One Title in 18 Years and You Think Stevens is The One Who Should Go?

[Donoghus]

Title town was the exception, not the rule. Anyone who remembers the history of Boston sports before 2002 can tell you that.

True but the 80s were pretty darn good to the city.  That was an exciting time.

Fair point! Three championships in five seasons is nothing to scoff at. And, of course, there is the spectre of Len Bias (and a little later Reggie Lewis) hanging over the latter half of those years as well.

It may have been 18 years since our last ring but I'll take those 18 years in a heartbeat over the 22 between '86 and '08. We had:
The Last Ride of the Big 3 (1 Finals appearance, solid playoff runs)
The Emergence of Wunderkind Brad Stevens
The Rise of Isaiah Thomas
The "exciting times" of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Big Al
The Emergence of the best in-house Celtics talent in a decade

Compare that to
The parts I can't remember
Rick Pitino's Greatest Hits, including  Larry Bird's Not Walking Through That Door
Let's Tank for Tim Duncan
There Ain't No Fours
The Stabbing
&c.

I was just a young kid at the time but the Hagler death made me think back to what it was like growing up in the mid to late 80s and how Boston seemed to be at or near the center of the sports world in so many aspects.  Hagler, Flutie, the Big Three Celtics, '85 Pats, a couple of Stanley Cup Finals for the B's,  '86 Sox plus the '88 team.   Plus just some awesome characters.

[Moranis]

I don't think titles are a reasonable metric, for a lot of reasons.  Mainly the fact that the Celtics are at a large disadvantage compared to some of their competitors given the dynamics in the NBA.

I also don't think Brad Stevens is anywhere close to perfect.  I like him, and I agree that he shouldn't shoulder anything close to the majority of the responsibility for the results lately.  But he's got his flaws and there are definitely coaches in the NBA who I think are equivalent or better, and not just the older guys who have won titles.

That said, I definitely agree that Danny has not done a very good job in the last few years.  I've come to the conclusion that Danny had a big, grand plan --- Anthony Davis.  That was supposed to be KG 2.0.  Ever since that fell through, it feels like Danny has been reacting to circumstances instead of creating them.

But Ainge has done that pretty much since the 1st KG trade.  He has become so focused on winning every move and has fallen in such love with his players he has lost the bigger picture.  Passing on Butler and George because he didn't want to use cap space.  Passing on Kawhi because he won't take rentals.  Passing on Davis because he was afraid he walked.  Pulling the trigger on Irving, who isn't a franchise player, and then not surrounding him with a team capable of winning.  Passing on Harden, because who knows why.  All failures. All brought about by Ainge's hesitation to move players on the team for the uncertainty that an actual legit star might leave or be unhappy.  He is trigger shy.  I mean this is the first trade deadline in like 4 years he actually made a move, and frankly I have no idea why he made the moves he did. 

it is absolutely time for Ainge to retire.  He has lost his way.