He didn't not go all in with Irving, Irving just left so that meant trading Tatum for Davis would have been a fool's errand.
I mean he let Horford walk. I think that's a sign of what he wants to build towards. I think the real fork in the road is Hayward and what happens with his deal and potential FA.
From the time Irving was acquired until Irving left, Boston didn't make a single trade (other than things like Bird). That isn't going for it. That is biding time and waiting for Davis and hoping you keep Irving happy. Maybe if Ainge would have actually done something, Irving would have been happier and would have stayed. Instead Ainge sat on his hands while everyone else got better. He wasted a top 10 pick by being indecisive and doing literally nothing (aside adding some rookies) for 2 full seasons. If he wasn't going to go for it, he shouldn't have acquired Irving. It was a bad trade because he didn't follow it up.
Im willing to go a little easy on him because of Hayward.
He went out to get Irving when he thought he had the prime of Gordon Hayward. Then Hayward snapped his ankle in half and your thrust into this weird no mans land.
Like you say, why acquire Irving if you don’t plan to sorta go all in presumably in the form of moving a Jay or whatever. But when Hayward becomes a question mark all that math changes. At that point I really don’t think there was a trade out there that moved the needle enough to justify it. I also think Ainge was reasonable in believing they had a good chance to stand pat and retain Irving anyway and then moving forward you can reset and kinda remake that decision.
Basically, any GMs plan is gonna look Edited for profanity. Please do not do it again.ty if their prized free agent signing suffers a career altering injury 6 minutes into their 1st season.
We praise Masai up and down because he “went for it” but how much praise would he be getting if Kawhi who has a much much bigger injury history than Irving broke his ankle opening night last year?
The problem is, Leonard was available. It probably would have taken Smart and Brown to get it done, but you have to make that trade. Boston acquires Leonard 2 summers ago, I don't know if Boston wins the title, but it certainly would have been better positioned to do so and also better positioned to keep Irving (if he and Leonard got along). Heck maybe you decide that you like a Leonard/Davis team better and you move on from Irving to get Davis (by sending Irving to a 3rd team like say NY). For years, Ainge sat on his hand just accumulating assets while letting great players go elsewhere (i.e. Butler, George, Cousins, etc.) and then when he finally makes a move, he acquires the worst "star" player and then doesn't follow it up with the all in trades it takes to win titles.
I equate the Irving acquisition very similarly to the Ray Allen one i.e. a very good player, but not a real franchise player (and this team had at least equivalent other talent with Hayward/Horford vs. Pierce). What if Ainge had fallen so much in love with Jefferson that he refused to move him and Boston never acquired Garnett. That is what happened with Irving. He got the 2nd piece to the puzzle, but refused to go out and get the 1st piece. Ainge failed miserably with the Irving trade because he never followed it up.
I disagree. I mean it appears now that Kawhi was leaving no matter what. So you had him for one season. Its basically a win at all cost situations, and the Raptors needed 4 lucky bounces on the rim, a comeback from down 0-2 to the bucks and two massive injuries to the Warriors to win it all. I think you could replay that season 10 times and they probably only win it once. I'm not convicted that even with Kawhi Irving wouldn't have sunk that season with his leadership. I'm not saying you dont make the trade, but its not slam dunk obvious in hindsight.
Maybe Kawhi was gone anyway, but maybe not. What if the Thunder liked Toronto's Paul George package better. Then Kawhi would have stayed in Toronto. And maybe him and Kyrie would have gotten along well so the team wouldn't have needed a Paul George (or if not Irving maybe it was Tatum, Hayward, or Horford he struck up a bond with). Or maybe, as I indicated, the C's moved on from Kyrie for Davis. I think Kawhi probably stays with Davis around (at least another season if not longer). And sure maybe Boston doesn't win the title with Kawhi last year, but they are probably the 2 seed in the conference. They probably at least make it to Milwaukee, and they have an excellent shot at winning that. Who knows what happens in the finals, but I do know that even a healthy GS would have struggled with an Irving, Hayward, Leonard, Tatum, Horford starting 5 along with Rozier, Morris, and Baynes as the main bench components (Assume the Kawhi trade was Brown, Smart, and a 1st).
When you have a chance to acquire a top 5 player and add that player to potentially 3 other top 20 to 25 players (Irving, Horford, Hayward) along with a rising star (Tatum), you have to make that trade. And this isn't hindsight. I was all over the place on this board wanting the C's to acquire Leonard 2 summers ago. He was the exact type of player I thought Ainge was waiting for, but then he just didn't pull the trigger and that was an epic failure. You don't acquire Irving and then not follow it up with the top 5 player when that player is available. It was a mistake at the time, it was a mistake last season, and it is still a mistake today.