CelticsStrong
Celtics Basketball => Celtics History => Topic started by: JBcat on September 08, 2017, 09:23:54 AM
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The trades where Ainge is dreading making the call to the player(s) along with the fan base being heartbroken.
1) I'm going with the Pierce KG trade to the Nets. Even though it was obvious we were on the downswing trading away 2 Celtics legends that call had to be very tough.
2) IT trade to the Cavs. In a short 2 1/2 years IT became a fan favorite and had a legendary season last year. To trade him to your main rival for another PG that had arguably had a lesser season I wonder what words Ainge chose to say. Lol
3) Bradley trade to the Pistons. The last bridge to the big 3, and one of Ainge's favorites. He had to make that trade in order to sign Hayward, but I think he wanted to hold on to him if he could.
4) Perkins trade to the Thunder. The group that had never lost a playoff series was officially broken up.
5) Maybe the Rondo trade to the Mavs. The last one to go from that starting 5.
I was thinking of fitting in the McCarty trade as he was a fan favorite for several years. I think Ainge couldn't wait to trade Walker, and if I recall correctly I think he traded him twice. Lol
What's your ranking?
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I'd rank the Walker trade higher than Perkins. Toine was a legit All-Star and was the Batman to Paul Pierce' Robin. He was the main alpha of the team and one of the primary factors on Pierce' development as a player and leader.
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Those are definitely a solid top 5 - it must not have been easy for Ainge to make any of those trades, but he was trying to do what was best for the team.
When I read the thread title, I actually understood it to mean something different - like Ainge making a trade based on irrational emotion. Two prime examples of this happening are getting rid of Antoine at all costs (which equaled 5 years of injured, almost maxed out Raef LaFrentz) and the infamous - almost came to fruition - Justice Winslow non-trade. Thank you Michael Jordan!
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Besides the ones already mentioned, two trades I think of both involve Ricky Davis.
First Danny traded 2 fan favorites in Eric Williams and Tony Battie for Ricky Davis. To me that would have been like trading Jae Crowder and Amir Johnson for Nick Young. Two guys that played hard and provided veteran leadership for one of the NBA's biggest knuckleheads.
But then I actually fell in love with Ricky, because Ricky actually played hard too. I believe Doc once said Ricky would run through a brick wall for him if he asked him too. Plus he had a lot of charisma and appeared active in the community, bought a whole section of season tickets for fans, etc. He was still part knucklehead, but he was our knucklehead and had a heart of gold. Then he was traded for a similarly productive player in Wally, without any of the charisma and who didn't appear to play as hard. It was like trading Jae Crowder for a prime Jeff Green.
I was disappointed when Danny traded for Ricky, then I was disappointed when he traded away Ricky.
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Maybe I'm dating myself but when Danny himself was traded to Sacramento for Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine it broke my little kid heart. It was officially breaking up a starting unit I'd thought of as invincible and sent one of my favorite players to one of the worst teams in the league.
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The trades where Ainge is dreading making the call to the player(s) along with the fan base being heartbroken.
1) I'm going with the Pierce KG trade to the Nets. Even though it was obvious we were on the downswing trading away 2 Celtics legends that call had to be very tough.
2) IT trade to the Cavs. In a short 2 1/2 years IT became a fan favorite and had a legendary season last year. To trade him to your main rival for another PG that had arguably had a lesser season I wonder what words Ainge chose to say. Lol
3) Bradley trade to the Pistons. The last bridge to the big 3, and one of Ainge's favorites. He had to make that trade in order to sign Hayward, but I think he wanted to hold on to him if he could.
4) Perkins trade to the Thunder. The group that had never lost a playoff series was officially broken up.
5) Maybe the Rondo trade to the Mavs. The last one to go from that starting 5.
I was thinking of fitting in the McCarty trade as he was a fan favorite for several years. I think Ainge couldn't wait to trade Walker, and if I recall correctly I think he traded him twice. Lol
What's your ranking?
Good list, but I'd personally go:
1) KG/Pierece
2) IT
3) Antoine
4) Perkins
5) Bradley
From an emotional aspect, I rank these based upon the fans emotional attachment and not Ainge's. I'm not convinced he has emotions, which is fine by me.
The Antoine trade is very similar to the IT trade. A lot of fans (not necessarily myself) had a ton of attachment for Antoine Walker, and he was one of the biggest reasons the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. There were memorable moments (4th quarter comeback from 20pts down), iconic moves (post moves, the shimmy, etc.), and he was due for a big contract. While Antoine was more polarizing than IT, I think given IT's injury Ainge saw a similar future - a player not worth giving the max contract to and hamstringing your organization. After Ainge traded Antoine there were a lot of fans who wanted him fired.
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Besides the ones already mentioned, two trades I think of both involve Ricky Davis.
First Danny traded 2 fan favorites in Eric Williams and Tony Battie for Ricky Davis. To me that would have been like trading Jae Crowder and Amir Johnson for Nick Young. Two guys that played hard and provided veteran leadership for one of the NBA's biggest knuckleheads.
But then I actually fell in love with Ricky, because Ricky actually played hard too. I believe Doc once said Ricky would run through a brick wall for him if he asked him too. Plus he had a lot of charisma and appeared active in the community, bought a whole section of season tickets for fans, etc. He was still part knucklehead, but he was our knucklehead and had a heart of gold. Then he was traded for a similarly productive player in Wally, without any of the charisma and who didn't appear to play as hard. It was like trading Jae Crowder for a prime Jeff Green.
I was disappointed when Danny traded for Ricky, then I was disappointed when he traded away Ricky.
Good call on the Ricky Davis trades. I wasn't a fan of acquiring him but I was even sadder when he was shipped out. I never warmed up to Wally Szczerbiak.
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Only two are actually "Ainge trades" but in no particular order,
-The Antoine Walker trade to Dallas. I was probably more emotionally attached to those late 90s/early 00s Celtics squads than any other (my high school & college years). That trade leveled me.
-Sherman Douglas to the Bucks for the toxic Todd Day (and Alton Lister). I was a HUGE Sherm fan so that stung.
-The Chauncey Billups trade. I really bought into the whole "backcourt of the next decade" thing
- As FWF just mentioned, the Ainge trade. I was a youngster but a big Ainge fan. That hurt as a little kid.
- The Pierce/KG trade. End of an era stuff right there.
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1. IT to Cavs - easily #1.
2. Bradley to Pistons - Still in the prime of his career.
3. PP & KG to Nets - I moved this one down because I thought Danny was doing them a favor by giving them another chance to win a title. That Nets team should have been a lot better than they performed. I still think Jason Kidd should have never been granted his first coaching job with that team.
4. Perkins to OKC - I believe he was Danny's first player that he drafted out of high school.
5. Delonte West to Seattle - For some reason, I feel like Danny was reluctant to move him.
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1. Pierce/KG trade
2. IT trade
3. Perkins trade - I just didn't see it coming and it seemed to affect the team on an emotional level.
--- I don't know if I could list any others in a particular order. They're all kind of honorable mentions to me: Antoine, Bradley, Rondo, the trade of Al Jefferson to get KG, and yes, the Walter McCarty trade was emotional for non-basketball reasons.
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1 I suppose in a way the most emotional trade was the biggest. The summer trades sending out a lot of guys we liked for Ray and KG. But it was happy emotional
2 IT to Cavs
3 Perk
4 Pierce/KG
5 Avery
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1. IT
2. The others