Danny Ainge excuses and lack of trades(merged threads)

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

No moves, as I suspected.

It takes a Herculean effort to get Danny to part with any of his assets, and I really didn’t think anyone would offer him a sweet enough deal to get him to budge on anything. Also, I think this means that Danny is happy with the current roster, which is fine—the top 8 are very good.

But I’m also guessing that it means he thinks this roster will be near or at full strength come playoff time, and that idea, to me, verges on laughable. This team is suffering an injury literally every second or third game—some minor, some a bit more severe, but there’s almost always someone being added to the injury report. And if one guy comes off the report, another is added to it within a day or two. It long ago reached the point of absurdity with this team—it’s not just the usual stuff like twisted ankles, but rare and weird stuff too, like bone edemas and eye infections.

So I have a hard time believing there won’t be at least 2 of the top 8 severely dinged up come playoff time, most likely Smart and Hayward. And I guess that’s when certain segments of this board will say, with perfect contentment and zero negativity, "Well, I guess Danny didn’t really think they could win it all this season, or else he would’ve made a move at the trade deadline. Oh well, better luck next year!"

[Rondo9]

No moves, as I suspected.

It takes a Herculean effort to get Danny to part with any of his assets, and I really didn’t think anyone would offer him a sweet enough deal to get him to budge on anything. Also, I think this means that Danny is happy with the current roster, which is fine—the top 8 are very good.

But I’m also guessing that it means he thinks this roster will be near or at full strength come playoff time, and that idea, to me, verges on laughable. This team is suffering an injury literally every second or third game—some minor, some a bit more severe, but there’s almost always someone being added to the injury report. And if one guy comes off the report, another is added to it within a day or two. It long ago reached the point of absurdity with this team—it’s not just the usual stuff like twisted ankles, but rare and weird stuff too, like bone edemas and eye infections.

So I have a hard time believing there won’t be at least 2 of the top 8 severely dinged up come playoff time, most likely Smart and Hayward. And I guess that’s when certain segments of this board will say, with perfect contentment and zero negativity, "Well, I guess Danny didn’t really think they could win it all this season, or else he would’ve made a move at the trade deadline. Oh well, better luck next year!"

All that's left is to just rest the players and remain healthy for the playoffs. They're still winning.

[Banner18now!]

Ainge has failed again. He didn’t do his job and get a scorer off the bench or front court depth. There is no way this team as it is constituted right now is beating Philly it Milwaukee in the playoffs. Philly gave up nothing and improved their bench scoring. Ainge couldn’t do anything? He gets touted for all these picks and young players yet he does nothing? So keep picking players and they can go back and forth to G league. Danny Ainge needs to stop living of off the 08 championship. Enough is enough, this is another second round exit coming. He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing. Time to move on from Ainge.

You don't want Ainge to gamble but you want him to make trades?

Where did I say I don’t want him gamble? I’m not even sure what your talking about? I want to know how Philly took care of a need which was bench scoring and gave up practically nothing to get it. Yet Ainge sits on his hands and does nothing to help the team out. I’m not talking about trading fro Drummond I’m taking about being able to get someone who can come off the bench and score, or maybe a defensive big. Instead he does nothing and we all expect what? I will tell you whats going to happen, we will watch them get whipped by Milwaukee up front, ska ewith Embiid for Philly. We will see a lack of scoring off the bench. We will watch Gordon Hayward be even softer come playoff time and wish we had a more reliable scorer off the bench. I promise you Hayward will disappear at times and not be consistent. That’s were bench scoring would help.

[tstorey_97]

The bench debate has been underway here for awhile now. Ainge, doesn't see a problem.

Last year against the Bucks, the Celtics were a different team, I've got that, it's just the Bucks rotated the daylights out of the Celtics with a good bench.

Will it happen again? I hope not, but, the Bucks still run deeper than the Celtics and no, there probably wasn't anything Ainge could do about it.

The below will have to be the "why" Ainge didn't see a trade.

The bench, when the starters are healthy which is essentially...never:

Smart (really a starter)

Kanter
Wanamaker
Grant
Semi

If healthy, the Celtic's "big 4" usually have two on the court in combination with this bunch with Smart being included.

In the last weeks, Kanter has been great. We don't know if he'll be effective against the Bucks, but, why not?

Wanamaker has been good. His turnovers are down and his shooting is ok.

Grant has played in 48 NBA games averaging 15 minutes. After setting a record for most consecutive missed three pointers, his shooting is good.

Semi has been solid. In 10 games, he is 5 of 18 from three, but, 15 of 34 from the field. He is a top defender here and will be assigned the freak if the time comes for the limited minutes he gets.

"Our bench doesn't score" because they are on the court with four all stars and we let the all stars do all the shooting in Boston because life isn't fair along with that's how you win games.

My guess is trader Danny is aok with the Theis/Kanter two headed monster this year. Frequent frontcourt rotations include Semi at 6'6" and Grant at 6'6" and a 6' 9 3/4" wingspan which is one and a quarter inches shorter than Romeo Langford's wingspan at 6' 11".

They will have to play big.

Last night the Magic, tops in NBA defense at 104.8/pg, lost to the Celtics who are the second best defense in the NBA 105.4/pg. The difference was the Celtics just "have too many players who can score."

In the meantime, league topping defense along with the "big 4" shooting the lights out might make trader Danny look like a genius.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I think people underestimate how high the Cs are on Robert Williams. Remember Rozier's second year in the playoffs how he gave them a big boost? I could see something similar this year.

[nickagneta]

Ainge has failed again. He didn’t do his job and get a scorer off the bench or front court depth. There is no way this team as it is constituted right now is beating Philly it Milwaukee in the playoffs. Philly gave up nothing and improved their bench scoring. Ainge couldn’t do anything? He gets touted for all these picks and young players yet he does nothing? So keep picking players and they can go back and forth to G league. Danny Ainge needs to stop living of off the 08 championship. Enough is enough, this is another second round exit coming. He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing. Time to move on from Ainge.

You don't want Ainge to gamble but you want him to make trades?

Where did I say I don’t want him gamble? I’m not even sure what your talking about? I want to know how Philly took care of a need which was bench scoring and gave up practically nothing to get it. Yet Ainge sits on his hands and does nothing to help the team out. I’m not talking about trading fro Drummond I’m taking about being able to get someone who can come off the bench and score, or maybe a defensive big. Instead he does nothing and we all expect what? I will tell you whats going to happen, we will watch them get whipped by Milwaukee up front, ska ewith Embiid for Philly. We will see a lack of scoring off the bench. We will watch Gordon Hayward be even softer come playoff time and wish we had a more reliable scorer off the bench. I promise you Hayward will disappear at times and not be consistent. That’s were bench scoring would help.

So if Danny had traded Green for Alec Burks and Poirier for Alex Len, you believe that the team would suddenly be able to take down Philly and Milwaukee? Somehow the upgrade of our 3rd or 4th string center and our 6th guard was going to propel this team to greatness? Or Danny was supposed to trade 3 to 4 players plus two 1st round draft picks for rentals that really didn't upgrade the team any more than adding Len and Burks?

There was really nothing out there that upgraded the team without trading any of our top 3 players and that wasn't happening. So, best to let the young guys continue to mature and grow and see where things are after the playoffs than to make a trade simply to make a trade and calm down all the armchair GMs that think the only way to get better is making any trade you can no matter how bad or wasteful of assets that the trade is.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I think people underestimate how high the Cs are on Robert Williams. Remember Rozier's second year in the playoffs how he gave them a big boost? I could see something similar this year.

Perhaps, but I also think that some fans are overestimating how much of an impact Rob can make this season, especially given how long he's been out of action.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I think people underestimate how high the Cs are on Robert Williams. Remember Rozier's second year in the playoffs how he gave them a big boost? I could see something similar this year.

Perhaps, but I also think that some fans are overestimating how much of an impact Rob can make this season, especially given how long he's been out of action.

Maybe. We'll see.

[Moranis]

Ainge has failed again. He didn’t do his job and get a scorer off the bench or front court depth. There is no way this team as it is constituted right now is beating Philly it Milwaukee in the playoffs. Philly gave up nothing and improved their bench scoring. Ainge couldn’t do anything? He gets touted for all these picks and young players yet he does nothing? So keep picking players and they can go back and forth to G league. Danny Ainge needs to stop living of off the 08 championship. Enough is enough, this is another second round exit coming. He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing. Time to move on from Ainge.

You don't want Ainge to gamble but you want him to make trades?

Where did I say I don’t want him gamble? I’m not even sure what your talking about? I want to know how Philly took care of a need which was bench scoring and gave up practically nothing to get it. Yet Ainge sits on his hands and does nothing to help the team out. I’m not talking about trading fro Drummond I’m taking about being able to get someone who can come off the bench and score, or maybe a defensive big. Instead he does nothing and we all expect what? I will tell you whats going to happen, we will watch them get whipped by Milwaukee up front, ska ewith Embiid for Philly. We will see a lack of scoring off the bench. We will watch Gordon Hayward be even softer come playoff time and wish we had a more reliable scorer off the bench. I promise you Hayward will disappear at times and not be consistent. That’s were bench scoring would help.

So if Danny had traded Green for Alec Burks and Poirier for Alex Len, you believe that the team would suddenly be able to take down Philly and Milwaukee? Somehow the upgrade of our 3rd or 4th string center and our 6th guard was going to propel this team to greatness? Or Danny was supposed to trade 3 to 4 players plus two 1st round draft picks for rentals that really didn't upgrade the team any more than adding Len and Burks?

There was really nothing out there that upgraded the team without trading any of our top 3 players and that wasn't happening. So, best to let the young guys continue to mature and grow and see where things are after the playoffs than to make a trade simply to make a trade and calm down all the armchair GMs that think the only way to get better is making any trade you can no matter how bad or wasteful of assets that the trade is.

I think Burks would be the 4th guard on the team (behind Kemba, Brown, and Smart).  Now would he be enough to get by Milwaukee, probably not, but at the cost he was acquired for, I think you have to make that move. 

But as I've been saying, I don't think Ainge believes the team is a real contender this year, so he was never going to give up real assets for moderate bench improvement.  Just not a good use of assets on a team that you don't think can win.

[liam]

Ainge has failed again. He didn’t do his job and get a scorer off the bench or front court depth. There is no way this team as it is constituted right now is beating Philly it Milwaukee in the playoffs. Philly gave up nothing and improved their bench scoring. Ainge couldn’t do anything? He gets touted for all these picks and young players yet he does nothing? So keep picking players and they can go back and forth to G league. Danny Ainge needs to stop living of off the 08 championship. Enough is enough, this is another second round exit coming. He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing. Time to move on from Ainge.

You don't want Ainge to gamble but you want him to make trades?

Where did I say I don’t want him gamble? I’m not even sure what your talking about? I want to know how Philly took care of a need which was bench scoring and gave up practically nothing to get it. Yet Ainge sits on his hands and does nothing to help the team out. I’m not talking about trading fro Drummond I’m taking about being able to get someone who can come off the bench and score, or maybe a defensive big. Instead he does nothing and we all expect what? I will tell you whats going to happen, we will watch them get whipped by Milwaukee up front, ska ewith Embiid for Philly. We will see a lack of scoring off the bench. We will watch Gordon Hayward be even softer come playoff time and wish we had a more reliable scorer off the bench. I promise you Hayward will disappear at times and not be consistent. That’s were bench scoring would help.

"He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing."

[Walker Wiggle]

Amazing how these are seemingly the most common assertions on this forum:

1) "No matter how good your team is, you can't win the championship without a top-5 player!"

2) "We need to trade our first round picks to fortify our bench if we want any hope to win a championship!"

[nyceltsfan]

Amazing how these are seemingly the most common assertions on this forum:

1) "No matter how good your team is, you can't win the championship without a top-5 player!"

2) "We need to trade our first round picks to fortify our bench if we want any hope to win a championship!"

I'm not sure if he will ever be a top 5 player, but Tatum is really blossoming into a superstar.  If he can keep up this level of play on both ends, I like our chances.

Regarding #2, how many players were available for our bench that would have been attainable without blowing up the team (trading one of the top 7 or 8 guys)?  I liked what I saw from the bench last night and one would have to think (if Stevens gives them enough minutes) that most of those players can only get better from this point forward.

[gouki88]

Amazing how these are seemingly the most common assertions on this forum:

1) "No matter how good your team is, you can't win the championship without a top-5 player!"

2) "We need to trade our first round picks to fortify our bench if we want any hope to win a championship!"

I'm not sure if he will ever be a top 5 player, but Tatum is really blossoming into a superstar.  If he can keep up this level of play on both ends, I like our chances.

Yeah, Tatum has been on an absolute tear recently. Going back to the 11th of January (his 40 point game) his averages have been crazy.

26.1PPG, 6.5RPG, 3.2APG, 1.6SPG, 0.9BPG on 50% from the field, 45% from three, 79% from the line and a TS% of 61%. Plus, in the 10 games Tatum has played in that stretch we've gone 8-2, with one loss coming to Milwaukee. Overall in that stretch we went 10-4, with that annoying 3 game losing streak.

Tatum looks like a legit All-Star starter caliber guy over the last ~month

[liam]

Amazing how these are seemingly the most common assertions on this forum:

1) "No matter how good your team is, you can't win the championship without a top-5 player!"

2) "We need to trade our first round picks to fortify our bench if we want any hope to win a championship!"

I'm not sure if he will ever be a top 5 player, but Tatum is really blossoming into a superstar.  If he can keep up this level of play on both ends, I like our chances.

Yeah, Tatum has been on an absolute tear recently. Going back to the 11th of January (his 40 point game) his averages have been crazy.

26.1PPG, 6.5RPG, 3.2APG, 1.6SPG, 0.9BPG on 50% from the field, 45% from three, 79% from the line and a TS% of 61%. Plus, in the 10 games Tatum has played in that stretch we've gone 8-2, with one loss coming to Milwaukee. Overall in that stretch we went 10-4, with that annoying 3 game losing streak.

Tatum looks like a legit All-Star starter caliber guy over the last ~month

...and he's only 21...

[Boris Badenov]

Ainge has failed again. He didn’t do his job and get a scorer off the bench or front court depth. There is no way this team as it is constituted right now is beating Philly it Milwaukee in the playoffs. Philly gave up nothing and improved their bench scoring. Ainge couldn’t do anything? He gets touted for all these picks and young players yet he does nothing? So keep picking players and they can go back and forth to G league. Danny Ainge needs to stop living of off the 08 championship. Enough is enough, this is another second round exit coming. He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing. Time to move on from Ainge.

You don't want Ainge to gamble but you want him to make trades?

Where did I say I don’t want him gamble? I’m not even sure what your talking about? I want to know how Philly took care of a need which was bench scoring and gave up practically nothing to get it. Yet Ainge sits on his hands and does nothing to help the team out. I’m not talking about trading fro Drummond I’m taking about being able to get someone who can come off the bench and score, or maybe a defensive big. Instead he does nothing and we all expect what? I will tell you whats going to happen, we will watch them get whipped by Milwaukee up front, ska ewith Embiid for Philly. We will see a lack of scoring off the bench. We will watch Gordon Hayward be even softer come playoff time and wish we had a more reliable scorer off the bench. I promise you Hayward will disappear at times and not be consistent. That’s were bench scoring would help.

"He also should have seen Kyrie being a head case but instead gambled and was left with nothing."

I know right?

I also don't understand the focus on bench scoring. If our top 4 scorers are healthy we don't need bench scoring, we need bench D, rebounding and playmaking. We will have two of Tatum/Brown/Walker/Hayward out there every minute. People look at our occasional scoring troubles but it's only because we haven't been healthy.