nate33 wrote:Rafael122 wrote:One of two things will happen: IT4 gets traded or Smart gets traded. Ainge has no loyalty to players so everyone is up for grabs.
There's a fine line between having "no loyalty" and recognizing that there are times when one should "sell high". I think Ainge will get it right. I don't think very many Celtics fans are all that upset that Ainge showed "no loyalty" in dumping Pierce and Garnett just as their respective careers collapsed. He got 4 lotto picks out of that particular demonstration of no loyalty.
Maybe it stung them at the time, but for whatever reason, Pierce and Garnett don't seem to have nearly as hard feelings toward the Celtics as they do toward Ray Allen. Maybe they resent him for moving on by his own design.
The loyalty expectation between players and teams is generally tilted in the team's favor. When a player leaves, whether unwillingly by trade or willingly by free agency, his former teammates and the fans are still stuck with the team he left.
When a good GM makes a trade, that presumably has a good chance of making the team better, whereas when a FA that the team wanted to re-sign goes to another team, that presumably has a good chance of making the team worse. Crediting the team for the former and blaming the player for the latter seems the natural course.
