Did Danny do his due diligence, should he have?

[Ogaju]

Danny didn't trade for Davis so he must not have done his due diligence is a false equivalent. Ainge did his due diligence and decided making the move was not in the best interest of the Celtics.

Ainge gets involved in just about every big trade that could be happening. Heck, there were reports he was talking to Houston, when the Davis deal was still an ongoing thing. Obviously, he was looking at other options, i.e. doing his due diligence.

You do not WAIT three years for a player that is not coming. I am not talking about due diligence he did in the last six months. I am talking about due diligence he did when he decided that it was Davis or bust, which if you follow these blogs everyone seems to think he made years ago.

Name one legitimate source that says Ainge passed on other trades for 3 years waiting for Davis to become possible. You can't because the premise is absurd; he traded for Kyrie just 2 years ago, which by definition was cashing in our assets, even if the cupboard wasn't empty afterward.

The whole Davis or bust narrative only became a talking point this year, and it was fodder for the blogs, which you've made clear is your only source. Prior to that, of course Ainge lusted after him, as he should have, and as every other GM in the league did. We're talking about a guy who's a top-5 player just entering his prime, a big who can play inside and out.

The truth is that the Lakers made a ridiculous offer. More power to them. I still don't think it guarantees a title or is cause for the angst tonight. Just like Horford wanting a 4 year deal, Danny didn't think it was the smart thing to do long-term.

Ainge has been right virtually every time fans questioned him.

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

[gouki88]

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

I believe that he may have gotten tunnel vision RE Anthony Davis. Didn't want to empty the war-chest and now we have nothing

[Never Nervous Pervis]

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

Because he had every reason to believe the team would play better the second half. And after game one of the conference semifinals, he looked 100% right.

It didn't work out, just like it didn't for every other team but the Raptors this year.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

Because he had every reason to believe the team would play better the second half. And after game one of the conference semifinals, he looked 100% right.

It didn't work out, just like it didn't for every other team but the Raptors this year.

This might be nitpicking, but people often talk about the period after the all-star break as "the second half of the season," but really the season is already about two-thirds over by the time the ASB rolls around. So Danny had witnessed a lot of disappointing play for two-thirds of the season, which is a pretty big sample size, and I really don't think "he had every reason to believe the team would play better" in the remaining third of the regular season. The team dysfunction was obvious to everyone on the outside; it had to have looked even worse for those on the inside, such as Danny. And yet he didn't lift a finger to help the team.

And as someone further up the thread wrote, it wasn't a question of Danny doing his due diligence in the months leading up to the Davis trade, it was a question of Danny doing his due diligence a year or two ago—meaning that Danny should've been finding out a long time ago whether Davis would be interested in Boston. And if Danny would've known, say, a year or two ago, that Davis wanted no part of Boston, Danny could've shifted his focus completely away from Davis and begun focusing on other superstar targets.

[Scottiej23]

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

Because he had every reason to believe the team would play better the second half. And after game one of the conference semifinals, he looked 100% right.

It didn't work out, just like it didn't for every other team but the Raptors this year.

This might be nitpicking, but people often talk about the period after the all-star break as "the second half of the season," but really the season is already about two-thirds over by the time the ASB rolls around. So Danny had witnessed a lot of disappointing play for two-thirds of the season, which is a pretty big sample size, and I really don't think "he had every reason to believe the team would play better" in the remaining third of the regular season. The team dysfunction was obvious to everyone on the outside; it had to have looked even worse for those on the inside, such as Danny. And yet he didn't lift a finger to help the team.

And as someone further up the thread wrote, it wasn't a question of Danny doing his due diligence in the months leading up to the Davis trade, it was a question of Danny doing his due diligence a year or two ago—meaning that Danny should've been finding out a long time ago whether Davis would be interested in Boston. And if Danny would've known, say, a year or two ago, that Davis wanted no part of Boston, Danny could've shifted his focus completely away from Davis and begun focusing on other superstar targets.

Leading into the all-star break the Celts were playing well and had been for some time, it was really only that rugged start that had their record as what it was. We were 10-10 to start then after that until the ASB we went 27-11 (about 58 win pace) after that.
I think there was every reason to believe the team was coming together and playing pretty close to the expectations we had coming into the start of the year and there was no reason to expect that not to continue.
Why it went wrong after that, well, that's anyone's guess. But by the time it was apparent that the team had gone off the rails again (we went 12-12 after the ASB), it was too late to make any significant overhauls to the roster.

[CelticsElite]

Always wonder if Ainges heart attack had anything to do with his knowledge of the turmoil behind the scenes, the losses in the playoffs,  and the potential of a disaster off season ( kyrie and al chance of potentially leaving, rifts in locker room, Anthony Davis saying he only wants LA, etc). Ainge collects all these assets for 8 years only for Davis to say he doesn't want to come. You can imagine the effect that has on blood pressure

[nickagneta]

Danny didn't trade for Davis so he must not have done his due diligence is a false equivalent. Ainge did his due diligence and decided making the move was not in the best interest of the Celtics.

Ainge gets involved in just about every big trade that could be happening. Heck, there were reports he was talking to Houston, when the Davis deal was still an ongoing thing. Obviously, he was looking at other options, i.e. doing his due diligence.

You do not WAIT three years for a player that is not coming. I am not talking about due diligence he did in the last six months. I am talking about due diligence he did when he decided that it was Davis or bust, which if you follow these blogs everyone seems to think he made years ago.

Name one legitimate source that says Ainge passed on other trades for 3 years waiting for Davis to become possible. You can't because the premise is absurd; he traded for Kyrie just 2 years ago, which by definition was cashing in our assets, even if the cupboard wasn't empty afterward.

The whole Davis or bust narrative only became a talking point this year, and it was fodder for the blogs, which you've made clear is your only source. Prior to that, of course Ainge lusted after him, as he should have, and as every other GM in the league did. We're talking about a guy who's a top-5 player just entering his prime, a big who can play inside and out.

The truth is that the Lakers made a ridiculous offer. More power to them. I still don't think it guarantees a title or is cause for the angst tonight. Just like Horford wanting a 4 year deal, Danny didn't think it was the smart thing to do long-term.

Ainge has been right virtually every time fans questioned him.

why didnt he make moves to get better at the deadline for trading when other teams were getting better?

Danny addressed this before the trade deadline in an interview. He said he didn't see any trade partners out in the league that would give him fair value for his players or assets. Danny is a shrewd trader and everyone knows it, so now everyone tries to lowball him.

If there is no one willing to negotiate a fair trade with you, then you don't trade. It's not like you can force teams to make deals with you.

[BMark]

DA has torn the Cs down to the studs twice and rebuilt them to contender status with almost entirely new rosters. The only thing that would prevent him from doing it again would be his health.