Danny Ainge Appreciation Thread

[Slax]

Right. Auerbach passed on some good players, but he never missed a superstar, with the possible exception of Willis Reed, and in the case of Reed, Auerbach already had the GOAT playing the same position.

It doesn't make much sense to use a time when there were like nine picks in each round and practically all of them had gone through four years of NCAA basketball as a point of comparison for judging a modern exec who **** up by not taking a 19-year-old playing pro ball in Greece with the 13th pick. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "possible exception", Willis Reed was one of the best centers in the league and obviously a rare but enormous miss that hindered the Celtics' transition away from Russell in the late 60's and early 70's.

[Slax]

Right. Auerbach passed on some good players, but he never missed a superstar, with the possible exception of Willis Reed, and in the case of Reed, Auerbach already had the GOAT playing the same position.

Red's track record drafting #12 or later was a lot like Danny's, if it was even as good. He got Maxwell, K C and Ainge. Danny got Jefferson, Rondo and Timelord. Danny also got Tony Allen, Perk, Bradley, et al., but perhaps Red also got a few low-end starters I'm not currently recalling. (And was K C really better than Avery or Tony anyway?)

In fairness to Red, you didn't really need to depend on guys drafted at 12+ that much during most of the time he was an exec because there were so few teams in the league, so it makes sense his best picks would be focused higher in the draft. But as a result it just doesn't make sense to compare the two.

[radcot]

Considering his contributions to the Celtics as player and exec, I have only one word for Danny Ainge: Rafters.

[bisme37]

I don't think anyone ever called me on it but when Ainge left the C's I remember saying it was his decision to retire and spend time with is family. My reaction was naive lol, the dude was clearly fired.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[Fencer reregistered]

Considering his contributions to the Celtics as player and exec, I have only one word for Danny Ainge: Rafters.

I have high hopes of #44 being retired some time in the mid-late 2030s.

[Curmudgeon]

Considering his contributions to the Celtics as player and exec, I have only one word for Danny Ainge: Rafters.

I have high hopes of #44 being retired some time in the mid-late 2030s.

If 44 is retired it's because the Timelord wore it.

[Fencer reregistered]

Considering his contributions to the Celtics as player and exec, I have only one word for Danny Ainge: Rafters.

I have high hopes of #44 being retired some time in the mid-late 2030s.

If 44 is retired it's because the Timelord wore it.

Yes, you understood me correctly.

That said, I'd expect Ainge to be mentioned at any such ceremony, and the natural choice of host would be Brian Scalabrine.

[radcot]

I have high hopes of #44 being retired some time in the mid-late 2030s.

If 44 is retired it's because the Timelord wore it.

Yes, you understood me correctly.

That said, I'd expect Ainge to be mentioned at any such ceremony, and the natural choice of host would be Brian Scalabrine.

I love RW3, but he has a long way to go before his contributions to the C's can compare to Ainge's. I hope he gets there.

[hugepatsfan]

Danny Ainge made mistakes of course but some of you have your heads in the clouds if we're going to sit here and disrespect the overall job he did. He consistently landed all star caliber talent in the draft (Tatum, Brown, Rondo, Al Jeff), through trade (Ray, KG, Kyrie, Isaiah) and free agency (Horford, Hayward, Kemba). He did all of this while never really outright tanking except that one year after Pierce/KG trade and in the second half of the 06-07 season after injuries killed them and there wasn't a point in trying. Sure, he missed out on some ultimate hits in the draft (GIannis, Butler) but part of that whole never tanking thing is that he generally picked later in the draft. Most non lottery picks and even a ton of guys in the lottery flat out suck but Ainge managed to get guys like Perkins, Avery Bradley, Big Baby, Grant Williams, Rondo, Rozier, etc. all outside the lottery and some in the second round. I get that none of those guys individually are show stoppers but that's a damn good list of players to have taken with non premium picks. You have to snap yourself back into the real world and realize that drafting the absolute home run pick every year at every pick is unrealistic.

Pretty much everything Stevens has done to start has clicked which only furthers the delusion some fans have about Ainge. I'm not saying the guy was perfect or did everything right but complaining about Danny Ainge is an all time first world problem.

[Captain_Caveman]

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No, it's all about the guy who traded picks for Derrick White and Horford, not the one who drafted Tatum, Jaylen, Smart, Timelord, and Grant.

[Captain_Caveman]

Still can't get over Olynyk. Totally incompatible with the rebuild done the same day. Couldve tanked and developed Giannis. This and Giddens over DeAndre are unconscionable. So was Yabusele, although there weren't no- Brainer alternatives.

He was good otherwise, but probably cost about 3-4 championships by passing on no-brainer choices that perfect fit team needs and situation

Honestly Giannis was such a shot in the dark, as was Jokic, Jimmy Butler, and Gobert. You can't hold people accountable for not getting that one late pick that worked out in the wildest possible way. If Giannis was a no-brainer choice he wouldn't have fallen out of the lottery. The Bucks 2013 draft was widely criticized. https://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/213861521.html

It's easy to be an expert on the 2013 draft in 2022.

Giannis was a 6'9" prospect who played for the 2nd-tier league in Greece. He has grown 2" since the draft, which is pretty unusual and not a small point.

Ainge had a well above average hit rate on his high picks, his mid-to-late 1st round picks, his second round picks, and even for the ROI on the picks he traded. Bashing his drafting is like bashing a .340 hitter in baseball. Hitting .340 won't always win the batting title, but it will put you in the mix every year and is elite by any standard.

With some luck, his draft track record could have been even better. Not only did we get stung on the draft position in the 2007 draft and with both the Grizz and Kings picks, we know with good reliability that:

He would have taken KD #1 overall over Oden
We badly wanted Herro with the Nesmith pick
He tried to back out of a promise to Orien Greene to draft Amir Johnson at 56

[sam_I_am]

Still can't get over Olynyk. Totally incompatible with the rebuild done the same day. Couldve tanked and developed Giannis. This and Giddens over DeAndre are unconscionable. So was Yabusele, although there weren't no- Brainer alternatives.

He was good otherwise, but probably cost about 3-4 championships by passing on no-brainer choices that perfect fit team needs and situation

Honestly Giannis was such a shot in the dark, as was Jokic, Jimmy Butler, and Gobert. You can't hold people accountable for not getting that one late pick that worked out in the wildest possible way. If Giannis was a no-brainer choice he wouldn't have fallen out of the lottery. The Bucks 2013 draft was widely criticized. https://archive.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/213861521.html

It's easy to be an expert on the 2013 draft in 2022.

Giannis was a 6'9" prospect who played for the 2nd-tier league in Greece. He has grown 2" since the draft, which is pretty unusual and not a small point.

Ainge had a well above average hit rate on his high picks, his mid-to-late 1st round picks, his second round picks, and even for the ROI on the picks he traded. Bashing his drafting is like bashing a .340 hitter in baseball. Hitting .340 won't always win the batting title, but it will put you in the mix every year and is elite by any standard.

With some luck, his draft track record could have been even better. Not only did we get stung on the draft position in the 2007 draft and with both the Grizz and Kings picks, we know with good reliability that:

He would have taken KD #1 overall over Oden
We badly wanted Herro with the Nesmith pick
He tried to back out of a promise to Orien Greene to draft Amir Johnson at 56

By objective standards and when you look at overall quality of 2013 draft, Olynyk was an excellent pick. Sure you can say Danny should have swung for fences …. but then again he did that when he drafted James Young over Gary Harris. Ainge is also criticized for drafting and stashing Yabu and Zizic when he was trying to preserve max cap space to make a run at KD - a bold and risky move that was absolutely worth the opportunity cost.

[Curmudgeon]

Olynyk was an atrocious pick for a rebuilding team. Unforgivable. Don't try to rationalize a franchise altering mistake. It negates so many of the good decisions that Ainge made.

[Captain_Caveman]

Olynyk was an atrocious pick for a rebuilding team. Unforgivable. Don't try to rationalize a franchise altering mistake. It negates so many of the good decisions that Ainge made.

Your point already died when I pointed out that Giannis grew an extra 2 inches after that draft. Olynyk went 13th overall in a draft that Anthony Bennett went 1st in, and would go higher in a redraft.

[GoCeltics123]

Olynyk was an atrocious pick for a rebuilding team. Unforgivable. Don't try to rationalize a franchise altering mistake. It negates so many of the good decisions that Ainge made.

Your point already died when I pointed out that Giannis grew an extra 2 inches after that draft. Olynyk went 13th overall in a draft that Anthony Bennett went 1st in, and would go higher in a redraft.

He also ended a franchise by himself in a Game 7

[Curmudgeon]

18 year olds sometime grow a few more inches. Tatum did too. The notion that Ainge passed on him because he was "only" 6-9 is laughable. Stop rationalizing this egregious mistake. Next you can trot out the "14 other GMs passed on him too" rationale.

[Homerclease]

While there was still some good in the past few seasons, it was becoming clear that Ainge had lost his fastball a bit. Rob Williams was a no brainer pick at 27 who is a big hit, have to give Danny credit for Pritchard too. Home run pick at that stage in the draft. Grant for Thybulle is a toss up given how badly Edwards flopped. Dumping a couple late picks to move Baynes and Kanter really stung, especially since Bane was exactly what they needed. Whiffing on Romeo and to an extent Nesmith too was also a setback although the jury is still out on Nesmith and it’s well known the target was Herro before Riley snatched him up. Biggest black eye for me has to be the Kemba deal. I get why they did it but man did Danny get pantsed by Char.

[Captain_Caveman]

18 year olds sometime grow a few more inches. Tatum did too. The notion that Ainge passed on him because he was "only" 6-9 is laughable. Stop rationalizing this egregious mistake. Next you can trot out the "14 other GMs passed on him too" rationale.

It worked in our favor with Tatum, but it is pretty unusual for prospects to grow two inches after they are drafted. Speaking of Tatum, this wasn't exactly drafting Fultz #1 overall. They are no "egregious mistakes" when drafting outside the top 10 in this league. And yes, I will point out that half the league passed on Giannis in that draft, and that the other half could have easily traded in or up for him if they wanted to.

Back to the baseball analogy, it is like judging a hitter by one at-bat. What's worse is that he actually got a single in that at-bat. Anyone can cherrypick non-optimal results, but Ainge's body of work in the draft and player development speaks for itself. He was among the best in the league over a nearly 15 year period. Framing it otherwise is simply inaccurate.

[Captain_Caveman]

While there was still some good in the past few seasons, it was becoming clear that Ainge had lost his fastball a bit. Rob Williams was a no brainer pick at 27 who is a big hit, have to give Danny credit for Pritchard too. Home run pick at that stage in the draft. Grant for Thybulle is a toss up given how badly Edwards flopped. Dumping a couple late picks to move Baynes and Kanter really stung, especially since Bane was exactly what they needed. Whiffing on Romeo and to an extent Nesmith too was also a setback although the jury is still out on Nesmith and it’s well known the target was Herro before Riley snatched him up. Biggest black eye for me has to be the Kemba deal. I get why they did it but man did Danny get pantsed by Char.

Is that really true, though?

In his last four drafts, he got Tatum, Timelord, Grant, Pritchard, Romeo, Semi, and Nesmith. Even if you limit that to the last three drafts to exclude Tatum and Semi, that's really quite good when accounting for draft position -- which you absolutely must do in judging draft picks IMO.