Danny Ainge is gun shy myth....

[BillTheGOAT]

I often read and hear people say he just hoards assets and doesn't capitalize.

Lets take each situation and deep dive.

Paul George:

Remember, we were in the mix for Hayward and only had one Max FA slot open. We needed to sign Hayward first in order to make a trade for PG. He then got traded for Oladipo, Sabonis and it wasn't because of lack of attempt on Danny's part. Pritchard was in a hurry to get a deal done.
Trade worked out good for both OKC and Indy. We were offering Crowder, Bradley I think at the time but it wasn't Ainge's fault.


Kawhi Leonard:

This one in hindsight hurts. But we had the ultimate goal of getting AD and Celtics fans were torn on Kawhi. While the Raptors had nothing to lose. Worse case scenario for the Raptors was that he would bolt in a year but they get rid of DD ugly contract. We were asked to give up Brown, Smart and picks for a malcontent player and his crazy uncle.
Ainge wants a commitment for giving up players, for someone that would've/could've bolted in a year. There were, and still reports out there that he might go to te Clippers. Of course winning is the ultimate goal but for one year of Kawhi?

Derozan is not that good. Brown had/has upside and is younger cheaper. At least for another year.

It only worked for the Raptors because they were at a dead end. DD as your best player would never take them to the Finals. It also helped them that the Celtics were dysfunctional, Sixers are who they are and Bucks overachieved. KD and Klay both injured etc.. They had all kinds of luck, all time lucky championship run. I still give Ainge a pass knowing they had EXTREME luck.


Kyrie Irving:

Traded IT, Crowder, Zizic and BKN pick which turned into Colin Sexton. Where is IT now? Crowder sucks. For two years of Kyrie. He was a model citizen the first year. Trade was good and proves Danny isn't afraid to make bold moves, no matter what Kyrie does it was a good trade.

Then he turned into a complete bitch this year. The Rose rule also prevented the Celtics from making a trade at the deadline and even then Kyrie had already become a malcontent and this takes us to AD.


Anthony Davis:

His agent blatantly told the Celtics he would leave in 2020. How could you give up Tatum for a guy that would leave in a year? Also Smart would've gone. Williams, 14th pick, Memphis pick and future picks and pick swaps. Lakers gave a huge ransom in future picks and pick swaps.

Once LeBron has that steep decline they will have a hard time to recover. He will turn 35 by the start of next season and is only going to get older. Only upgrade for AD might be moving from NO to LA and getting more endorsements.

Some people still dream about selling a guy on the City of Boston and the banners and the retired numbers blah blah blah. It means nothing once they **** up your brain, they will have tunnel vision.

Ainge has done everything he should've done. Textbook style. Nothing more he could have done really.

[captain green]

I concur doctor, doctor and doctor.
Bob hope "glad I'm not sick"

[LuckyLeprechaun]

Yes, but expecting a trade to come along without risk is also foolish. In today's NBA, players have little incentive to sign extensions early the way KG did when we traded for him. Players also seem to be all about generating the social media buzz. This means it will be very rare for guys to have us at the top of their list.

So we can either make risky trades for superstars or we can successfully develop our own; something this team hasn't done since Bird IMO with Pierce being very close to that level. There's not some 3rd scenario where a guy of ADs caliber demands a trade to Boston and we don't have to feel like we are taking a gamble.

[WhateverBro]

PG is and always was better than Hayward though. He shouldve traded for PG even if it meant not signing Hayward.

He messed up on all of these except Kyrie.

[itrsteve]

Accurate assessments and I agree 100%

It's easy to pick apart trades and non-trades after the fact. I've seen some pretty asinine takes on GB.

[Afam]

A lot people might be afraid to say this, but playing with the celtics helped Danny Ainge get the GM job, Vice president of basketball operations, and now President of basketball operations.

If Danny Ainge never played for the celtics, a great player, a hall of famer, he probably doesn’t get the employed by the celtics. His celtics career helped him with the Kevin Garnett trade. If not because of his celtics ties, a the one championship in 2008, he probably would have been fired a long time ago.

[Afam]

The celtics franchise is a without a direction right now. They are about to lose they only franchise player without a replacement in place. No Jayson Tatum are not stars. No idea on what direction they want to go. Build a championship, Tank/Rebuild, Go with youth movement. You can't do. It is either you are building a championship team, or you are rebuilding. You can't define this as a successful when you didn't have a winning record, or should i say a good record, didn't make any major or minor changes at the trade deadline, in the offseason, and about to lose your only star player in kyrie. It is and has been a complete failure. People or some people in real life, and online can pretend everything is ok, and convince themselves that the youth movement is the right way to go, but they are in for a rude awakening when the celtics are a mediocre team in 8,10 years etc. Boston is not even a free agent destination, so good luck with them attracting stars that way. It should be a free agent destination, but it isn't. The NBA is a stars league. Either you are drafting and developing them, or you are trading or acquiring them through free agency. You are irrelevant or almost irrelevant without having a star on your team.

[cloverleaf]

There is also Wyc behind every major move (or non-move) as well.

[JR Hawks]

Will canman lock this thread if we're critical of danny?

[timpiker]

PG is and always was better than Hayward though. He shouldve traded for PG even if it meant not signing Hayward.

He messed up on all of these except Kyrie.

I like how people like to re-write history and forget that every one of these players said they would not re-sign with the C's and were going to the Lakers at the time. I see all the bashing of Danny on these forums and its sickening how foolish people are. You just can't wish for it to happen. That's the world is so grow up. I'll say it again for the 10th time - it would be insane to trade Tatum for a 1 year rental.

[WhateverBro]

PG is and always was better than Hayward though. He shouldve traded for PG even if it meant not signing Hayward.

He messed up on all of these except Kyrie.

I like how people like to re-write history and forget that every one of these players said they would not re-sign with the C's and were going to the Lakers at the time. I see all the bashing of Danny on these forums and its sickening how foolish people are. You just can't wish for it to happen. That's the world is so grow up. I'll say it again for the 10th time - it would be insane to trade Tatum for a 1 year rental.

OKC and Kawhi sure aint regretting pulling the trigger on their deals even with the uncertaintity of them not re-signing. Have fun with Tatum though.

[BigTrade92]

Will canman lock this thread if we're critical of danny?

Seriously. We're locking threads now to try and defend Danny Ainge's honor? Really?

Ainge needs to go. This isn't exactly sacrilege to say....

[Fantaxp7]

Will canman lock this thread if we're critical of danny?

Seriously. We're locking threads now to try and defend Danny Ainge's honor? Really?

Ainge needs to go. This isn't exactly sacrilege to say....

I disagree.

What are your thoughts on the first post? Without using hindsight?

It's so easy to look back and get pissed off but without understanding our situation at the time and the situation of those players (wanting to go to LA and not knowing if they'd return to their high level of play) you don't really get a good understanding of Ainge's position and thoughts.

[BigTrade92]

Will canman lock this thread if we're critical of danny?

Seriously. We're locking threads now to try and defend Danny Ainge's honor? Really?

Ainge needs to go. This isn't exactly sacrilege to say....

I disagree.

What are your thoughts on the first post? Without using hindsight?

It's so easy to look back and get pissed off but without understanding our situation at the time and the situation of those players (wanting to go to LA and not knowing if they'd return to their high level of play) you don't really get a good understanding of Ainge's position and thoughts.

There's no hindsight needed. Many of us on this board were calling for Ainge to splurge on PG, considering we had a ton of assets at hand, and then we all pleaded for him to go all-in on Leonard, who would've made this team an unstoppable freight train. Ainge instead kept his hard-on for AD and then got bitch slapped by him, Rich Paul and now Kyrie.

He's been here for 16 years and won a single title, based exclusively on a trade his buddy Kevin McHale gifted him. The Danny Ainge experiment in Boston was fun and successful to a point, but it's time for it to end and change directions.

The fact that you and many Celtics fans are cool with no titles in well over a decade, and none on the horizon now that EVERYTHING has backfired, is disturbing.

[3D Chess]

It must kill Danny that the Lakers can bumble almost every single decision over the last 3-5 years, and come out looking like a title contender, while he makes almost every "correct" move and end up with empty pockets. I get that life, sports ain't fair, but damn lol.

[Fantaxp7]

Seriously. We're locking threads now to try and defend Danny Ainge's honor? Really?

Ainge needs to go. This isn't exactly sacrilege to say....

I disagree.

What are your thoughts on the first post? Without using hindsight?

It's so easy to look back and get pissed off but without understanding our situation at the time and the situation of those players (wanting to go to LA and not knowing if they'd return to their high level of play) you don't really get a good understanding of Ainge's position and thoughts.

There's no hindsight needed. Many of us on this board were calling for Ainge to splurge on PG, considering we had a ton of assets at hand, and then we all pleaded for him to go all-in on Leonard, who would've made this team an unstoppable freight train. Ainge instead kept his hard-on for AD and then got bitch slapped by him, Rich Paul and now Kyrie.

He's been here for 16 years and won a single title, based exclusively on a trade his buddy Kevin McHale gifted him. The Danny Ainge experiment in Boston was fun and successful to a point, but it's time for it to end and change directions.

The fact that you and many Celtics fans are cool with no titles in well over a decade, and none on the horizon now that EVERYTHING has backfired, is disturbing.

Just one year ago the team assembled by Ainge was the favorite to get out of the East. How does that speak negatively against his ability to form a team? How is anyone not going to run it back and add Kyrie and Hayward to a team that was one win from the finals?

Ainge had that team and the ability to tweak as needed, but there was no way anyone could have predicted the dysfunction of that collection of players.

Kyrie stays happy as we have a competent team around him, Ainge gets to evaluate the state of the team after this season and decide if AD is the best course of action to get us a title. Of course none of that happened and here we are.

Hindsight is absolutely needed.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

I often read and hear people say he just hoards assets and doesn't capitalize.

Lets take each situation and deep dive.

Paul George:

Remember, we were in the mix for Hayward and only had one Max FA slot open. We needed to sign Hayward first in order to make a trade for PG. He then got traded for Oladipo, Sabonis and it wasn't because of lack of attempt on Danny's part. Pritchard was in a hurry to get a deal done.
Trade worked out good for both OKC and Indy. We were offering Crowder, Bradley I think at the time but it wasn't Ainge's fault.


Kawhi Leonard:

This one in hindsight hurts. But we had the ultimate goal of getting AD and Celtics fans were torn on Kawhi. While the Raptors had nothing to lose. Worse case scenario for the Raptors was that he would bolt in a year but they get rid of DD ugly contract. We were asked to give up Brown, Smart and picks for a malcontent player and his crazy uncle.
Ainge wants a commitment for giving up players, for someone that would've/could've bolted in a year. There were, and still reports out there that he might go to te Clippers. Of course winning is the ultimate goal but for one year of Kawhi?

Derozan is not that good. Brown had/has upside and is younger cheaper. At least for another year.

It only worked for the Raptors because they were at a dead end. DD as your best player would never take them to the Finals. It also helped them that the Celtics were dysfunctional, Sixers are who they are and Bucks overachieved. KD and Klay both injured etc.. They had all kinds of luck, all time lucky championship run. I still give Ainge a pass knowing they had EXTREME luck.


Kyrie Irving:

Traded IT, Crowder, Zizic and BKN pick which turned into Colin Sexton. Where is IT now? Crowder sucks. For two years of Kyrie. He was a model citizen the first year. Trade was good and proves Danny isn't afraid to make bold moves, no matter what Kyrie does it was a good trade.

Then he turned into a complete bitch this year. The Rose rule also prevented the Celtics from making a trade at the deadline and even then Kyrie had already become a malcontent and this takes us to AD.


Anthony Davis:

His agent blatantly told the Celtics he would leave in 2020. How could you give up Tatum for a guy that would leave in a year? Also Smart would've gone. Williams, 14th pick, Memphis pick and future picks and pick swaps. Lakers gave a huge ransom in future picks and pick swaps.

Once LeBron has that steep decline they will have a hard time to recover. He will turn 35 by the start of next season and is only going to get older. Only upgrade for AD might be moving from NO to LA and getting more endorsements.

Some people still dream about selling a guy on the City of Boston and the banners and the retired numbers blah blah blah. It means nothing once they **** up your brain, they will have tunnel vision.

Ainge has done everything he should've done. Textbook style. Nothing more he could have done really.

Nobody's happy. Ainge's master plan looks to have failed. It doesn't mean it was a bad plan or that he's not a good GM.

But the Raps just won a title with a player we could have gotten and the Lakers just got our #1 target, and people can't just bemoan the circumstances -- they have to scream "Fire Ainge."

[hickfromfrenchlick]

A lot people might be afraid to say this, but playing with the celtics helped Danny Ainge get the GM job, Vice president of basketball operations, and now President of basketball operations.

If Danny Ainge never played for the celtics, a great player, a hall of famer, he probably doesn’t get the employed by the celtics. His celtics career helped him with the Kevin Garnett trade. If not because of his celtics ties, a the one championship in 2008, he probably would have been fired a long time ago.

When, exactly, would he have been fired? Before or after swindling the Nets? Before or after swindling the Sixers?

[shi-woo]

PG is and always was better than Hayward though. He shouldve traded for PG even if it meant not signing Hayward.

He messed up on all of these except Kyrie.

It wasn't Hayward vs George though,it was Hayward, Brown, and Tatum vs George. It looks bad In hindsight with Kyrie leaving and AD telling us to F off, but at the time it was the right more. Why would you trade all your assets for a player that can't even get you out of the first round in the West, when you can sign a player that led his team to the 2nd round, and try to move those assets for another star?

That's why I'm appalled by the basketball communities anger at Ainge. He made the right moves, they just didn't work out because of a freak injury to a max player, and Kyrie and AD unwillingness to commit to the team. It happens, it did happen, and we should be glad Danny put us in a position where we aren't totally depleted in the aftermath

Sent from my D6708 using RealGM mobile app

[MagicBagley18]

A lot people might be afraid to say this, but playing with the celtics helped Danny Ainge get the GM job, Vice president of basketball operations, and now President of basketball operations.

If Danny Ainge never played for the celtics, a great player, a hall of famer, he probably doesn’t get the employed by the celtics. His celtics career helped him with the Kevin Garnett trade. If not because of his celtics ties, a the one championship in 2008, he probably would have been fired a long time ago.

disagree but let's say you are right- it is not how you get in the door but what you do when you get there. his resume of what he has done here speaks for itself. obviously we haven't won as many banners as we all hoped for but he still is a top flight gm that 25 other team's would love to have.

i am just as disappointed by not getting AD as anyone here and ainge is not above being criticism but he still is a good gm.