

[PPAW4Life]

Interesting that Ainge felt Ray was a better perimeter defender in the playoffs than Posey. I agree that Pierce was #1.

Glad to see the team is still high on Tony. He can be a really important piece if he gets back to where he was.

It's not interesting at all...it is the truth. Ray Allen was able to stay in front of Lebron/Kobe. Posey allowed all the opposing perimeter players blow right by him.

Posey's strength, defensively was being able to use his length against Odom and other opposing 4's.

Pierce and Ray did great jobs against opposing perimeter players.

[Barry Lird]

If you missed it this morning, the interview can be heard at EEI's site:

http://audio.weei.com/m/audio/20471218/ ... anny+ainge

[magicfan4life05]

[u]
*Rondo put up 300 jump shots the day after the Finals were over; Big Baby also working very hard to get minutes next year

not like anyone would care what i think. but imo this was definitely the most important thing i read. I think he's gonna very good next season, has the confidence from a championship, improved shot, another year in the league....sometimes i forgot this guy was only in his 2nd year last season...very interesting to watch how he does

[Celts17Pride]

*free agents want more $$, but if they can't get it, they want to play for a team that gets a lot of nationally televised games

*if the playoffs started today, he'd like to improve the center position

These two comments by Ainge lead me to believe the Celtics still have an interest in Chris Andersen. Andersen meet with the Celtics earlier this off-season and Andersen was very interested in the Celtics. It sounds like the Celtics are only comfortable to take him at a 1 year vet min and are giving him time to get a better deal from another team.

When Ainge mentioned free agents want more $$, but if they can't get it, they want to play for a team that gets a lot of nationally televised games, he cut the conversation short in a hurry. I think he was thinking about someone in mind and my guess is it's Andersen.

I am probably way off base but it's something to look out for in the future.

[Dogen]

Bring in the Birdman, Danny.

[Celtics2000]

Bring in the Birdman, Danny.

I like him too. I would let Walker play in Europe this year and sign Brandon Wallace to guard the forwards.

[Rocky5000]

If he's going on vacation, does that mean that Giddens and Walker will have to wait a couple of week to get their contracts? It'd probably good to have Giddens in town working out, like Walker has been.

[captain_cheapseats]

*we have our top 9 guys in place

.....he said that as though there is some possibility Doc will actually go with a standard 9-man rotation. There is no way that our favorite mad scientist coach -- who now has NBA title and runner-up coach of the year cred -- will be hemmed in like that.