The_Hater wrote:GiannisAnte34 wrote:Ainge was too greedy with his war chest. Tried to rebuild and contend at the same time. Now the Celtics have to pay for it by becoming a treadmill team with limited assets to find a franchise player.
I'm not sure he was trying to rebuild and contend, Stevens just had them overachieving for 2-3 years while they were rebuilding and suddenly they were unexpectedly in the EC finals. He had Zeller/Sullinger starting at the big spots while winning 48 games one season and they're both out of the league right now. And who expected Isiah Thomas to become an efficient, 25 ppg all-star when Ainge got him?
The Hayward injury was obviously crippling to the team, he was a top 20 player before that and Kyrie becoming a complete distraction and his bolting in the off-season was completely unexpected as recently as January.
Sometimes the direction and the plan can actually be very good but it still doesn't turn out as well as expected.
The fact is Ainge was presented multiple opportunities to acquire players that would put the Celtics closer to title contention. (Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, maybe Anthony Davis) He turned them down to hoard his prospects. The Hayward move wasn't a great fit even if he was healthy because of the makeup of the roster. Have to think that this is a little bit of karma coming back to the Celtics for ditching someone who played with pure passion, leadership, and desire to win above all else.