Biggest Ainge 'pass' over the past year?

[ThePaintedArea]

Lets say hypothetically any of these players were on the table for Ainge if the deal was right. Based on contract/years left/and package for them which deal did Danny drop the ball on? Personally I feel all three were possibilities for us if Danny wanted them:

Boogie Cousins...
Jimmy Butler...
Paul George...
Fultz...

In every case the return was, I think, shockingly small - meaning that Ainge was simply not willing to give much up for any of those players; ironically, the return for Fultz was impressive (provided you agree with Danny that the top players in the draft were on the same plane. We shall see).

The case against Cousins is easy to make, and the indications were that Boston wanted no part of his antics.

That leaves Butler and George.

They didn't get Horford in order to contend in 3-5 years, which would correspond to Jaylen Brown's timeline.  In other words, acquiring a star who can create and make shots is a priority now. So signing Butler, George, or Hayward (or Griffin, though he's now off the table) is logical.

If George was unwilling to commit to an extension, there was no point in continuing the conversation.

To me the no brainer answer is JB, perennial allstar, top 15 player in the NBA, on what some may consider a 'bargain contract' by today's NBA standard. Considering Jrue Holiday just got $25 mil a year, taking on Butler for a lottery pick was easily the biggest miss for Ainge.
I also feel he is the best fit in a Stevens system, adding him to a 53 win team (and also possibly Hayward) while Cleveland is in a clear downward spiral to me is the biggest miss in Ainge's tenure this far.

I agree that he'd be a good fit on the Celtics.  I can't say that I have a plausible theory why the Celtics' Brass would prefer Hayward. Throwing his coach under the bus in public didn't help, I'd guess.

I also feel his presence on the team increases the chances Hayward signs here.

Perhaps.  But there's a question also of playing time for Brown and even Tatum; and Zach Lowe reports that Crowder was the sticking point in the Butler negotiation.

[Birdman]

You forgot Hayward HOPE I'm WRONG

[Ilikesports17]

I think your proposed Cousins deal is pretty far off.

They supposedly were adamant about getting a '17 first rounder and they loved Hield.

That means they likely viewed Hield as a superior asset to brown and we would have had o find a way to get them a lotto pick in this year's draft which seems near impossible.

[csfansince60s]

Cousins.

And it wasn't DA's pass on Cousins, it was Stevens'.

Brad was afraid of the Boogie Man.

Also, Olynyk was much more of a Brad guy, skills wise, than the Greek Freak. If you don't think that that was Stevens' selection more than Ainge's, who had scouted GA extensively in Europe, I don't know what to tell you.

[Ilikesports17]

Cousins.

And it wasn't DA's pass on Cousins, it was Stevens'.

Brad was afraid of the Boogie Man.

Also, Olynyk was much more of a Brad guy, skills wise, than the Greek Freak. If you don't think that that was Stevens' selection more than Ainge's, who had scouted GA extensively in Europe, I don't know what to tell you.

Brad Stevens was still employed by Butler when we picked Olynyk...

[cltc5]

Boogie. Major fail. Think cousins coulda really helped sway some free agents too.

[GreenEnvy]

Boogie. Major fail. Think cousins coulda really helped sway some free agents too.

I think not going after him from a talent standpoint is understandable. But players aren't going out of their way to play with him.

[loco_91]

Interesting that Cousins is the favorite here. I think that the reason Ainge didn't go hard after Cousins was that he was persuing Butler, which is pretty understandable given that Ainge has always put a premium on character. Moreover, Sacramento apparently thought Buddy Hield was Steph Curry 2.0, so it's not clear we could have had Cousins for anything close to the steal that NO got him for. To me, Butler is the biggest pass. We don't know what the specific terms were, but he was traded to Minny for pennies on the dollar and unlike George, he has 2 years left on his bargain min-max contract.

[kmart12]

Interesting that Cousins is the favorite here. I think that the reason Ainge didn't go hard after Cousins was that he was persuing Butler, which is pretty understandable given that Ainge has always put a premium on character. Moreover, Sacramento apparently thought Buddy Hield was Steph Curry 2.0, so it's not clear we could have had Cousins for anything close to the steal that NO got him for. To me, Butler is the biggest pass. We don't know what the specific terms were, but he was traded to Minny for pennies on the dollar and unlike George, he has 2 years left on his bargain min-max contract.

What bothers me about the circumstances regarding Cousins is that I truly believe it was a character issue (as you've mentioned). There has to be a point in which talent is prioritized over character; Cousins addresses significant deficits in our team and he brings more to the table than anyone on our current roster. A frontcourt of Cousins and Horford would be elite and he could make up for some of the holes in Horford's game that we are painfully neglecting in our free agent targets (i.e., rebounding and interior defense). Unless there was no opportunity to get Cousins, I'll never understand why the front office thought acquiring him was a bad idea.

[loco_91]

Interesting that Cousins is the favorite here. I think that the reason Ainge didn't go hard after Cousins was that he was persuing Butler, which is pretty understandable given that Ainge has always put a premium on character. Moreover, Sacramento apparently thought Buddy Hield was Steph Curry 2.0, so it's not clear we could have had Cousins for anything close to the steal that NO got him for. To me, Butler is the biggest pass. We don't know what the specific terms were, but he was traded to Minny for pennies on the dollar and unlike George, he has 2 years left on his bargain min-max contract.

What bothers me about the circumstances regarding Cousins is that I truly believe it was a character issue (as you've mentioned). There has to be a point in which talent is prioritized over character; Cousins addresses significant deficits in our team and he brings more to the table than anyone on our current roster. A frontcourt of Cousins and Horford would be elite and he could make up for some of the holes in Horford's game that we are painfully neglecting in our free agent targets (i.e., rebounding and interior defense). Unless there was no opportunity to get Cousins, I'll never understand why the front office thought acquiring him was a bad idea.

Sure, but given the choice between pursuing Cousins and pursuing Butler, well-known character issues are a pretty legitimate reason to go after Butler instead. Overall I'm not sure how much it's appropriate to value character vs. talent--no way to really know never having been in an NBA locker room.

[timpiker]

Why do u believe anything the media reports? 

[kmart12]

Sure, but given the choice between pursuing Cousins and pursuing Butler, well-known character issues are a pretty legitimate reason to go after Butler instead. Overall I'm not sure how much it's appropriate to value character vs. talent--no way to really know never having been in an NBA locker room.

I'm equally disappointed with the failure to acquire Butler; my belief is that for this particular team that the addition of a 20 and 10 big (which are becoming rarer by the moment) would have been a greater improvement than adding a wing. Although, I will say that Butler is a top 15 player and I think some posters here vastly undervalue how great he is. Butler would have gotten us closer as well. Regardless, all of these acquisitions would have improved our team in a major way and because we're not in a full rebuild, I struggle to feel great about this team and its middling status.