Danny Ainge just took the whole NBA execs to school

[tamaraw08]

The Tatum flip was obvious to anyone who knew basketball.
Jaylen Brown was the 3rd best wing prospect in that draft.

He passed on Giannis, didnt trade an asset for Luka when he had ALL the assets, drafted James Young, drafted the exact same player in Langford.. threw away multiple picks in the 2016 draft.. recently drafted Cody Williams and so and so on.. he has hits but he has some major misses

Didn't draft Giannis or trade for Luka? What in the world...

Brown was a complete reach, and no one was thinking about that Tatum flip, literally no one, it was shocking not to take Fultz #1 before we all knew about the yips and accident.

Dude drafted Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, Big Baby, Big Al Jefferson, Terry Rozier, Tatum, Brown, Grant Williams, Nesmith, Olynyk, Bradley, Powe, Smart....

Ainge has been a fantastic drafter, and has missed on some late 20 picks...Dude has one of the better records drafting in the NBA considering he usually drafts late in the draft. He's one of the best talent evaluators of the modern era for sure.

Finding All-NBA dudes in Tatum, Brown, Rondo, and Al was solid, especially the later two given their draft slots.
Smart, Tony, and Bradley made All-Def

So many starters and guys that were integral parts to our team or other teams runs. The dude drafted and put together the core to two championship teams and 4 finals appearances . He's probably better at drafting than most GMs

All great moves but as the saying goes... What have you done for me (Utah) lately? At least the past 2-3 years?

[SeattleJazzFan]

for whatever reason, rudy is hated and that causes people to underrate him. the fact is, he impacts winning a big way on both ends of the floor.

[sfernald]

GarPax were allegedly great, until they were not great, by picking Marquis Teague, Tony Snell, Doug McDermott, Bobby Portis (alright, he was OK), and Denzel Washington in 5 straight drafts.

I can only wish we drafted Denzel Washington. Even at 14, I immediately knew that was an awful pick and complained out loud…to myself.

He was a great actor tho….

[taikibansei]

More like Danny Ainge hella settled on this trade. Remember he was asking for 4-5 picks from the Knicks plus another 3-4 young assets for Mitchell. Now he’s getting picks that are more likely to be low first round picks at least for the next 5 years and who honestly believes that the Jazz are going to be leagues better than the Cavs in the next 7 years? The Jazz are a team that struggles to sign free agents and they’re going to be a tanking team for the next half decade at least. Good luck selling free agents on that future.

3 picks are heavily protected, the young players aren't good, this is much better than the Kicks package, Sexton and LAuri >> any Knicks young player.

Danny's ask of the Knicks was 6+ frps--at least 3 unprotected--plus swaps, plus various (accounts vary) young players. I'll explain it more below, but I think we can both agree that this package from the Knicks would have been far, far better than what the Cavs actually paid.

The Knicks actual offer was 5 frps--2 unprotected--plus expirings, plus young talent. Frankly, that's still better than what Danny got. First, due to the poor roster fit, even with Mitchell our record each year would have been in the 7-10 range; on the other hand, the Cavs (now with multiple all-stars and the ROY) are going to be competing each season for top-4 in the East...meaning that the Knicks' two unprotected picks would likely have been better than the Cavs frps.

But I'm not done: let's talk about the "heavily protected" (your words) picks. Here are the picks that were in play:
--23 Dallas (top 10 protected in a deep draft; 1-10 in 2024 and 1-10 in 2025)
--25 Bucks (top 4 protected)
--Wizards (top 14 in 2023, top 12 in 2024, top 10 in 2025, top 8 in 2026)
--Detroit (top 18 in 2023-24, top 13 in 2025, top 11 in 2026, top 9 in 2027)
I.e., all four of these "heavily protected" frps likely convey, all with the potential for being in the mid- to late-lottery. Accordingly, none are "heavily" protected by any definition of the term. Indeed, given the strength of the Cavs' current roster, I'd argue that all but the Bucks will come in lower than the Cavs' unprotected picks.

Finally, let's talk about the young players Utah got. I'm going to focus on Sexton, as you mention him specifically. Sexton was a decent player before the season-ending injury. That said...he just came back from a season-long injury...was never really that good...and you've now signed to pay him $72,000,000 (more than the Cavs offered) over the next four years. Yeah, good luck with that.

Again, I think Danny did just fine with his "haul," but there was no "great victory" here (and the Knicks were right to walk away). Assuming the Cavs stay healthy, they didn't give a lot out.

Damn, I really need to change my user name to Nostradamus--particularly the bit in bold about Sexton. (Also, lmao at Sexton being better than Brunson.... )

Let's face it, the Twolves and Cavs both fleeced Danny. The Knicks also dodged a bullet, and at least until Dolan recently intervened (and fired Thibs with no replacement set), were doing fine as well. Meanwhile, the Jazz continue their "rebuild"...by preparing to tank again...in Year 4.

[God Squad]

This thread aged like milk.

It's been 3-4 years and Danny has done nothing with this team. All those assets and draft capital were burned by terrible drafting. Ace is their only prospect that has good potential IMO.

I don't think any young team would trade outlooks with them IMO. Houston, Orlando, and Detroit have finished their tanks and moved onto the playoffs, while Utah is spinning in circles still.

[kg01]

This thread aged like milk.

It's been 3-4 years and Danny has done nothing with this team. All those assets and draft capital were burned by terrible drafting. Ace is their only prospect that has good potential IMO.

I don't think any young team would trade outlooks with them IMO. Houston, Orlando, and Detroit have finished their tanks and moved onto the playoffs, while Utah is spinning in circles still.

His goals for going to UTA were (a) wait for Flagg to drop in his lap and (b) create a job for his son.

He's batting. 500.

I'd be pissed if I were a Jazz fan. Mormon Masai is killin them.

[Shock Defeat]

Ainge is in semi retirement mode. His best job security is tanking. No expectations for the team but you buy years of employment by convincing the owner that you have a vision. By the time you get fired you'll have made millions and can retire officially.

[kg01]

Ainge is in semi retirement mode. His best job security is tanking. No expectations for the team but you buy years of employment by convincing the owner that you have a vision. By the time you get fired you'll have made millions and can retire officially.

Some call this Hinkie'ing.

[Black Jack]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

[mg]

Well they just had to bring in his son Austin to clean up Danny's mess. The same thing happened in Boston when Brad Stevens had to take over.

[Capn'O]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

[TheAlchemist]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

Same happened to Masai.

GM's get tired of trying to deal with guys who fleece others. They need to sprinkle in win win type of trades with some minor losses. Or trades of cap absorption etc out of good will.

Can't always try fleecing guys and then expect to be able to make these deals again and again.

[TheAlchemist]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

Woahhhhhhhhh lol.Didn't even read your response.

[Black Jack]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

Right and what I observe is certain franchises like to do business with each other where they let the other side slightly win a trade and then that's returned later. The Ainge/Masai approach means when you need a solid there's nobody around to help you out with cap space or whatever.

It can work out though when you have an extremely stupid/desperate GM.

[Godymas]

Ainge selected Taylor Hendricks #9 overall and he's played 43 games in 2 years

Ainge selected Cody Williams #10 overall and he had quite possibly the worst rookie year for a lottery pick ever.

This year he selects Ace Bailey who didn't even want to be there and has boom or bust potential, who knows

his Lauri Markkanen extension turned one of the best contracts in the league to one of the worst

he's washed

[mg]

Ainge was operating like he was still Boston under the old CBA. He didn't adjust and gave out a terrible contract to Lauri while taking on another bad contract in John Collins. He thought he could just accumulate picks and go big game hunting in Utah where no veterans are willingly going to agree to play. His draft picks such as Keyonte are not the types of guys smart GM's would pick in today's NBA. Not to mention he couldn't pick a direction and would do these half tank jobs. He could not function in this new era of trading for equal value in order to have fitting pieces on the roster. His mindset is to target bad GMs such as Billy King and get every asset in a trade. GM's are too smart now so his son was brought in to replace him. That thought process is also the reason he was replaced by Stevens who had to take over for him in Boston.

[Capn'O]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

Right and what I observe is certain franchises like to do business with each other where they let the other side slightly win a trade and then that's returned later. The Ainge/Masai approach means when you need a solid there's nobody around to help you out with cap space or whatever.

It can work out though when you have an extremely stupid/desperate GM.

And it worked when they were respectively ahead of the curve in understanding how value works in this league. John Paxson was an early casualty of this phenomenon.

[DavidSterned]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

Pat Riley too. He was so used to getting his way for so long, mostly via FA, and recently it seems like his stubbornness is finally costing him on the trade market. Not much of a direction there at the moment.

[Dubnation]

I still don't understand why GM's even pick up the phone when it displays "Ainge". How many years has he been fleecing everyone?

[mg]

I don't buy that Ainge isn't trying or something.

The problem is his strategy of wanting to always destroy the other side in trades. People finally wised up.

It's the same thing that happened to Masai. They made their living off of absolutely smoking other teams and, while there's plenty of stupidity to go around, everyone pretty much understands value the same way now. He's not going to get those godfather ripoffs anymore.

Pat Riley too. He was so used to getting his way for so long, mostly via FA, and recently it seems like his stubbornness is finally costing him on the trade market. Not much of a direction there at the moment.

Agreed the game has passed by some of these veteran GM's. What worked 20 years ago doesn't work anymore. The Sam Presti's of the world have been lapping them.