While it is certainly fair to question Danny--he's not perfect, to say that he has a bad overall track record in signing free agents is a bit unfair. The fact is, when the Celtics became relevant last summer, Ainge suddenly got a lot smarter with free agent signings (Posey, House, PJ, even Cassell). Ainge was unable to sign this type of quality FA before because none of the decent FAs wanted to play in Boston, for alot of reasons, some good, some not so good. The fact that Ainge, over his tenure, took a team that was on the decline, and turned them into NBA champions, speaks very well of his pedigree as a GM. Seems like cherry-picking to me to say that Danny is a good GM, but does not have a good record with free agents. Let's face it: until we got Garnett and Ray, we were stuck with the Scals of the marketplace. The emphasis during the first 4 years was in the development of young talent, and trading in those chips at the right time. I'd say that turned out to be a pretty darn good plan.
I like this signing. I think it is low risk, high reward. I put zero stock in what Don Nelson said publicly about this kid. I'm sure that Nellie has made mistakes before on evaluation of players; the fact that he publicly lambasts this kid shows Nellie's lack of class. This kid gets a new chance here, and he is not without talent and great upside. He will be surrounded by workaholic players and a big guru (C Ray). It is a signing with little risk (one year with second year team option). It fills a need for this year (back up center, especially given Perk's injury history), a legitimate 7 footer who can tie his shoes, and, hopefully, could be a building block for the future when the big 3 are retired and slapping knees. I think Ainge took a gamble, and maybe it will only have Ricky Davis results. Or maybe it will have a much happier ending (think Al Jefferson, Perk, Delonte, Posey, etc.)
