I think Danny has even admitted to getting lucky. I seem to recal him talking about "best player available" drafting and mentioning how Portland passed on Al Jefferson, b/c they had Zach Randolph and drafted Telfair instead. Then when they had the opportunity to draft Chris Paul, b/c they had Telfair they traded that pick for M. Webster. I believe Danny would of drafted either Swift or Telfair over Jefferson, but got lucky that both were off the board.
There were plenty of Ainge liking Swift rumors, but not so much on Telfair. Do you have a link or anything? Roy and winsomme don't seem to have any trouble finding some.
Personally if not for that bit of luck, Ainge's drafting ability has been pretty eh. I know that Ratliff's contract expired one yr earlier than Raef's but Telfair was never worth a high lottery pick (Brandon Roy).
That's just celticsblog misinformation. Ratliff's contract was very valuable, as we've since seen. Also, Ainge saved about $14M in the deal. Seattle got 2 1st rounders from Phoenix to save the Suns $8M. Describing the deal as Telfair for Roy is ridiculous.
People credit Ainge's drafting with getting us Ray Allen and KG, but to be honest we got Allen by sucking last year and overpaying a little with a top 5 pick.
A top 5 pick is overpaying for a title and the chance to win more? I doubt it.
Al Jefferson was the only player that Ainge drafted that helped us get either of those two(and he was because of luck).
Seattle didn't want West in the deal? Minny didn't want Gomes?
Ok, I think you are trying to get personal, but I'll try to answer your questions. Don't have a link on the Telfair thing. I believe I heard it from Danny on the radio. I do remember Danny saying when he traded for Telfair that Telfair was better than any point guard in the draft that year (Marcus Williams, Rondo, etc). The fact that Ratliff's contract expired a yr earlier was an added bonus. Expiring contracts are hit or miss. All depends about timing. Raef's contract is expiring now. See how that works. And you use the Seattle/Phoenix trade to show that expiring contracts are valuable?
Phoenix had to trade two first rounders for Seattle to agree to take the expiring contract. Did you think it was the other way around? And Kurt Thomas was a much better player/asset than Ratliff. Most teams get nothing for their expiring contract. Ainge was willing to trade Al Jefferson. No other team was offering a young player close to his level for KG or anybody for that matter. Trust me ROY Brandon Roy and expiring contract in 1 yr Raef had more value than Telfair and Ratliff.
I love that we won a title. That doesn't mean that Ray Allen at this stage of his career and with his contract probably wasn't worth a #5 pick. But I stand by my point that we didn't get Allen based on Ainge's drafting, but based on our record last season. Delonte West wasn't a deal breaker and neither was Gomes. West was a first rounder. If we had offered a future first instead of Delonte I'm thinking Presti would have preferred that.
I'm thinking I don't want to get into a long winsomme/roy hobbs like argument, so I will end this by summarizing my point on the thread topic/title. We got lucky that the Sonics took Ainge's guy. I do give Ainge credit for settling for Jefferson. Many teams passed on him. Ainge didn't. That was a good decision.