I disagree with the position that malcontent was not Ainge's fault. Whose fault was it then? We cannot start having decision makers without responsibility. Celtics paid a handsome price for that malcontent. Did he do his due diligence? Gave up some nice players, the face of the franchise (and a lot of good will) for that malcontent. Perhaps he should have done some due diligence before handing the keys of the franchise to a wired flat-earther. Who do we blame? Nobody? Someone has to take responsibility for that colossal failure. They spent good assets for that guy.
Now if you say Hayward was not Ainge's fault, I agree with that because that was an injury. The malcontent however could have been avoided. His attitude, his injury history, etc etc.
Here's the thing, if Isaiah Thomas didn't suffer a serious injury, it was unlikely the Celts would trade for Kyrie.
What Ainge did was trade a player, who's damaged goods, for a star player.
It cost the Celts the #8 pick in 2018, but basically it was IT for Kyrie.
That was a good deal for the Celts.
It's just unfortunate that Kyrie didn't fit Boston.
look at it this way, the player you traded IT for also had injury issues of his own. He needed surgery which he ended up having, and missed the entire playoff run, which had an impact on the remainder of his tenure with the team. So you could argue that it was one damaged player for another.
Maybe, but at that time, Kyrie didn't need the surgery.
It was more of a corrective procedure that was not urgent.
Ainge is not perfect.
Even the Spurs, as great as their front office is, lost Kawhi.
I think the NBA system is working.
It's bad for business if the only teams winning championships are the Celtics and Lakers.
Us Celtic fans just have to be patient for our time to come.
Last summer I wasn't as excited about the Celts because I knew even if the Celts made it to the Finals, the Celts would not be able to beat GSW with the addition of Cousins.
This season is a different story.
Nobody knows who will be in the Finals in 2020 because of so many player movements.
Celts have a golden opportunity because the expectations for this year's Celts team is lower compared to that of last season.
One move could turn the Celts into a contender this 2019-20 season.