Thank you Danny Ainge

[freshinthehouse]

Danny Ainge, along with Wyc and Co, played a huge role in making the Celtics a relevant NBA franchise again.  Ainge took over a franchise that was an absolute mess. He had a young Paul Pierce, but other than that the team was in shambles.  No good young talent, tons of overpaid vets, and possibly the worst contract in the league with Vin Baker.  Within 5 years the Celtics were hanging banner 17.  And that was without ever getting lucky in the lottery. 

Once the Big 3 era reached its end, Ainge was able to move into the current era with hardly any rebuilding, with the Celtics only missing the playoffs once in the last 14 seasons.  Incredible job.  I'm excited for the future, but I'm gonna miss having Ainge around.  Dude was good at his job.

[Tr1boy]

Thank you Danny for your 18 years of service

[footey]

Danny was a great GM.

But it was time to move on.  You could hear it in his voice during those weekly radio interviews. Heck, he even mentioned about thinking of retiring just a couple of weeks ago on one of them. I'm surprised that got little play in the media. It is why i wasn't very surprised by his announcement.

Will very interesting to see how Brad as GM views the roster of players he has been coaching.  He seemed to give everyone a fair shot as a coach.  He has some big roster decisions coming up.  Selecting the next HC the least of his problems.

[PhoSita]

Danny did a great job.

Took a franchise mired in mediocrity and built it into a title team that had a period of contention lasting 5 years.  With some better injury luck they would have won at least one more title.

Then he flipped the assets from that contending team and had the Celts back into the realm of relevance within 5 years.  Three ECF runs in four years.  Now the team has two young All-Stars that Ainge drafted. 

Ainge did a good job and unfortunately had some pretty bad luck, particularly with KG's knee and Hayward's ankle.  It seems like Ainge's health kind of kept him from staying on, and perhaps played a role in his team building decisions declining a bit in the last couple of seasons.  In retrospect, perhaps he should have hung it up sooner.

All the same, much gratitude for what Ainge built in his time here.  Here's hoping Brad can live up to the legacy of the man he's replacing.  I'm apprehensive.

[cltc5]

Thank u Danny!

[blink]

Kudos to Danny Ainge.  I think he was one of the best GM/FO people in the league.  It has been a rough last year or so.  I hope that he and his family enjoy his retirement, or at least until he takes a job somewhere else. 

[Goldstar88]

Posted this in the other thread, but it really belongs here:

Reporter asks Brad if he considered being both the coach and GM. Danny responds, “I told him a few days ago that if he doesn’t find someone good he will be doing both.”   

I’m going to miss Danny. I will always be grateful for the 2008 championship team that he put together and for him making the right calls on Jaylen and Jayson. Thank you, Mr. Ainge.


Also, here is his interview from earlier today with Brad, Steve, Wyc for anyone interested.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=41bphlCRwng

[liam]

Danny was great but he ran out of steam this last couple of years. Kyrie debacle nearly killed him and me too. He got us a banner and will be remembered for that!

[hwangjini_1]

I was just coming to start this very thread. Thanks for doing so freshinthehouse.

Thank you Mr. Ainge. Thank you for being a celtic player and GM. Thank you for making the past 20 years exciting and interesting.

Ainge has done a great job as GM for the Celtics. The jewel of course is the championship, something that very few GMs can boast about. And without  unexpected injuries (perk, KG, hayward, kemba) this team might have 1 to 2 more to boast about.

Next, he has rebuilt this team a couple of times and they have consistently been in the playoffs after those rebuilds.

He brought in talent, but sometimes it didn't work but the idea was good and it showed his ability to do so. Hayward, Irving, Kemba being examples.

He also brought in talent that did work out. KG, Allen being the top examples of that. He also did well in the draft, keeping the celtics well stocked in young talent.

Most of all, he made the celtics a consistent playoff team that played hard and was fun to follow.

It will be fun to watch Stevens (dang, I cant type CBS anymore!!) as team president. Stevens isnt alone. Ainge is still with the team in a reduced role. Zarren and others will be there to provide continuity and support as well. Stevens is really, really smart and I see no reason why he cant make the jump from coach to GM successfully. Ainge did.

[Vermont Green]

It is funny.  For a while, there was this narrative that because Danny always won trades big-time, that no one wanted to trade with him (winning trades I think is what GMs are supposed to try to do).  Then it became a bad thing somehow that he missed out on trades because he was trying too hard to win the trades.  I think the only ones trying too hard were the ones trying to stir up something to criticize Ainge for.

Ainge was a great GM in my opinion.  I will miss Danny.  I feel good about the future.  Thank you Danny and go Celtics!

[ETNCeltics]

I echo most of the above.

Thank you, Danny. 26 years with the organization. You'll be missed.

[SparzWizard]

Thank you to Danny for assembling one of the best Celtics team in 2008 enroute to an NBA Championship.

[showtime]

Danny did a great job, and with a little luck and keeping James Posey, we could have had a couple more titles!! Have a good life, Danny!! You'll always be a Celtic!!

[cons]

he restored us to relevancy after decades of misery post bird.

thank you so so much danny ainge

[Ogaju]

Thanks Danny Ainge!!!