Jordan/Giddens

[ManchesterCelticsFan]

One thing being overlooked is that Jordan is past his rookie deal and is being paid by the Clippers 10 mil this year and 10+ mil for the next 3 years.  Add that to what Boston will be playing Pierce and Rondo next season, throw in JJJ and Bradley and assume that Bass picks up his player option and Boston has 43.7 million dollars in salaries, which means Ainge can't offer DHoward a max deal and even if Dwight might take a little less to be a Celtic, those 7 players alone would put us over the salary cap.

Think you can win a title with Rondo, Howard, an aging Pierce, Bass, one MLE guy and whoever is willing to play for the minimum?  I doubt Howard will think so.

I'd rather take my chance on getting Howard with a max deal and still having enough left over to sign somebody like Gerald Wallace.

Mike

That's an interesting take. I'd like to believe the C's GM is capable of thinking and calculating that far ahead, otherwise, he shouldn't be the GM of our Boston Celtics. 

Heck, if we want to include the franchise as a whole, rather than just Danny, then we can add "not addressing KG's bone spurs and having him play through pain".  Terrible.
 

How do you know that KG wanted to go 'under the knife'? How do you know that KG wanted to risk his career, walking ability, etc. that a knee surgeon wouldn't make a mistake and that he can't walk again, never mind play NBA basketball again? How do you know that KG wasn't afraid for similar reasons?

[mgent]

I can't believe people are still surprised that DA gambled on Giddens at 30 after seeing him gamble on Bradley at 19.  Neither should come within 10 feet of the ball on offense, but his defense was about as close as you can get to AB's coming out of college (not to mention his rebounding was on a completely different level).

Fair to say Danny knew Tony would want 3 or more years as soon as he managed to put together a healthy(ish) season?

Giddens was not a defensive prospect although he had the tools to become a good defender.

Tony Allen and AB had stellar defensive reputations in college.

I know, but every time I saw him on the court I thought he was extremely NBA-ready on defense.  He didn't have enough skills to stick in the league but he had the defensive skill to be an excellent defender.  Danny saw something.

[Roy H.]

Heck, if we want to include the franchise as a whole, rather than just Danny, then we can add "not addressing KG's bone spurs and having him play through pain".  Terrible.
 

How do you know that KG wanted to go 'under the knife'? How do you know that KG wanted to risk his career, walking ability, etc. that a knee surgeon wouldn't make a mistake and that he can't walk again, never mind play NBA basketball again? How do you know that KG wasn't afraid for similar reasons?

It was widely reported at the time that he relied on the advice of the Celtics medical staff.

As for drafting Jordan, if Danny Ainge's thought process was "I don't want to draft this kid because he could turn into a star and that might eat into my cap room in four years", he should be fired immediately.  That would be lunacy, and I guarantee it didn't happen.  GMs draft talent; Danny has always been into acquiring assets / "chips", and if he thought Jordan was one, he would have drafted him, if for nothing more than trading purposes.

The franchise was wrong on KG's bone spurs, and Danny was wrong on Jordan.  It happens; neither is infallible.  However, there's no need to sugar coat what happened in either circumstance and pretend it didn't happen, or to suggest it was all part of some master plan.  They were mistakes, which helped make the 2008 off-season probably the worst of Danny's career (certainly of the KG era).

[birdbrady]

Heck, if we want to include the franchise as a whole, rather than just Danny, then we can add "not addressing KG's bone spurs and having him play through pain".  Terrible.
 

How do you know that KG wanted to go 'under the knife'? How do you know that KG wanted to risk his career, walking ability, etc. that a knee surgeon wouldn't make a mistake and that he can't walk again, never mind play NBA basketball again? How do you know that KG wasn't afraid for similar reasons?

It was widely reported at the time that he relied on the advice of the Celtics medical staff.

As for drafting Jordan, if Danny Ainge's thought process was "I don't want to draft this kid because he could turn into a star and that might eat into my cap room in four years", he should be fired immediately.  That would be lunacy, and I guarantee it didn't happen.  GMs draft talent; Danny has always been into acquiring assets / "chips", and if he thought Jordan was one, he would have drafted him, if for nothing more than trading purposes.

The franchise was wrong on KG's bone spurs, and Danny was wrong on Jordan.  It happens; neither is infallible.  However, there's no need to sugar coat what happened in either circumstance and pretend it didn't happen, or to suggest it was all part of some master plan.  They were mistakes, which helped make the 2008 off-season probably the worst of Danny's career (certainly of the KG era).

No ish.

If we drafted Jordan there's a very good chance that we win in 2010 - AND Chris Paul is a Celtic right now.

Rondo+Jordan for CP3 would've gotten it done.

Not draft Jordan was a serious gamechanger.  That whole 2008 off-season was.

[Who]

If we drafted Jordan there's a very good chance that we win in 2010

I don't think DeAndre Jordan changes the 2010 end result. He was still very much a liability that season. A very weak defensive player. He didn't really become a useful rotation player until last season.

[European NBA fan]

From Draftexpress in March 2008:

Jordan did not finish off the season very well at all, scoring in double-digits just four times in all of January, February and March, after he was able to do so nine times in November and December. It’s pretty obvious by now that Jordan is a project with a capital P, one that will demand a great deal of nurturing and patience before he’s able to contribute much of anything in the NBA. He obviously needs another year in college to help prepare him for the pros, but the danger of not improving enough and damaging his stock badly may be too much to risk, even if it’s rumored that he is currently leaning towards staying. That’s the sad state of the NBA draft unfortunately. Jordan will have to develop a great work ethic and love for the game if he’s going to have any chance of achieving his great potential.

At the time of the draft, the Celtics were going into year two of an expected three year window with the big three and without any real money to spend on free agents. Where does Jordan fit in there? In hindsight he could have been trade bait or maybe even an end of the rotation player in 2010. But that's the best case scenario.

[mctyson]

The point of Simmon's column was that Ainge has made bad move after bad move since the title year, and if he managed to squeeze in one or two good ones, the KG era would probably have at least one other title and a better ending.  That seems irrefutable to me, although that type of hindsight column by definition is like fishing in a barrel.

The point of Simmons' article is that he is a writer who sits around playing with a fake trade machine and criticzing drafts 3 years after they happened.

As for Danny's performance in the draft, read this article hear:
 
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/06/23/danny-ainges-draft-history-from-big-al-to-marcus-banks/
  
2003 - He trades Troy Bell and Danthay Jones for Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins!  

2004 - Big Al, D-West, and Tony Allen

2005 - Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes

2006 - Rondo and Leon Powe (he traded for Telfair and Foye was Portland's choice)

2007 - Big Baby (trade for Ray) and Gabe Pruitt

2008 - Giddens, Bill Walker, Semih Erden

2009 - some guy I never knew with the 58th pick

2010 - Avery Bradley and Gody

2011 - JJJ and Etwaun

I mean, go over that list.  Outside of a couple second rounders that didn't pan out, Ainge drafted ONE 1st rounder that became a complete bust (Gidddens, with the 30th pick).  Gerald Green at least was used in a trade and is sitll in the league (and won the dunk contest.)

Many of Danny's picks turned into guys who made it in the league and are still productive for their teams.  How many picks can we say that Danny truly "missed" on?  Pruitt and Giddens?  Maybe Gerald Green??

Plus we still don't know how AB, JJJ, and Etwaun will play out, but I think we can all definitely say that AB will at least have a career like Tony Allen, JJJ might be a legitimate double-digit offensive threat, and Etwain could be at least as good as Keyon Dooling (and Dooling was a lottery pick.)

So what does Simmons do?  He goes after the ONE pick Danny has made in 8 years that was a clear miss, and he kills him for it.  I know his article was tongue-and-cheek, but still, give me a break.  

Edit:  Gerald Green is not technically in the league, since he was waived by the Lakers this year.  He is in the D-league.  He is definitely a bust, but could probably make a roster.

[greenlion]

as if we all don't know that its always a hit or miss thing..there were far more consequential instances that could easily overshadow this alleged DA's overlooking of picks..besides, jordan is an overrated, overpaid dude who should be happy and thankful for where he is now..eddy curry comparison so far..

[pearljammer10]

With our luck, Giddens would have thrived on the Clippers while Jordan woulda gone to the D league. Yo never know whats going to happen or how the cards are going to fall.