Blakely: Danny Ainge takes blame for Celtics’ underwhelming start

[Tr1boy]

How long will Ainge be the GM???

Until he decides to retire

[Tr1boy]

Anybody else miss a guy like Crowder. Even Olynyk

They do the things Stevens like/keep his system stable

Al Horford is another guy.  Terry Rozier even though burnt out his welcome. He was a tough fella, especially on D

Danny tried to replace with cheaper alternatives like Semi, Gwilliams.  But these guys are are kind of soft in comparison

I would trade both plus a 2nd for Crowder yesterday. 

[GreenWarrior]

He probably "doesn't want to make trades" because he can't. You have to have something of value to get something back - we have nothing outside of brown and tatum.

Boy he really effed this up.

[gouki88]

You gave him kyrie horford and Hayward and we have how many conference championships to show for it?  Yet teams with one all star like Toronto and Miami have a conference title and one nba title.  This is on the coach.

Are you referring to Toronto with their MVP candidate (Leonard) and two All-Star calibre players (Lowry & Siakam) and Miami with their two All-NBA players (Butler & Adebayo) alongside a 6MOTY candidate who was an All-Star not long ago (Dragic)? Stop blatantly lying

[Tr1boy]

You gave him kyrie horford and Hayward and we have how many conference championships to show for it?  Yet teams with one all star like Toronto and Miami have a conference title and one nba title.  This is on the coach.

Are you referring to Toronto with their MVP candidate (Leonard) and two All-Star calibre players (Lowry & Siakam) and Miami with their two All-NBA players (Butler & Adebayo) alongside a 6MOTY candidate who was an All-Star not long ago (Dragic)? Stop blatantly lying

The Heat came 5th last season.  Spoels outcoached both Bud and Stevens in the playoffs

And just before that Bud outcoached Stevens when Bucks steamrolled the Celtics after losing the 1st one

Its not the Celts were the favorites. But is the manner how the wheels fell off

YET  Ainge will never blame Stevens.   I think that is a little strange.  Maybe he thinks of him as a son

[CFAN38]

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2021/02/15/blakely-danny-ainge-takes-blame-celtics-underwhelming-start-season/0

Sherrod breaks down Ainge interview with Dan Shaughnessy this morning.

Basically zero/little blame on Brad. And blames himself and some of the players instead (not playing up to expectations, not taking lesser opponents seriously).

Does not want to hit the panic button and make trades (because it may not fix the underlying problem). But at this rate may have to.

A insideR look back at last off-season would be really interesting, part of me suspects DA though he was going to squeeze Warren out of the Pacers for Hayward and that was his big move of the offseason. When that fell apart he then had to scramble and settled in Thompson. This has forced BS to play to many 2 big lineups and try to force Grant Williams into. Perimeter role. Had the Cs landed a starting caliber wing this team would look much different and more balanced.

[Roy H.]

The worst free agent miss of the off-season was Paul Milsap deciding he didn’t want to disrupt his family with a move to Boston.  Danny was right on there.

The only other FA I know we pursued was Kent Bazemore.

Did he reach out to Serge Ibaka?  That seemed like a two horse race between LAC and BRK, but I’m curious.

The Kanter deal looks horrible right now.  Why involve Memphis at all?  Why not deal him to Portland if we weren’t keeping him?

And, Hayward...  ugh.  Worst case scenario.  Losing Hayward, and missing out on Turner / McDermott.

If everything had gone perfectly this off-season, we’re looking at:

Turner / Timelord / Tilman
Milsap / Theis / Williams
Tatum / McDermott / Langford
Brown / Smart / Bazemore / Nesmith
Kemba / Pritchard

It’s a bit more complicated than that due to a MLE hard cap , but it would have been within the realm of possibility.

I don’t, of course, expect perfection from Danny, but Turner / McDermott would solve a lot of problems.

[slamtheking]

The worst free agent miss of the off-season was Paul Milsap deciding he didn’t want to disrupt his family with a move to Boston.  Danny was right on there.

The only other FA I know we pursued was Kent Bazemore.

Did he reach out to Serge Ibaka?  That seemed like a two horse race between LAC and BRK, but I’m curious.

The Kanter deal looks horrible right now.  Why involve Memphis at all?  Why not deal him to Portland if we weren’t keeping him?

And, Hayward...  ugh.  Worst case scenario.  Losing Hayward, and missing out on Turner / McDermott.

If everything had gone perfectly this off-season, we’re looking at:

Turner / Timelord / Tilman
Milsap / Theis / Williams
Tatum / McDermott / Langford
Brown / Smart / Bazemore / Nesmith
Kemba / Pritchard

It’s a bit more complicated than that due to a MLE hard cap , but it would have been within the realm of possibility.

I don’t, of course, expect perfection from Danny, but Turner / McDermott would solve a lot of problems.

the Milsap miss was the big one.  he would have provided the toughness and vet leadership this team needed.  solid scorer, rebounder and defender at the PF position would have helped a lot. 

[SparzWizard]

The worst free agent miss of the off-season was Paul Milsap deciding he didn’t want to disrupt his family with a move to Boston.  Danny was right on there.

The only other FA I know we pursued was Kent Bazemore.

Did he reach out to Serge Ibaka?  That seemed like a two horse race between LAC and BRK, but I’m curious.

The Kanter deal looks horrible right now.  Why involve Memphis at all?  Why not deal him to Portland if we weren’t keeping him?

And, Hayward...  ugh.  Worst case scenario.  Losing Hayward, and missing out on Turner / McDermott.

If everything had gone perfectly this off-season, we’re looking at:

Turner / Timelord / Tilman
Milsap / Theis / Williams
Tatum / McDermott / Langford
Brown / Smart / Bazemore / Nesmith
Kemba / Pritchard

It’s a bit more complicated than that due to a MLE hard cap , but it would have been within the realm of possibility.

I don’t, of course, expect perfection from Danny, but Turner / McDermott would solve a lot of problems.

the Milsap miss was the big one.  he would have provided the toughness and vet leadership this team needed.  solid scorer, rebounder and defender at the PF position would have helped a lot.

But what's the point of moaning over Paul Millsap though. He didn't want to come to Boston since he didn't want his family to move there.

The real misses were definitely Turner and McDermott. And definitely a player who can provide depth off the bench.

[Roy H.]

The worst free agent miss of the off-season was Paul Milsap deciding he didn’t want to disrupt his family with a move to Boston.  Danny was right on there.

The only other FA I know we pursued was Kent Bazemore.

Did he reach out to Serge Ibaka?  That seemed like a two horse race between LAC and BRK, but I’m curious.

The Kanter deal looks horrible right now.  Why involve Memphis at all?  Why not deal him to Portland if we weren’t keeping him?

And, Hayward...  ugh.  Worst case scenario.  Losing Hayward, and missing out on Turner / McDermott.

If everything had gone perfectly this off-season, we’re looking at:

Turner / Timelord / Tilman
Milsap / Theis / Williams
Tatum / McDermott / Langford
Brown / Smart / Bazemore / Nesmith
Kemba / Pritchard

It’s a bit more complicated than that due to a MLE hard cap , but it would have been within the realm of possibility.

I don’t, of course, expect perfection from Danny, but Turner / McDermott would solve a lot of problems.

the Milsap miss was the big one.  he would have provided the toughness and vet leadership this team needed.  solid scorer, rebounder and defender at the PF position would have helped a lot.

Yeah.  I wonder, would adding a third contract year have gotten it done?

[tenn_smoothie]

I think the players know the regular season is pretty meaningless, just make the playoffs....that's how they're playing anyway.

But, yes it's a roster problem...and that's 100% on Ainge....He also screwed us after the 2008 title--not keeping Tony Allen and cheaping out on other moves.

Should have kept Posey and NEVER should have traded Perk.

[tenn_smoothie]

Celts clearly need changes to the roster, but don't panic and screw up the future for some improvement now that, in the end, doesn't get you closer to a banner during the next 7-8 years. And Stevens needs to quit playing Tatum and Brown so many minutes trying to pull out close wins here and there. Save their legs for the potential (hopefully) title runs in the near future.

[GreenEnvy]

Imagine if Celtics actually facilitated Hayward to Indy? Could’ve had a guy who can man the paint in Turner and a guy who can actually run an offense in McConnell. Then bring in a shooter instead of Thompson.

I want no part of Griffin or Drummond, but I wouldn’t mind getting Whiteside. His per-minute numbers are still great. Walton just can’t figure out a rotation. Pick him up on the cheap and then move Thompson for a shooter.

[gouki88]

Imagine if Celtics actually facilitated Hayward to Indy? Could’ve had a guy who can man the paint in Turner and a guy who can actually run an offense in McConnell. Then bring in a shooter instead of Thompson.

I want no part of Griffin or Drummond, but I wouldn’t mind getting Whiteside. His per-minute numbers are still great. Walton just can’t figure out a rotation. Pick him up on the cheap and then move Thompson for a shooter.

When were we getting McConnell?

No interest in headcases like Whiteside. Especially headcases that can't play one side of the ball and stat-chase

[jambr380]

Please don't let this turn into another thread about how Danny could have magically made Hayward take less money to sign in IND.

As for whose fault this season is, I think there is plenty of blame to go around. Losing Hayward for nothing (except a to be used later TPE) was always going to hurt, Brad's 2 and 3 big line-ups have been a drag, and the players seem to be playing with less intensity, while the FA signings have not worked out like we hoped. This feels a little like 2018-19 all over again, but with far less actual talent on the roster.