Danny Ainge just took the whole NBA execs to school

[ishoy123]

They were good trades, but it's easy to win every trade when you're not trying to win (Zach Lowe's "Sam Hinkie rule").

[DrCoach]

Ainge did a great job

Gonna be fun to see what Utah and OKC do with all these assets

Let the Victor Race begin!

[BelgradeNugget]

Jazz tickets will be cheap as hell are you kidding!? Ask how many Sixers fans how painful it was to be able to actually go to their games during the Hinkie era.

Yes but still. I wouldn't go to their games if they pay me. People can say whatever they want but Jazz team that was broken played beautiful basketball, competed, and won some games. Didn't win the championship but 29 teams didn't either.
Watching THT and Sexton play can cause serious damage to your brain.

it depends on how they play.
you could actually watch some good basketball, even if with very few wins.

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I agree, OKC played some fun basketball. Problem with Sexton is he was viewed as selfish player, not good for locker room, and now he is on longest contract on Jazz team. And WTF was that trade Beverly for THT. I would understood Beverly for 2nd round pick, but why taking on THT without compensation?

[seren]

Interesting logic. So by extension is every flawed player or collection of flawed players simply a good front office away from winning the whole thing? Wonder why the 2011-12 Bobcats never got their parade in the sun.

LOL. If you believe Mitchell and Gobert were 11-12 Bobcats level, I don’t know what to tell you. You need to start watching some games

Just poking holes in your "flawed players can win" logic.

And they weren't even close to championship level either. Like, at all....

What does “at all” mean? There is only one team winning any given year. Was Golden State close to championship level last year? They won it all. Milwaukee the year before. Lakers the year earlier. Toronto before that.

You lose until you win. All those winners in the past, nothing was given. They lost until they won. Jordan was 28 when he won. Curry was 27. Nowitzki was 32. Did Dirk look like he can win until he actually won?

Winning is not guaranteed. If you are a 50+ team every year with a 25 year old leading you, you are closer to winning than a team with no players on the roster. Utah has no players on the roster. They are not close to winning than they were yesterday. They may not be a 50 team for a decade.

[Exp0sed]

Because they have to justify their Ainge jock riding for this weak package that came back compared to what Ainge put out to his friends in the media. Remember we were told that the Gobert trade screwed the market and Mitchell was going to get at least 5 first round picks blah blah blah, but it ends up just a fine return. Nothing special.

Lauri and Sexton are just salary fillers, throw-ins.
They'll help the tank, don't forget the league and fans frown upon G-league level teams like the one Philly was running back in the process days, you have to pay someone there are salary floors, and it's best that they'd be NBA level players so you team might win 25 games but not embarass the franchise and league while winning 10 games a season. those two fit this bill perfectly

If what you "were told" was to expect 5 frps for Mitchell, that's about what happened lol
3 picks (entirely unprotected), 1 player who was just selected 14th (an additional 1st) and 2 swaps,
Four Frp's + 2 swaps sounds alot like 5 Frps, no?

Not really, swaps that are unlikely to be used are very different from extra FRPs. So it sounds a lot more like 3 FRPs + 2 swaps + a prospect, than it does 5 FRPs.

nah, it's not closer to 3 FRPs: Ochai was selected 14th and was in the 12-18 range in about any mock draft. he hasn't played a single game, if teams believed b4 the drafted he belonged in that range - they still believe that now. so actually, this is a mid FRP, better than what the other 3 are likely to be (meaning - late firsts) - so that's def 4 FRPS + 2 swaps

as for the swaps, Idk how likely or unlikely it is that they will convey, do you?
btw, if they don't convey don't they turn into 2nds or something eventually?

I wrote this in the Mitchell thread b4 the trade - Ainge was bluffing, this draft is expected to be a strong one and there was no way Mitchell was gonna be on that Utah roster come opening night,
winning them some games and hurting the tank. He was always gonna get shipped sooner rather than later. Ainge was brought in to clean the slate and he did.

He took a couple of weeks to see what's the best return he could get and he got it
it's not amazing but it's def the market price

I don't view Mitchell personally as a top 15-20ish guy like some folks here do, so I think that's a pretty decent haul. Btw, it was better for Ainge to make this trade with Utah - NYK is still in the east last I checked and might be competing with the Cavs for a playoff spot (unlikely cuz it's NY but still haha).

[Saints14]

Honestly the part I like best of the Mitchell trade for them is just tanking their own pick over the next few years. That Cleveland core is YOUNG and has a potential young superstar in Mobley so even that far out the chances of one of those picks being juicy or a swap conveying is low. But hey, they're unprotected so they always have that upside. Personally I would have taken the Knicks deal because I don't trust the Knicks to not give up a juicy pick 5 years down the road

[the sea duck]

Yeah, Danny Warchest is back at it.

Get ready for another 7 years of RealGMers complaining about Ainge clutching his assets too hard, LOL.

I'm so happy we get another decade of this. Not even kidding.

[Optms]

how can you be sure the players you will select with those picks (arguably all late 1st round) will even sniff to be as good as Mitchell and Gobert?

Its not just the picks itself that have massive value because they could be lotto picks, its the ability to trade them. Which every single team in the league will have interest in them. As opposed to just a select few teams that can trade for or even want Gobert/Mitchel.

Cavs and Wolves look like huge losers. They aren't contenders yet mortgaged their future. If their roster doesn't work moving forward, they are in a bad position.

[Los_29]

Stockpiling picks is the easiest thing to do. It's turning those picks into assets that is the difficult part. Those picks are likely all going to be late in the first round and Ainge has a terrible track record of drafting in that range.

Netting the two Williams there is already an amazing result.
You don't need to hit everytime (and you can't).
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If you’re trading Gobert and Mitchell then you better hit more than that. Neither of players are as good as Gobert or Mitchell. Not even close.

[Statlanta]

He hasn't drafted anybody notable with a Celtics pick in years. Everything has been off other stupid GMs draft placements.

The Jazz might be in their worst stretch in franchise history if he's the one calling the shots behind their draft.

[CharityStripe34]

Cavs won in the trade as they're going to be very good for quite a few years (young core). Those 1sts aren't going to be squat for Utah except for the supposed ammo to Ainge's yearly "godfather" trade-offer rumors.

[CallMeKahn]

He hasn't drafted anybody notable with a Celtics pick in years. Everything has been off other stupid GMs draft placements.

The Jazz might be in their worst stretch in franchise history if he's the one calling the shots behind their draft.

What are you talking about? Ainge has hit players that either rotation pieces or bonafide stars more often than not in the 1st round from 2014 onward.

[Statlanta]

He hasn't drafted anybody notable with a Celtics pick in years. Everything has been off other stupid GMs draft placements.

The Jazz might be in their worst stretch in franchise history if he's the one calling the shots behind their draft.

What are you talking about? Ainge has hit players that either rotation pieces or bonafide stars more often than not in the 1st round from 2014 onward.

If he was as good drafting these players as you said he would still be on the Celtics on not on the Jazz.

Semi Ojeleye
Romeo Langford
Aaron Nesmith
James Young
Guerschon Yabusele

[Crunch 99]

He hasn't drafted anybody notable with a Celtics pick in years. Everything has been off other stupid GMs draft placements.

The Jazz might be in their worst stretch in franchise history if he's the one calling the shots behind their draft.

24 year old Robert Williams, a 2018 Ainge draft at #27, is a beast. Last season Williams was ranked number 11 in the NBA for DRAPM, ranked number 4 for blocks/game and ranked number 4 for orebs/game. He was playing hurt in the Finals. If Williams returns healthy, he will be even better this season imo.

[CallMeKahn]

He hasn't drafted anybody notable with a Celtics pick in years. Everything has been off other stupid GMs draft placements.

The Jazz might be in their worst stretch in franchise history if he's the one calling the shots behind their draft.

What are you talking about? Ainge has hit players that either rotation pieces or bonafide stars more often than not in the 1st round from 2014 onward.

If he was as good drafting these players as you said he would still be on the Celtics on not on the Jazz.

Semi Ojeleye
Romeo Langford
Aaron Nesmith
James Young
Guerschon Yabusele

Let's see here.
Semi Ojeleye - 2nd rounder, same year as Tatum
Romeo Langford - Granted
Aaron Nesmith - Granted
James Young - Same year as Smart.
Guerschon Yabusele - Same year as Brown

With discounting your 2nd rounder there, he's made up for those picks with otherwise smart drafting and the players you mentioned were in the backhalf of the first round. In that same span, he also drafted during the given timeframe, and I quote:

Smart
Rozier
Brown
Tatum
R. Williams
Pritchard

So he's done more than okay for himself in that timeframe with hitting on at least rotation level players or promising talent with the picks that you'd expect a good GM to hit on since 2014.

So again, what are you talking about?

[MoneyTalks41890]

Lol Presti is “ruining the NBA” but Ainge is a genius for trading his stars.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I’d guess the probability of a swap even conveying is like less 5%.

this is just a ridiculous statement


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[Ryoga Hibiki]

They were good trades, but it's easy to win every trade when you're not trying to win (Zach Lowe's "Sam Hinkie rule").

There’s some truth in that, but
- part of the value is understanding when it's time to reset, this thread shows people can have different views on that
- maximising the assets is less easy than what you think, how many people could have gotten that much from Rudy? An average guy would have gotten 2 pick, not 4

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[myronbolitar]

Lol Presti is “ruining the NBA” but Ainge is a genius for trading his stars.

Entirely different situations. One team has languished at the bottom of the standings (and will) for years to come. Ainge's teams have never had a prolonged period of being really bad.

If anyone has an opinion other than "Ainge is a good (or better) GM," then they either don't understand the business of the front office, hate Danny Ainge, or both.

[jswede]

In one way he did give a lesson: job security.

Not that he invented it, it’s been done before, but with all these backloaded first round picks this will be a wait and see for at least five or six years if not longer. Whether this “worked” won’t be decided until at least 2027-28. He got ZERO players - nobody to build around at all. That’s been overlooked - just how far in the future this rebuild is actually going to be.