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Originally Posted by Azyiu @ zimbloth
First order of business for you guys would be the firing of Danny Ainge. |
Are you insane? Danny Ainge has done one of the best jobs in NBA -history- for what he's had to work with.
1) The team he inherited in 2003 had ONE great player (Pierce), ONE good player (Walker), and then 10-12 complete STIFFs. We're talking about players so bad, none of them are even in the NBA still today. We're talking about barely CBA level talent. Do these names ring a bell? Bruno Sundov. Grant Long. JR Bremer. Eric Williams. VIN BAKER, Ruben Wolkowski, Kedrick Brown, etc. Must I go on? Paul Gaston sold the Celtics and basically the new owners hired someone to fix his mess.
2) He took that team, devoid of any talent whatsoever, and through genius trades and drafting he's built a group with so much talent, they're now trying to do trades just to thin out the roster because they don't have enough playing time for all our young, quality players. Ainge inherited such a bad situation, the team was over the cap, were paying Vin Baker 10 million a year to sit in alcohol rehab, etc. Now theyre teeming with talent and cap flexibility.
3) Back to trades. Via trades and draft picks aquired from those trades, he took those stiffs and turned them that into (really): Wally Sczcerbiak, Delonte West, Sebastian Telfair, Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes, Theo Ratliff, Michael Olowakandi an the Lakers 2007 1st round pick. Those are all players who are actually IN THE NBA NOW.
It should also be noted Ainge traded Jiri Welsch for the Cav's #1 pick which turned out to be Rajon Rondo, the best PG drafted in last year's draft.
4) Some NBA experts are criticial of Ainge now and then, but NO ONE debates his incredible draft record. No one. He hasn't had the luxary of one lottery pick (until last spring). The Celtics get calls
constantly from teams looking to trade from their plethora of young rising stars. Christ, they almost landed Iverson for Jefferson and West alone.
Ainge's draft record: Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Rajon Rondo, #7 pick (moved for Telfair/Ratliff), etc. Find me another GM who has drafted that many quality players (some of who have star potential - especially Gerald Green, Jefferson and Rondo) in such a short period of time?
5) Has this translated in wins yet? No. The Celtics are the youngest team in the NBA. But they have one of the best cores in the league, and are setup to be contenders for a long time, especially when some major cap room clears up next season and they can go after free agents again. Ainge inherited a team with NO caproom, only able to sign players to the Mid Level Exception, hence questionable signings like Brian Scalabrine - Ainge's one mistake.
So, I really defy anyone to explain how Danny Ainge hasn't done an incredible job with the Celtics, GIVEN WHAT HE HAD TO WORK WITH WHEN HE INHERITED THE TEAM. Honestly, look at the 2002-2003 roster and notice how barely anyone on that team is still even in the NBA. They overachieved in the weak Eastern Conference in 2001, that was a fluke. The team was going nowhere, as evident by 2 straight rapings by the Nets in the playoffs. Ainge saved the franchise with his GENIUS trades/drafting/player development abilities. Not to mention, the team win or lose, is actually SO much fun to watch now. They play an up-tempo offensive game. They dont just sit back and launch lazy 3s all day like they did before Ainge took over.
My Rant is over, just felt I needed to some education. Now you can see why I was the Celtics columnist for my college newspaper
PS: Anyone want to join my Fantasy NBA League (Yahoo)? If so PM me ASAP, the draft is tonight at 10pm EST. NBA 2K7 is cool btw
