Our Pursuit Of Anthony Davis

[vjcsmoke]

Kyrie actually prevented us from trading for Davis.  If the Celtics had acquired him in season, I believe that Davis would actually still be in green and this team would look a LOT different right now.  But this is just hindsight being 20/20 and giving us more reason to hate Kyrie.  LOL.  Not only did he skip town, he made us MISS OUT on Anthony Davis as a Celtic!!

[footey]

Not to mention that we wouldn't have upset his dad so much for trading IT after he gave his heart and soul to us.

Eh, I think AD would have forced his way to LA anyway and played with Lebron.  Once he signed with Rich Paul, the handwriting was on the wall.

[johnnygreen]

As for the thread premise, I've been pretty vocal about Danny's failure in this exact regard.  He was so fixated on that one tree in the forest that he missed all of the other trees in the forest.  But this has been Danny's m.o. for a very long time.  He just really really likes what he has and just doesn't pull the trigger unless he is guaranteed of a sure thing.  And some of what he passed up wouldn't have cost all that much.  I mean the Paul George trade was something like Crowder, LAL/SAC pick (eventually Langford), LAC or MEM pick (eventually Thybulle or Nesmith), and salary filler.  Ainge passed that up because he didn't want to make the trade before securing Hayward, but in order to secure Hayward he had to trade Bradley.  Now obviously there is no real way to know where those picks would have ended up and maybe Hayward really wouldn't have been possible had he made that trade, but the reality is George was then and still is better than Hayward and I'd much rather have had George and Bradley vs. Hayward, Crowder, Langford, and Nesmith as George would have quite simply been the best player Boston had since KG (yes better than Irving). 

And the I'm sure the Irving trade would have still been possible using the exact same assets with Bradley instead of Crowder.  How different does Boston look with Irving, George, and Horford in their prime with Smart, Brown, and Tatum coming along than what we ended up with?  That team very well might have made the Finals that first season, which hopefully would have encouraged George to re-sign in Boston (just as he did in OKC).  If George re-upped, then I think Ainge would have been more inclined to move Brown for Leonard.  Imagine that juggernaut.  Irving, Leonard, George, Tatum, and Horford.  Team would have been unstoppable.  Might have only been a season, but still no way that team doesn't win the Finals and frankly even without Leonard, might have come out of the East and beaten the injured Warriors.

Lots of what ifs of course, but also a certainly plausible and realistic path.

As I've consistently stated, acquiring Irving wasn't the problem, the problem was acquiring Irving and then not pulling the trigger on Leonard.  Why acquire a #2 (Irving), if you aren't going to pull the trigger when a #1 (Leonard) becomes available.  If he was never going to acquire the #1, he never should have acquired the #2.

Hindsight changes things significantly when draft picks are involved. If I recall correctly, the idea of trading those picks was almost sacrilegious at the time because they had the potential to be really high in the draft. Could you imagine the hate Danny would get for a potential one year rental of Paul George, if that meant giving up the draft pick that was eventually the next Tatum or Brown?

And I don’t think the Celtics could have traded for Leonard without giving up Jaylen Brown. We also can’t forget, Leonard quit on the Spurs and hadn’t played for some time. If he was willing to quit on Coach Popovich, then would you really want him on your team. The perception of Kawhi was very different that offseason before being traded to Toronto than it is now.

[Donoghus]

I still think Kawhi would've been a rental and he would've been gone.

[GreenWarrior]

My feeling on AD before his injury - I'd do anything to acquire him.

After his injury - waste of time, 7 feet and over and you get a knee or ankle injury that's going to be with you forever. I felt the lakers would get one good solid season out of him and the rest of his career will likely be a waste.

As far as danny wanting him, I'm pretty sure he made it known he wanted AD big time. Sitting with his mother in NO, etc. Danny wanted him.

Actually getting him when we had a chance - pointless. Lebron got his claws in him, his dad is a moron who used the IT situation as an excuse. Up until that point everybody that had an opinion said we needed to move on from IT because he's at such a disadvantage on defensive end, we actually move him and upgrade the position and we're told we did IT dirty.

So if AD and his pop we're going to hold it against us for improving our team then I don't want em, they clearly just wanted to go to LA. But the coward didn't have the guys to just say that so again I'm seeing plenty of reasons to not acquire that clown.

[CelticsElite]

I still think Kawhi would've been a rental and he would've been gone.

of course

Winning a chip in Toronto in an unstoppable raptors team still wasn’t enough for him to stay there

[tstorey_97]

I suggest that Ainge just followed the same path as Auerbach would have taken.

Davis is a "transcendent player" and the type of big that you build your team around.

I don't care what "other" players were available...the Pels were not going to be able to keep him, so Ainge bet the farm.

Here is the issue (besides Lebron James agreeing with Ainge 100%)..I'm sorry but Anthony Davis wasn't going to come to Boston.

You aren't just talking to a player in some vacuum. He has family, agents etc and Davis wasn't coming to Boston.

My issue with Ainge "trying" to get Davis? The odds of success were bad.

[ozgod]

My premise: Anthony Davis was Danny Ainge’s white whale.  He pursued him over several seasons, making deals that set us up perfectly to add Davis as a final piece of the puzzle.

Danny’s dream was realistic. When he acquired Kyrie, there is no doubt in my mind that he envisioned a team like this:

Horford
Davis
Hayward
Brown
Kyrie

That is the type of team, at least on paper, that can win multiple championships. And, for a time, it looked like it was a likelihood, rather than a pipe dream.

As Danny was reaching for that perfect team, he passed on multiple opportunities. Among the players that we reportedly had a shot at were Jimmy Butler, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

How do we judge Danny’s reasoning? Not the results: it’s clear that things did not work out as well as they could have.  But, the plan itself could be judged as pretty sound. Things went sideways starting with IT‘s injury, followed by Hayward’s, followed by Davis teaming up with Rich Paul.  But, was all of the preparation, all of the passing on big names, worth it just for a shot at dominance?

Or, is there a lesson here about fixating upon one player and ignoring other opportunities?

(And yes, before anybody else pointed out, a lot of this is conjecture and educated guessing.)

He seems to have the same MO as I did with girls....it's why I'm still single.

TP 

[Goldstar88]

My premise: Anthony Davis was Danny Ainge’s white whale.  He pursued him over several seasons, making deals that set us up perfectly to add Davis as a final piece of the puzzle.

Danny’s dream was realistic. When he acquired Kyrie, there is no doubt in my mind that he envisioned a team like this:

Horford
Davis
Hayward
Brown
Kyrie

That is the type of team, at least on paper, that can win multiple championships. And, for a time, it looked like it was a likelihood, rather than a pipe dream.

As Danny was reaching for that perfect team, he passed on multiple opportunities. Among the players that we reportedly had a shot at were Jimmy Butler, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

How do we judge Danny’s reasoning? Not the results: it’s clear that things did not work out as well as they could have.  But, the plan itself could be judged as pretty sound. Things went sideways starting with IT‘s injury, followed by Hayward’s, followed by Davis teaming up with Rich Paul.  But, was all of the preparation, all of the passing on big names, worth it just for a shot at dominance?

Or, is there a lesson here about fixating upon one player and ignoring other opportunities?

(And yes, before anybody else pointed out, a lot of this is conjecture and educated guessing.)

If Kyrie, Brown, Hayward, Davis, Horford is a championship contender. How good would a Smart, Walker, Brown, Tatum, Horford team be? Obviously not as good, but are they a conference finals caliber team? I think so.

[Ogaju]

As I've consistently stated, acquiring Irving wasn't the problem, the problem was acquiring Irving and then not pulling the trigger on Leonard.  Why acquire a #2 (Irving), if you aren't going to pull the trigger when a #1 (Leonard) becomes available.  If he was never going to acquire the #1, he never should have acquired the #2.

He probably thought Kyrie was a #1.

[Moranis]

As I've consistently stated, acquiring Irving wasn't the problem, the problem was acquiring Irving and then not pulling the trigger on Leonard.  Why acquire a #2 (Irving), if you aren't going to pull the trigger when a #1 (Leonard) becomes available.  If he was never going to acquire the #1, he never should have acquired the #2.

He probably thought Kyrie was a #1.

If he believed that he should be fired.

[Ogaju]

As I've consistently stated, acquiring Irving wasn't the problem, the problem was acquiring Irving and then not pulling the trigger on Leonard.  Why acquire a #2 (Irving), if you aren't going to pull the trigger when a #1 (Leonard) becomes available.  If he was never going to acquire the #1, he never should have acquired the #2.

He probably thought Kyrie was a #1.

If he believed that he should be fired.

He handed him the keys.

[MICeltsfan]

It's really hard to incorporate "LeBron commandeers a player rep agency for himself, gets that player agency to take over the franchise he's on, and then exerts undue influence to force a franchise to trade the superstar of his choice to play beside him" into your plans.

I don’t know if it’s true or not (who knows what happens behind the scenes for real), but this made me snort so much beer came out my nose.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Didn't Davis' dad say his son wouldn't be going to Boston, because of how we treated IT...?

Yeah, we probably would have wound up with AD had we not traded IT. Brad was the wunderkind, even KD almost came to us because of Stevens, and then Danny blew all that goodwill trading IT after all the sacrifice he made that year.

[slamtheking]

Didn't Davis' dad say his son wouldn't be going to Boston, because of how we treated IT...?

Yeah, we probably would have wound up with AD had we not traded IT. Brad was the wunderkind, even KD almost came to us because of Stevens, and then Danny blew all that goodwill trading IT after all the sacrifice he made that year.

that was a BS smokescreen to help push LA as AD's ultimate destination.  The Lebron-Rich Paul connection was going to move heaven and earth to get AD to LA