NYRaider Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 hour ago, 1ForTheThumb said: Weirdest narrative around Ainge. The man has acquired 4 max contract players in their prime, drafted two guys with All-NBA potential, and hired Brad Stevens. Terrible GM for sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 17 hours ago, RandyMossIsBoss said: I understand Celtics ending the Ainge era… but why promote Brad to his role? Yeah that's the most interesting nugget in all of this. Stevens has zero experience in an NBA front office and has only been an NBA head coach for a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpulse Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 10 minutes ago, NYRaider said: Yeah that's the most interesting nugget in all of this. Stevens has zero experience in an NBA front office and has only been an NBA head coach for a few years. Its a wildcard for sure, however Danny said in interviews since the announcement that he struggled with retiring because he didn't want to leave the Celtics in just anyones hands. He stated that Brad moving into the role was the big reason why he felt comfortable vacating it. Its a big endorsement so I have some confidence, but it is gonna be interesting to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ForTheThumb Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 hour ago, NYRaider said: The man has acquired 4 max contract players in their prime, drafted two guys with All-NBA potential, and hired Brad Stevens. Terrible GM for sure. Exactly. Why couldn't he predict Haywards fluke injury and that Kyrie was full of **** the entire time? I mean look how well positioned Brooklyn is! I definitely consider Ainge a terrible GM as a Celtics fan because Kyrie and KD decided to pair there instead of with the Knicks franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ForTheThumb Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 8 hours ago, NYRaider said: I mean they traded for Kyrie Irving and have signed 3 max contract players in Kemba Walker, Al Horford, and Gordon Hayward over the last few years. AD and Kawhi are both interesting cases because both guys were absolutely dead set on playing in Los Angeles. Kyrie is also a weird player and couldn't stay healthy in Boston. He also left Cleveland to get out of LeBron's shadow, dude is one of the most egotistical players in the history of the league. Yeah once AD signed with Klutch, there was no way he was going to Boston. I don't understand the people upset with Ainge not "making a big deal". Like did you really want him to trade away young studs like Brown and Tatum, in hopes for a star that will be willing to stay? Paul George was a target that was always floated around and thank god they didn't make that deal the Clippers did. Again, I'll never understand the narrative that Ainge was too passive. If anything, you can make an argument he was almost too aggressive. All that said, I'm fine with the shake up. Changes no doubt needed to be made. But I strongly disagree with the weird narrative that Ainge was a terrible GM- that's just flat out wrong. Seem like it's just a result of this anti-boston narrative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ForTheThumb Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 36 minutes ago, Deadpulse said: Its a wildcard for sure, however Danny said in interviews since the announcement that he struggled with retiring because he didn't want to leave the Celtics in just anyones hands. He stated that Brad moving into the role was the big reason why he felt comfortable vacating it. Its a big endorsement so I have some confidence, but it is gonna be interesting to see. I think he was kind of hoping that he could hand over the keys to his son and Celtics ownership must have poo poo'd that idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieMonstah Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 20 minutes ago, 1ForTheThumb said: Yeah once AD signed with Klutch, there was no way he was going to Boston. I don't understand the people upset with Ainge not "making a big deal". Like did you really want him to trade away young studs like Brown and Tatum, in hopes for a star that will be willing to stay? Paul George was a target that was always floated around and thank god they didn't make that deal the Clippers did. Again, I'll never understand the narrative that Ainge was too passive. If anything, you can make an argument he was almost too aggressive. All that said, I'm fine with the shake up. Changes no doubt needed to be made. But I strongly disagree with the weird narrative that Ainge was a terrible GM- that's just flat out wrong. Seem like it's just a result of this anti-boston narrative. AD would be in Boston if he had given any hint that he'd extend. Ainge would've been an idiot to trade Tatum for one year of AD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYRaider Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 36 minutes ago, 1ForTheThumb said: Exactly. Why couldn't he predict Haywards fluke injury and that Kyrie was full of **** the entire time? I mean look how well positioned Brooklyn is! I definitely consider Ainge a terrible GM as a Celtics fan because Kyrie and KD decided to pair there instead of with the Knicks franchise. Boston made the ECF with a rag tag group led by IT scoring 30 ppg but ran into LeBron, made the ECF without Kyrie/Hayward and lost a close game 7 to LeBron, and made the ECF last season in the bubble/covid year. Just had some tough breaks but man Ainge gets fried on here, lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seminoles1 Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 I do wonder if they could have lured KD had they traded for Jimmy Butler during that FA period. But Durant was probably dead set on Golden State no matter what. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWood21 Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 hour ago, 1ForTheThumb said: All that said, I'm fine with the shake up. Changes no doubt needed to be made. But I strongly disagree with the weird narrative that Ainge was a terrible GM- that's just flat out wrong. Seem like it's just a result of this anti-boston narrative. Spare me the victim complex. And I don't think it's so much that Ainge was a terrible GM so much as it had to do with believing he was overrated as a GM. I mean with all those draft picks and cap flexibility he accumulated, he really only has Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to show for it. He handed out large contracts to Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Kemba Walker, etc. for middling results, and all of his draft picks were the envy of most GMs. If you hand that many draft picks to any competent GM, they'll turn it into some success. The only time I think that Ainge went against the grain was when he traded down with Philadelphia in the Fultz/Tatum swap, when Fultz was largely viewed as the best prospect in the draft. I think you can largely view his tenure in two different stints. Big 3 and before and post Big 3. Ainge was hired in 2003 and they traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in June 2007. Boston averaged 34.5 wins over his first four years in Boston before acquiring Garnett and Allen with two playoff appearances to show for it. Then he acquired KG and Ray Allen, and the Celtics averaged 58.5 with their Big 3 with an NBA Championship and another appearance to show for it. They were largely a .500 team for 4 years after the Big 3 broke up. Prior to this past season, they were averaged 51.3 wins per season over the last 4 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieMonstah Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 24 minutes ago, CWood21 said: Spare me the victim complex. And I don't think it's so much that Ainge was a terrible GM so much as it had to do with believing he was overrated as a GM. I mean with all those draft picks and cap flexibility he accumulated, he really only has Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to show for it. He handed out large contracts to Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Kemba Walker, etc. for middling results, and all of his draft picks were the envy of most GMs. If you hand that many draft picks to any competent GM, they'll turn it into some success. The only time I think that Ainge went against the grain was when he traded down with Philadelphia in the Fultz/Tatum swap, when Fultz was largely viewed as the best prospect in the draft. I think you can largely view his tenure in two different stints. Big 3 and before and post Big 3. Ainge was hired in 2003 and they traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in June 2007. Boston averaged 34.5 wins over his first four years in Boston before acquiring Garnett and Allen with two playoff appearances to show for it. Then he acquired KG and Ray Allen, and the Celtics averaged 58.5 with their Big 3 with an NBA Championship and another appearance to show for it. They were largely a .500 team for 4 years after the Big 3 broke up. Prior to this past season, they were averaged 51.3 wins per season over the last 4 years. He nailed the Tatum pick and he absolutely nailed the Brown pick. The Jaylen Brown pick got roasted by the talking heads when it happened. People forget KG had a career altering injury, Boston is in great position to repeat if KG doesn't get hurt that year. Celtics were 44-11 before he got hurt and he wasn't close to the same guy after. He pulled off the heist of the century with Brooklyn and it just didn't pan out. He landed Tatum, Brown and Kyrie with those draft picks and Kyrie decided to leave. Horford was a great signing, Hayward was a great signing who unfortunately snapped his leg in half 1 game into his Celtics tenure, Kemba signing I was meh on but his knee turned into dust the year after signing. The funny part is people will say no one wants to sign or play in Boston but then give Ainge no credit when he gets guys to sign or play in Boston...I'm not going to give the Sean Marks credit for Kyrie wanting to play for his hometown and then dragging KD with him and then Harden forcing his way there. That doesn't take skill. I'm not going to give Pelinka credit for Lebron wanting to be a Laker for no reason other than the team is in LA and then getting Rich Paul to have AD force his way there as well. Ainge is quite easily a top 10 GM. He's consistently put a good product on the court, pulled off some masterful trades and collected assets that got Boston INTO trade talks yearly. 90% of the league was never involved in some of these trade talks because they simply didn't have the assets that Boston did, that shouldn't be a negative 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Prince Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 People talk about all these draft picks that he had, when the only two good ones he had he drafted tatum and brown, also used one to trade for the Kyrie. All the others were late firsts that no one wanted even when he tried trading multiple to move up in the draft. Man the Danny hate is real. He’s been a top 3 GM for a long time just was unlucky with injuries and star players not wanting to come to Boston. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpulse Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 32 minutes ago, CWood21 said: Spare me the victim complex. And I don't think it's so much that Ainge was a terrible GM so much as it had to do with believing he was overrated as a GM. I mean with all those draft picks and cap flexibility he accumulated, he really only has Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to show for it. He handed out large contracts to Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Kemba Walker, etc. for middling results, and all of his draft picks were the envy of most GMs. If you hand that many draft picks to any competent GM, they'll turn it into some success. The only time I think that Ainge went against the grain was when he traded down with Philadelphia in the Fultz/Tatum swap, when Fultz was largely viewed as the best prospect in the draft. I think you can largely view his tenure in two different stints. Big 3 and before and post Big 3. Ainge was hired in 2003 and they traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in June 2007. Boston averaged 34.5 wins over his first four years in Boston before acquiring Garnett and Allen with two playoff appearances to show for it. Then he acquired KG and Ray Allen, and the Celtics averaged 58.5 with their Big 3 with an NBA Championship and another appearance to show for it. They were largely a .500 team for 4 years after the Big 3 broke up. Prior to this past season, they were averaged 51.3 wins per season over the last 4 years. I think you are wildly under selling the post big 3 era. I mean what do you qualify to be "some success"? Is it 3 out of 4 ECF appearances in the last 4 years (prior to this one)? Is it only one season missing the playoffs before returning and never missing it again between the big 3 era and post? It took 3 seasons after the big three broke up to return to the ECF. That is an extremely fast turnaround. Danny took over in 2003. That is 18 seasons. In those 18 seasons they have missed the playoffs THREE times. They have 1 ship, 2 Finals appearances, and 6 ECF appearances. The Celtics have been competitive almost his entire 18 year run as Director of BB Ops. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Prince Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Other than Miami, GS, SA, LA no franchise has been more successful or consistent since Ainge took over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpulse Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 4 minutes ago, Fresh Prince said: Other than Miami, GS, SA, LA no franchise has been more successful or consistent since Ainge took over. during his tenure only SA made the playoffs more often than the Celtics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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