Surprising Ainge didn't take either Chalmers or Jordan with the 30th pick...

[Jon]

I just wish Ainge would hurry up and send Giddens and Walker back to the D-league so we can follow their games again, because it's pretty obvious Doc isn't gonna play them - especially Giddens.

I don't think that happens until Scal and Allen are fully healthy.  Isn't great for the development of Walker and Giddens, but on a contending team with aging stars, the future of the last pick of the first round and a second rounder really don't matter. 

[bucknersrevenge]

I just wish Ainge would hurry up and send Giddens and Walker back to the D-league so we can follow their games again, because it's pretty obvious Doc isn't gonna play them - especially Giddens.

Well right now I believe Giddens' wrist is ailing him. But I do agree it would be nice to see him get a couple of minutes on the floor. We've now seen a little bit of Walker which is nice. Walker has a ton of work to do before he's ready but I think he'll eventually get there. It would be nice to see JR and see if he's more comfortable since his mediocre showing at the beginning of the year.

[elcotte]

I'm in no way suggesting that Danny made a mistake not taking MBM. What I'm saying is that retirement and the penny wise-pound foolishness of this summer created some definite skillset holes on this bench that should have been addressed this summer.

It's been suggested in this thread that Danny was reaching for post-Big Three by taking Giddens and Walker - a point that I think is giving Ainge more credit than he deserves.

If that's true - and I'm all but certain it isn't; Ainge isn't that stupid - then my point is pretty simple: Throwing a year of the Big Three's fairly small window under the bus to revert back to reaching in the draft for the future - hello, 18-64 redux - is just mindbogglingly stupid.

The mission now has to be to plug the holes in the bench for another title run. If it's anything else, then even I overestimate the competence of this front office.

The reason it is true and you're certain it isn't is because you are using opinion as fact when assuming Ainge was "throwing away" 2009 for the future.

We all understand you are convinced that this team cannot repeat as built - something that isn't the world's riskiest statement since repeating is a low percentage probability for any team having to go through Clev/Orl/LA/SA...

The draft is the LIFE BLOOD of a franchise when it comes to potentially getting a high caliber player for virtually no money and then having control over their future.

Free Agency is the most expensive way to address needs and can cripple a franchise if the money is spent unwisely. I am positive that Ainge's decison not to overspend for the players he made offers to is indicative of how he values future FA markets as well as his belief that he could add waiver wire vets and would also see his current team grow and improve themselves.

You are treating the FA market of this past off-season as if it was the only way to solidify another title for this season and that Ainge "screwed up" because he didn't add anyone for any monetary denomination.

Beside the fact that the team has 37 more games to go and is 1 loss out of having the best record in the NBA - the team is still hunting for vets to fill limited roles and has kept flexibility in place to grow some younger players into key roles while leaving the option open to pursue more substantial FA in the following 2-3 FA markets -- all of which are in the window for this team.

Ainge didn't "give up" this season, he took a calculated risk that he could address the very limited holes this team has during the regular season. I fully expect Ainge to make some qulaity offers to some big time vets this coming off-season - probably 2 or 3 MLE worthy players in this years crop at the right amount of years.

I'm aware - from past boards I've left for their lack of quality basketball discussion, Eric - that you believe Ainge to be an unparalleled basketball oracle. Fine. I don't, and I frankly view the above post as a collection of excuses for a terrible off-season.

Your above post is predicated on the same fallacies that led you and others to fall in love with the worst collection of Celtics talent in history - that a team can be rebuilt from the bottom picks in each round of the draft. It cannot, and Ainge has already proven that conclusively. His rebuilding plan failed miserably on the floor. Thank God for the fire sales in Minny and Seattle.

This team has definitive skillset gaps on the bench, some that could have been filled for the NBA equivalent of pocket change. I don't find two long-term reaches in the draft anything remotely approximating an appropriate answer for those weaknesses. Further, I suspect that they're picks made by a GM who thought he was set for 08-09, not part of a great "Danny's master plan," which is one of the enduring canards of every Celtics message board I've ever been on.

I'll say it again: If the priority this past off-season and right now is ANYTHING besides winning the 18th banner, then even I overestimate the intelligence of Ainge and Wyc.

Ainge's plan has worked as #17 shows. He did what he said he would do. To suggest that he got lucky because of a fire sale doesn't do justice to the fact that there are always teams that will restructure...every single year...and that Ainge was able to make a deal that delivered. Why you give him no credit and blast the ownership for not overspending is beyond me. Do you pay over the printed price of a ticket to go to a game? Until you do you have no leg to stand on.

[BballTim]

I just wish Ainge would hurry up and send Giddens and Walker back to the D-league so we can follow their games again, because it's pretty obvious Doc isn't gonna play them - especially Giddens.

  Aside from the fact that Giddens was back to help rehab his injury, I think they're likely to keep them around as our schedule has lightened up a bit and we have time for practice. When the team's playing a ton of games and the rookies don't play and don't practice they send them down.

[winsomme]

I just wish Ainge would hurry up and send Giddens and Walker back to the D-league so we can follow their games again, because it's pretty obvious Doc isn't gonna play them - especially Giddens.

  Aside from the fact that Giddens was back to help rehab his injury, I think they're likely to keep them around as our schedule has lightened up a bit and we have time for practice. When the team's playing a ton of games and the rookies don't play and don't practice they send them down.

yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if both stay around for a while here....especially with the team having more time to practice....

would love to see JR get some PT too...if his wrist heals up good.

[winsomme]

Ainge's plan has worked as #17 shows. He did what he said he would do. To suggest that he got lucky because of a fire sale doesn't do justice to the fact that there are always teams that will restructure...every single year...and that Ainge was able to make a deal that delivered. Why you give him no credit and blast the ownership for not overspending is beyond me. Do you pay over the printed price of a ticket to go to a game? Until you do you have no leg to stand on.

comletely agree. so many names are on the block nowadays. If you are a team with young chips or picks and expiring deals, you can really make some moves...

names talked about just recently: Redd, Amare, Brand, O'Neal, Marion, J Howard, Camby, Baron, Maggette, Iverson, two Millers (Brad, Mike)....that's just off the top of my head.

plus, remember the "KG being moved" was around the previous off-season. It wasn't just something that came out of nowhere. and Danny was in on it that off-season too.

He clearly was thinking about trying to get KG to come in here and collecting the pieces that might get that done...maybe it wasn't plan A, but it certainly on his list.

[guava_wrench]

I'll say it again: If the priority this past off-season and right now is ANYTHING besides winning the 18th banner, then even I overestimate the intelligence of Ainge and Wyc.

CB, I'm sure you saw with the rest of us that interview with Wyc. I don't know of  a more convincing way to highlight the front office's priority than the owner saying that moves will be made if needed...

Sad to see certain fans so out of touch with reality when they call the owners penny-pinchers. They are completely oblivious to NBA payrolls.

Reckless spending isn't the only way to get a title. Didn't get Dallas, Portland, or New York a title. I would love to still have Posey instead of POB or Giddens (or, more likely, TA), but he added more value to NO. Then again, there were other players NO was unable to re-sign since they committed so much money to Posey.

[BballTim]

Your above post is predicated on the same fallacies that led you and others to fall in love with the worst collection of Celtics talent in history - that a team can be rebuilt from the bottom picks in each round of the draft. It cannot, and Ainge has already proven that conclusively. His rebuilding plan failed miserably on the floor. Thank God for the fire sales in Minny and Seattle.

  For starters, before the trades were made we had Pierce, Jefferson, Perkins, Rondo, Delonte and Gomes. If you think that's the worst collection of talent in the Celtic's history then you started watching them when they got Bird and slept through much of the 90s. The fact that the team was too young to win regularly doesn't mean it failed miserably on the floor.  If he was rebuilding only then he'd have skipped the Theo trade and we might have had Roy or Gay and we could have either Ray Allen or the 5th pick last year.

  And those "fire sales" were no more fire sales than when other star players were traded. The value that those teams got wasn't much worse (for what was traded) than what was gotten for Pau or for Shaq (to Miami) or Barkley or Kareem (to LA) or practically any other similar trade. Keep in mind that some teams spent half the summer trying to get together better offers for KG than what we gave them.