Danny Ainge is an incredible GM

[Sibelius]

Instead he publicly dangled Brown and Tatum, asking NO to hold off till summer in the hope that the Irving/Davis pairing would work. All that will have achieved is to alienate Brown and Tatum, which I hope can be salvaged, but the lack of trust on both sides could be a long term issue for the franchise.

I think signing Walker at the expense of Horford, Rozier and Baynes could be a mistake as well, although we don't know the details of what happened there, could be they didn't low ball Horford and he just wanted a fresh start, in which case it is not Ainge's bad decision. For me the more glaring need was at PF & C, especially after drafting two midget point guards, a midget PF and a combo guard. Unless they are somehow able to improve the bigs situation significantly without sacrificing too much else, it could be ugly.

Those guys were not publicly dangled at all. It's still sort of cloudy whether or not Tatum was offered. They both seemed to get better later in the season than they were earlier as well so I'm not sure that holds water. The Lakers imploded.

Citing the pgs drafted in the 2nd round as a deterrent to signing Kemba is just not an argument based in the reality of the nba. They'll have been good picks if they are even kicking around in the league in 2 years.

Yeah, I don't expect Edwards or Waters to make much of an impact either, the point was more around having absolutely no depth at the PF & C positions. Just seems a bit strange to draft three guards, then sign another to a max in free agency without giving any consideration to the big spots.

[Fantaxp7]

If Kyrie wasn't the turd in the punch bowl, we'd have a pretty amazing team.

Ainge tried to have his cake and eat it too with the moves he took and they were pretty well calculated. But no one knew Kyrie would be this bad of a fit.

I knew after his "I don't owe anybody ****" comment, he should have been traded at the deadline and we should have dropped the AD stuff earlier. We could have had Marc Gasol or someone similar in return for a serious playoff run.

Yes, but who knows what happens behind the scenes. These reporters only know so much. Ainge isn't stupid, those comments are obviously major red flags. But what were they discussing one on one?

At the end of the day, banking on that team figuring out their issues was the best path on paper. Clearly that back fired terribly. And if we were shopping a disgruntled Kyrie what could we have gotten back.

[JJHondo17]

Here's what the naysayers are missing. Danny Ainge doesn't just have Plan B if Plan A falls apart, he has a Plan, C, D, E & F.

[ermocrate]

I feel is time for him to go, the man is awesome but I don’t think his health is perfectly fine.

[sam_I_am]

It kills me to hear the same BS over and over....McHale gifted the Celtics KG. KG had 1 year left and made it clear he was leaving. Ainge gave up Al Jefferson - an automatic 24/12 his first year in Minnesota and a #5 pick that should have been Steph Curry. KG had 1 1/3 years left as elite player and was never good enough to carry a team to promised land on his own.

Meanwhile, LA which has had a dumpster fire management with wasted draft picks (Ball), losing talent for nothing(JLo, Randle), terrible coaching and seemed doomed to mediocrity for another decade.....gets gifted Lebron (best player of generation) and Kawhi (best player in game) at zero cost to team and both are already more accomplished than KG ever was. And oh yeah....they get to trade their trash and a #4 pick ( with no one near as good as Steph Curry on board ) for a 25 yo Anthony Davis who is literally the next best thing to KG in NBA history,

But Ainge only won because his buddy gifted him. The haters are absurd.

[m haynes]

I mean this team is losing Kyrie/Al/Morris/Baynes/Rozier and gaining Kemba and a 4.7 MLE player. In no way shape or form is this team better than last year nor a contender this year and very likely next year.

I don't care if last years team had God and Jesus on the roster. That team sucked! They were so bad and boring, I would watch Hallmark movies with the wife!

[sam_I_am]

I mean this team is losing Kyrie/Al/Morris/Baynes/Rozier and gaining Kemba and a 4.7 MLE player. In no way shape or form is this team better than last year nor a contender this year and very likely next year.

I don't care if last years team had God and Jesus on the roster. That team sucked! They were so bad and boring, I would watch Hallmark movies with the wife!

Horford is the loss that can’t easily be replaced. Hayward should more than make up for Morris who while great for 3-4 months, was pretty mediocre at end of season and playoffs. Rozier was a gamer and great rebounder but he had a bad season. It’s not crazy to expect Smart/Brown/rookies to more than make up for his loss. Baynes was hurt for much of season and his impact was greater on paper than reality because Brad knew exactly when to maximize his effort and when to pull him out of game. RW has to step up and whoever we grab with 4.5 m will have to make up for his loss - definitely doable.

Back to Horford. I think he is already on decline and not nearly as consistent as he used to be. However, we saw what happened to Atlanta when he left them and that could happen her. Still, we managed to win 48 games before he came here with Amir and Zeller and team is much more talented now than it was then. If we actually end up with Capella we might be better off given the way Kemba relentlessly drive to basket. Otherwise, we’ll have to hope Danny can make a big move during season or wait until draft next year.

[ermocrate]

It kills me to hear the same BS over and over....McHale gifted the Celtics KG. KG had 1 year left and made it clear he was leaving. Ainge gave up Al Jefferson - an automatic 24/12 his first year in Minnesota and a #5 pick that should have been Steph Curry. KG had 1 1/3 years left as elite player and was never good enough to carry a team to promised land on his own.

Meanwhile, LA which has had a dumpster fire management with wasted draft picks (Ball), losing talent for nothing(JLo, Randle), terrible coaching and seemed doomed to mediocrity for another decade.....gets gifted Lebron (best player of generation) and Kawhi (best player in game) at zero cost to team and both are already more accomplished than KG ever was. And oh yeah....they get to trade their trash and a #4 pick ( with no one near as good as Steph Curry on board ) for a 25 yo Anthony Davis who is literally the next best thing to KG in NBA history,

But Ainge only won because his buddy gifted him. The haters are absurd.

I agree... That's why we all hate LA...

[ThumbsUpBaby]

I'll always say In Ainge We Trust until he turns the Celtics into Titanic.

[Zaschrona]

Yes.

[King Of The 4th]

Sometimes the best way to judge a GM is what they do when things fall apart. Danny once again proved he's one of the best in the business by turning a total nightmare season into a potentially very entertaining one. Can't wait to see what Kemba can do in a Stevens run offense assuming he doesn't renege on the deal!

[ZeroTolerance]

Yes, all that is true but... Fire Ainge!

I have to ask...Who are you going to get to replace him?

You want to fire him....Who's his replacement?.

[canman1971]

Yes, all that is true but... Fire Ainge!

I have to ask...Who are you going to get to replace him?

You want to fire him....Who's his replacement?.

I'm guessing you are not a good reader of sarcasm?

[ZeroTolerance]

That team sucked! They were so bad and boring, I would watch Hallmark movies with the wife!

You poor bastard!.......That"s brutal!

I mean my better half won't watch sports in prime time either and I usually watch the replays late at night....But the Hallmark channel?....Chick flick city!


You need to start a "man's rights" movement my friend!

[ZeroTolerance]

Yes, all that is true but... Fire Ainge!

I have to ask...Who are you going to get to replace him?

You want to fire him....Who's his replacement?.

I'm guessing you are not a good reader of sarcasm?

I try to include a happy face with mine....Perhaps you are right?

Open question though to all the haters then?

[TMU]

It kills me to hear the same BS over and over....McHale gifted the Celtics KG. KG had 1 year left and made it clear he was leaving. Ainge gave up Al Jefferson - an automatic 24/12 his first year in Minnesota and a #5 pick that should have been Steph Curry. KG had 1 1/3 years left as elite player and was never good enough to carry a team to promised land on his own.

Meanwhile, LA which has had a dumpster fire management with wasted draft picks (Ball), losing talent for nothing(JLo, Randle), terrible coaching and seemed doomed to mediocrity for another decade.....gets gifted Lebron (best player of generation) and Kawhi (best player in game) at zero cost to team and both are already more accomplished than KG ever was. And oh yeah....they get to trade their trash and a #4 pick ( with no one near as good as Steph Curry on board ) for a 25 yo Anthony Davis who is literally the next best thing to KG in NBA history,

But Ainge only won because his buddy gifted him. The haters are absurd.

Such disrespect and a lazy narrative from Screamin A Smith. Well tbh not all that surprised coming from someone who doesn’t know a lick about basketball and has never touched a ball at the pro level.

I think Ainge made some mistakes but in a grand scheme of things, he’s made a lot of good moves, including trying to salvage all this mess from Kyrie’s 5-yr-old tantrum and Rozier’s narcissitic behavior.

I also think not resigning Horford is absolutely the right move here.

[Celtics_History_Lesson]

Lots of these:





Plenty of those:





A huge number of these:





A long time ago, after Kevin McHale did the Celtics a solid, one of these:



The T-Wolves got some useful bits, but it was mainly Al Jefferson plus a very late first, which was Wayne Ellington, and also the T-Wolves got back their pick, Jonny Flynn, which was "protected top 14 in 2009, top 5 in 2010, top 3 in 2011" when Boston had it. Can't count Gomes as being important, even G Green.

The other option was Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. Both would end up being troubled players, but were big trade pieces then. McHale was nice to Boston, and also thought Jefferson had better potential with his McHale-like low-post moves and getting the pick back was good too.



Aingey-boy then hired his son, and replaced an entire team that was in the Conference Finals with this:



This created the worst to see Celtics team in many decades.


Can't say "incredible".

He was gifted a player from Kevin McHale. He found a couple of low-ability people, Billy King and Colangelo's son, to trade with.

Michael Jordan stopped him doing something silly, the many draft picks trade idea, and Josh Jackson might have stopped him from doing something else silly.

[sam_I_am]

^Again you say gifted. Name me an elite player that brought back a young Big with Al’s potential and a lottery pick. Nobody is saying Griffin gifted the Lakers AD and that package pales in comparison. Closer to the haul Red got for Danny Ainge - a couple of wasted lotto picks.

[ParticleMan]

IT to Kyrie to Kemba, in 3 years.

moved on from IT once it became clear he wasn't ever going to be the same. i think he would have moved on from kyrie earlier but the injury the previous year got in the way. according to another GM, ainge would have traded kyrie for kemba at any point.

so now ainge apparently has his man. at the very least you have to appreciate how he took a deadline throwaway acquisition a few years ago, and turned it into an allstar pg who he's been targeting for a while, in spite of some setbacks.

that's some muhfuggin GM-ing, right there.

[Ernest]

It kills me to hear the same BS over and over....McHale gifted the Celtics KG. KG had 1 year left and made it clear he was leaving. Ainge gave up Al Jefferson - an automatic 24/12 his first year in Minnesota and a #5 pick that should have been Steph Curry. KG had 1 1/3 years left as elite player and was never good enough to carry a team to promised land on his own.

Meanwhile, LA which has had a dumpster fire management with wasted draft picks (Ball), losing talent for nothing(JLo, Randle), terrible coaching and seemed doomed to mediocrity for another decade.....gets gifted Lebron (best player of generation) and Kawhi (best player in game) at zero cost to team and both are already more accomplished than KG ever was. And oh yeah....they get to trade their trash and a #4 pick ( with no one near as good as Steph Curry on board ) for a 25 yo Anthony Davis who is literally the next best thing to KG in NBA history,

But Ainge only won because his buddy gifted him. The haters are absurd.

Totally agree! The crazy part is these haters claim to be Celtics fans. Most of them are probably Russian bots.