Fire Ainge: Thanks Danny, but it's time to go

[BK_2020]

KO balling out in Houston, looking like the 3rd best player in the 2013 draft.

[Bleeding Green]

Heres the problem; even if you fire Danny you have owners who dont want to spend. Every decision danny and mike zarren make is driven by the cap so avoiding the various cap taxes & penalties has become their number one priority. Wyc and pags will tie the hands of any gm we get

but maybe the next GM doesn't have drafts like 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2019. Maybe they don't panic and sign deals like Kemba's or make desperate trades like the Kyrie rental that has cost us the chance to have SGA or MPJ here for their whole careers and would have given us a Big Three even after Hayward might have left, which I doubt would have happened had Kyrie not come since there wouldn't have been an injury nor a locker room divide.

It is possible that some other GM would have drafted the literal best player at every spot, but how realistic is that? Even Ainge only got Tatum and Rob Williams as the literal two best players still available. Connelly is up there with Jokic, Monte Morris, and Murray, but even he traded out of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Has any GM nailed more than 3 picks since 2013? Even if you redraft all those drafts you list, the only one where the Celtics did much worse than average would be 2014. 2016 they move down a few spots I guess as Murray and Sabonis probably jump above Brown.

[JimmyPlopper]

KO balling out in Houston, looking like the 3rd best player in the 2013 draft.

He's balling out like MCW did in Philly. On the worst team in the league. He's a borderline starter.

[greenroom31]

Alright -- I guess I can forgive missing on Shaq Harrison once in free agency, but how could Ainge whiff on him a second time?? I’ve stuck by Danny for a long time, but this is unforgivable. Pack your bags!

[Fencer reregistered]

They tuned the coach out. Brad has to go its just what happens in the nba. He has passed his shelf life. Not his fault really

This is the fire Ainge Thread, you are looking for the Fire Brad thread. It should be located between the Fire Mike Gorman and Fire Lucky the mascot threads.

Lucky WAS fired, 3 weeks before KG hurt his knee.

http://archive.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2009/01/30/not_his_lucky_day/

[Ernest]

Remember when I said on the general board that Boston fans wanted to fire Ainge and everyone got mad at me and said I was exaggerating and it was only a few posters saying that? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Brett43]

For all the whining about Danny, I look at the team and around the league and see a bunch of successful first draft picks, 4 of whom started last night. With historical perspective, he doesn't always pick the BEST player available at the spot, but he seldom whiffs completely.

--In 2013 he picked Olynyk, who is a good player starting for an NBA team. It's too bad Danny didn't draft Giannis, but 13 other GMs made that mistake.
--Smart, from 2014, is an NBA starter who deserves his minutes. Yes, Danny could have had Lavine at 13. But his real mistake was drafting Young at pick 17 when he could have had Capela, Bogdanovic, or Jokic (41).
--Rozier, from 2015, is starting for the Hornets. That was a good choice at pick 16, and maybe he should still be in Boston.
--Brown, from 2016, is a very good pick in a weak draft. Most didn't have him at 3. He's at least a Scottie Pippin.
--Danny was the smartest dude at the 2017 draft, and Jayson Tatum is the clear number 1 with perspective. I shouldn't mention MJ, but Tatum is better than Brown, who I just compared to Pippin, and Tatum dropped 53 points last night.
--Robert Williams, from 2018, is blossoming into very good player and is looking like a good pick at number 27. For perspective, Mo Wagner was picked at 25.

As for Langford (2019) and Nesmith (2020), those drafts picks are too recent to make a real judgement. But Langford seems like a good player who will someday be an NBA starter. Maybe talent wise similar to Smart and Avery Bradley. And Grant Williams was a good pick for number 22.

As for the Theis trade, that was pretty terrible. But he was making room for Williams to start, which is paying dividends. He must see something in Wagner, plus Kornet is a pretty decent player - Tyler Zeller level.

[Ernest]

Theis trade was about money. You don't need to make room for players, you just play who you want to play.


Anyways watched the Minny broadcast tonight. There announcers were making fun of the boston "fans" that want to fire Ainge and Brad. They had a good word for y'all- "misguided"

[return2glory]

Kanter with 24 points and 30 rebounds tonight.

Danny let him walk. Kanter was exactly what this ball hogging team needed. Someone to mop up all the brinks. Also was our best low post scorer.

[LuckyLeprechaun]

Kanter with 24 points and 30 rebounds tonight.

Danny let him walk. Kanter was exactly what this ball hogging team needed. Someone to mop up all the brinks. Also was our best low post scorer.

We're 12th in the NBA in reb% and 3rd in oreb%. Mopping up bricks is one of the only things this team has done well this year.

[Bleeding Green]

Yeah I really don't get how they viewed Thompson being worth more than Kanter. I guess getting rid of Kanter allowed them to sign Thompson to the MLE and that's nice to have a higher salary player to trade fodder (not even sure if this is entirely true)? Otherwise I don't get the thought process at all. Just more squandering of value at the fringes by Ainge, which he has done consistently for years now. Celtics already have one of the **** defenses in the NBA, I don't see how Kanter could be any worse than Thompson on defense.

[CelticsLV]

Theis trade was about money. You don't need to make room for players, you just play who you want to play.


Anyways watched the Minny broadcast tonight. There announcers were making fun of the boston "fans" that want to fire Ainge and Brad. They had a good word for y'all- "misguided"

For a Timberwolves fan the current Celtics might look like a good team. I will leave those kinds of standards to the trash of the NBA. You can walk around Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Pistons, Rockets forums and make threads "Would you trade your roster with the Celtics" and then feel better about yourself and the Celtics. Meanwhile in real world there are people who hold the Celtics to a higher standard. After all these years of cap space and assets we are left with a 0.500, capped out team and our highest paid player is basically a negative asset. If you are fine with being stuck with this roster then cool. But maybe you are the one who's misguided by Ainge.

[ParticleMan]

the "i'm about championships so anyone who is against me wants mediocrity" argument is lame and tired. we all want chips. there's plenty of blame to go around for where we are now, but it is what it is. we just have different opinions about where to go from here.

[Fencer reregistered]

Kanter with 24 points and 30 rebounds tonight.

Danny let him walk. Kanter was exactly what this ball hogging team needed. Someone to mop up all the brinks. Also was our best low post scorer.

We're 12th in the NBA in reb% and 3rd in oreb%. Mopping up bricks is one of the only things this team has done well this year.

Agreed on the rebounding.

Kanter for TT still feels like a mistake, however, TT's recent streak of apparent good play notwithstanding. A classic post scorer like Kanter can give you highly productive minutes against some teams. Further, he is apt to be pretty effective defensively against the rare other classic post scorers in the league, notably Embiid. (I say that without checking for any Sixer/Blazer splits this season.

[cloverleaf]

Kanter with 24 points and 30 rebounds tonight.

Danny let him walk. Kanter was exactly what this ball hogging team needed. Someone to mop up all the brinks. Also was our best low post scorer.

We're 12th in the NBA in reb% and 3rd in oreb%. Mopping up bricks is one of the only things this team has done well this year.

Agreed on the rebounding.

Kanter for TT still feels like a mistake, however, TT's recent streak of apparent good play notwithstanding. A classic post scorer like Kanter can give you highly productive minutes against some teams. Further, he is apt to be pretty effective defensively against the rare other classic post scorers in the league, notably Embiid. (I say that without checking for any Sixer/Blazer splits this season. )

Kanter was also a team uniter, spending as much time with the rooks last year (Tacko, Grant) as with the stuffy vets. From afar it looked as if he kept the team loose and mutually supportive. He was also an accomplished veteran who took whatever role Brad gave him through the season with equanimity.

[OldCeltics]

Yeah I really don't get how they viewed Thompson being worth more than Kanter. I guess getting rid of Kanter allowed them to sign Thompson to the MLE and that's nice to have a higher salary player to trade fodder (not even sure if this is entirely true)? Otherwise I don't get the thought process at all. Just more squandering of value at the fringes by Ainge, which he has done consistently for years now. Celtics already have one of the **** defenses in the NBA, I don't see how Kanter could be any worse than Thompson on defense.

Kanter was 10x the player that Thompson is, on and off the court. Disgusting Ainge.

[OldCeltics]

Kanter with 24 points and 30 rebounds tonight.

Danny let him walk. Kanter was exactly what this ball hogging team needed. Someone to mop up all the brinks. Also was our best low post scorer.

Exactly, Kanter loved Boston, and was a walking double double 18/12/1.5 player.

Danny is clueless.

[GoGreen]

This roster sucks. Danny has a make or break off season ahead of him.

[sam_I_am]

Yeah I really don't get how they viewed Thompson being worth more than Kanter. I guess getting rid of Kanter allowed them to sign Thompson to the MLE and that's nice to have a higher salary player to trade fodder (not even sure if this is entirely true)? Otherwise I don't get the thought process at all. Just more squandering of value at the fringes by Ainge, which he has done consistently for years now. Celtics already have one of the **** defenses in the NBA, I don't see how Kanter could be any worse than Thompson on defense.

Our defensive rating in last 7 games is 96 with TT on the court and 121 with him on the bench. You may not see it....but it’s there.

FWIW, I was surprised by that stat....I wasn’t seeing it either.

[return2glory]

This roster sucks. Danny has a make or break off season ahead of him.

I agree.

What Danny needs to happen for him is Robert Williams needs to continue his improvement.
Romeo and Nesmith need to turn into impact players.

Also he needs to resign Fournier and draft a good impact player this offseason.