danny did the best he could. the acl injury to rondo completely screwed up any chance of us getting anything of great value back for him.
sure you can say we should have traded rondo at the draft, but keep in mind that danny and wyc hate the slow rebuild and had their heart set on kevin love - which looked like a real possibility at some time, and the only lure to boston was playing with rondo.
then of course cleveland won the lottery and later on lebron returned, but still even though the celtics plans didn't work out, i can't fault danny's logic, because it seemed like the greatest hope in propelling us back into an elite team at the time, and seemed entirely possible before lebron dropped the bombshell in sports illustrated.
i also can't fault dannys logic in trading away rondo three months prior to the trade deadline, thereby increasing his future trade options and avenues he could potentially go down. he's essentially making the best of a bad situation.
immediately after the brooklyn trade did anyone say to themselves, "but yeah we also just acquired tyler zeller, marcus thornton, and a 2016 first rounder out of it"
NOPE! but thats what danny was able to do with the trade exception he received from that.
so really it's far too early to judge how well this trade has turned out simply because he has a huge 12 million dollar trade exception, a 5 million dollar expiring contract of brandan wright, a 2016 first, and future second to ADD in trades in order to acquire real talent in the future.
If that trade exception expires having gone unused; if brandan wright doesn't get traded in a package at the deadline, or sign and traded in the offseason, if that 2016 pick doesn't get thrown into a trade package to acquire real talent - then you can say we were robbed blind...
however danny does not rest. he and the celtics front office work as hard, if not harder than any front office in the league. he kicks tires, shakes branches, basically checks every single option out and then tries to make the smartest decision.
you could say sam presti is a better GM than ainge, but this is the guy that signed a broken down perkins to a major contract, and then a year later decided to trade harden away and with that hopes of a dynasty. he's been in the job for about 7 years i think and hasnt got a championship. danny was only in his 5th year in boston before we hung a banner. and even san antonio (who are probably the best front office in the league) passed on jimmy butler and chandler parsons.
overall danny does well. i personally hate the fact that he gave avery $8 mllion per year for 4 years, but at least he's not stupid enough to give a declining rondo 100 million dollars on a team that has little chance of a championship the next few years.
if a GM is smart he saves up his money while his team isn't very good, and when the team does have a chance at a championship spends it all, goes over the salary cap, accepts the luxury tax - because a championship is so close. if he's dumb he spends tonnes of money on a team that doesn't have a huge shot at making it deep into the playoffs.
danny is definitely not a perfect GM, and for the few mistakes he has actually made, ive heard that he has nearly made some horrible decisions, but didn't or couldn't even when he wanted to, but i can only judge him on what has actually occured. he works his butt off, and tries to make the best of every situation.
make a list of all the general managers in the league. then list the GMs who have brought their teams championships yet. if you want to be fair, cut out all the teams who have had their GM's less than 5 years. you'll realise danny is one of the best. he may not be the best, but he is one of the best, and because he is at the helm we definitely have a great chance of getting back to the days of deep playoff runs, dreaming of NBA finals series.
judge the rondo trade in a year. to judge it today is way to early.
have you seen how competitive danny ainge was as a player? that was a personality trait. that's danny as a person, even away from basketball. that's the GM of the boston celtics who had put on his staff daryll morey (GM of houston), ryan mcdonough (GM of phoenix) before they were GMs. he has mike zarren as his assistant, so before you prefer sam hinkie as your GM, remember that philly offered the job to zarren first - thats how much they thought of him... and that's danny guy.
as much as i dislike some of his decisions, were the celtics to get a different general manager, i would sincerely have doubts about their ability to match ainge's ability OVERALL as a GM. dude is about championships and nothing else.