Did Ainge Have the Worst Offseason

[Bankshot]

Than any other contending team?  I would think so.  Doc was on PTI yesterday and said that while teams like Cleveland and Orlando got better the Celtics didn't.  He also said that the Celtics are younger than they were last year, which is true.

I don't get it.  All they talked about after winning the championship last year was that they would have to get better in order to repeat, but instead they do absolutely nothing to improve the team and in fact made it worse!

Ainge and the owners stiffed the Big 3 by sticking them with young and inconsistent players rather than seasoned vets like last year.  They knew other teams would get better, yet did nothing to better themselves.

Like I said, I don't get it. 

[2short]

Ainge was handcuffed by Posey & his agent.  He did the CORRECT thing in letting him walk instead of a contract that would have hurt us later on.  He picked up a true big with a nice offensive skill set for a project (for nothing).  Drafted 2 players who are nba ready.  Has Sam ready to be part of the coaching staff and his spot can be filled, Ainge isn't done yet.
Better question, Davis work on anything in the off season?

[wdleehi]

He misread the Posey situation.  He figured no one was going to offer him more years.  By the time NO did, all good replacements were already signed.



Now it looks like he may be misreading the PJ situation, hoping he comes out of retirement.  




Not a good offseason for Ainge.

[wdleehi]

Ainge was handcuffed by Posey & his agent.  He did the CORRECT thing in letting him walk instead of a contract that would have hurt us later on.  He picked up a true big with a nice offensive skill set for a project (for nothing).  Drafted 2 players who are nba ready.  Has Sam ready to be part of the coaching staff and his spot can be filled, Ainge isn't done yet.
Better question, Davis work on anything in the off season?

What Big is that? 


POBust.

[CoachBo]

Yes. He had a ghastly off-season.

Blew the Posey situation, left Doc without a competent 5 by signing a stiff, replaced Posey with a player who can't think the game. I don't worry about the questions about the draft picks - there's only so much you can do with the picks in those spots. The sum is an off-season leaving clear and unanswered questions about how serious Ainge and ownership are about chasing a title this year.

It was an off-season reminiscent of some of Ainge's pre-2007 disasters. TP to the OP for an excellent topic making a very key point.

[Who]

Worst Off-seasons By Contenders

[1] Phoenix Suns
[2] Utah Jazz
[3] Dallas Mavericks
[4] New Orleans Hornets
[5] San Antonio Spurs
[6] Detroit Pistons
[7] Los Angeles Lakers
[8] Boston Celtics

Only two contenders had off-seasons to be proud of - Orlando and Cleveland. Neither was all that impressive either.

[Bankshot]

Ainge was handcuffed by Posey & his agent.  He did the CORRECT thing in letting him walk instead of a contract that would have hurt us later on.  He picked up a true big with a nice offensive skill set for a project (for nothing).  Drafted 2 players who are nba ready.  Has Sam ready to be part of the coaching staff and his spot can be filled, Ainge isn't done yet.
Better question, Davis work on anything in the off season?

Ainge handcuffed himself.  As I remember it, when most people (at least me) thought Ainge had offered Posey a 3 year deal, it came out near the end that it was only a 2 year deal he offered.  Ainge didn't budge from that 2 year offer for nearly a month until Posey got a 4 year offer from NO.  If he offered Posey a 3 year deal, say a week after the 2 year offer, Posey might have taken the 3 years, as (as far as I know), Posey had not yet received a 4 year offer from NO at that time.

Ainge screwed this whole thing up with Posey big time, imo.  Don't fault him too much on Miles, but we sure could use him now.  And then Mutombo reveals that he wanted to play for the Celtics, but the Celtics wanted to wait around?  What the heck for!?  Terrible!  The Big 3 can't be happy with the bench the Celtics brass has left them with.

[Roy Hobbs]

Ainge was handcuffed by Posey & his agent. 

How so?  What did Posey and/or his agent do that was wrong, unethical, or misleading?  If Danny misread the situation, and didn't have a viable contingency in place, isn't that on Danny, rather than Posey's agent?

He did the CORRECT thing in letting him walk instead of a contract that would have hurt us later on.

Would a $7 million expiring contract four years from now really hurt the team that much?  Based upon what?

He picked up a true big with a nice offensive skill set for a project (for nothing).

... while leaving Glen Davis as the only proven backup "center" on the roster.  This team came into the season with two many projects, and it's hurting the team.

Drafted 2 players who are nba ready.

How do you know they're NBA ready?  They're certainly not seeing NBA minutes.

Has Sam ready to be part of the coaching staff and his spot can be filled, Ainge isn't done yet.

What scraps and dregs is Danny going to find?  Unless Joe Smith gets bought out, it doesn't look like there will be a lot out there.

(As for Sam, he said recently that he's going to start playing soon.)

I like Danny, but yes, that was an atrocious off-season.  He didn't make one move to improve the team in the short-term.  Danny should have been savvy enough to understand that championships are so rare that you need to maximize your chances while you're within your window of opportunity.  Instead, Danny didn't put Doc and the team in the best position to succeed, and that was a mistake.

[Bankshot]

Worst Off-seasons By Contenders

[1] Phoenix Suns
[2] Utah Jazz
[3] Dallas Mavericks
[4] New Orleans Hornets
[5] San Antonio Spurs
[6] Detroit Pistons
[7] Los Angeles Lakers
[8] Boston Celtics

Only two contenders had off-seasons to be proud of - Orlando and Cleveland. Neither was all that impressive either.

I'd put the Celtics at #1 simply because they are the defending champs and it would have been easy for them to improve themselves in the offseason, but failed big time to do so, for no real apparent reason that I can find, except being cheap.

[CoachBo]

Is there a bigger strawman than "Danny did the right thing because Posey's contract would have hurt the team?"

I think not. That contract is NBA pocket change, and it's eventually going to expire anyway. The two-year deal was insulting for the versatility you get with the player.

People are going to have to get their arms around the clear fact: Danny lowballed the guy, and he outsmarted himself - strike one in a horrible, horrible off-season. Inexplicably cheap for a franchise paying Pierce, Garnett and Allen.

One title may be enough, eh?

[Who]

Worst Off-seasons By Contenders

[1] Phoenix Suns
[2] Utah Jazz
[3] Dallas Mavericks
[4] New Orleans Hornets
[5] San Antonio Spurs
[6] Detroit Pistons
[7] Los Angeles Lakers
[8] Boston Celtics

Only two contenders had off-seasons to be proud of - Orlando and Cleveland. Neither was all that impressive either.

I'd put the Celtics at #1 simply because they are the defending champs and it would have been easy for them to improve themselves in the offseason, but failed big time to do so, for no real apparent reason that I can find, except being cheap.

Why?

All of those other teams are contenders who didn't have the intelligence or the backbone to make the moves necessary in order to bring them to the Celtics level. Those squads wasted their opportunities and lost a year.

Unlike the Celtics who even with a so-so offseason are still a frontrunner (the frontrunner?) for an NBA title.

Those other teams shouldn't be left off the hook. Their bad decisions where non-decisions and they've caused far more damage to their franchises than Boston's offseason .... because they were non-decisions nobody is looking at them. The top six teams there have all had awful off-seasons, far worse than Boston.

[Bankshot]

Worst Off-seasons By Contenders

[1] Phoenix Suns
[2] Utah Jazz
[3] Dallas Mavericks
[4] New Orleans Hornets
[5] San Antonio Spurs
[6] Detroit Pistons
[7] Los Angeles Lakers
[8] Boston Celtics

Only two contenders had off-seasons to be proud of - Orlando and Cleveland. Neither was all that impressive either.

I'd put the Celtics at #1 simply because they are the defending champs and it would have been easy for them to improve themselves in the offseason, but failed big time to do so, for no real apparent reason that I can find, except being cheap.

Why?

All of those other teams are contenders who didn't have the intelligence or the backbone to make the moves necessary in order to bring them to the Celtics level. Those squads wasted their opportunities and lost a year.

Unlike the Celtics who even with a so-so offseason are still a frontrunner (the frontrunner?) for an NBA title.

Those other teams shouldn't be left off the hook. Their bad decisions where non-decisions and they've caused far more damage to their franchises than Boston's offseason .... because they were non-decisions nobody is looking at them. The top six teams there have all had awful off-seasons, far worse than Boston.

The Celtics are no longer the frontrunners unless they find a way to improve the team.  Right now, the Lakers, Cleveland and possibly Orlando are better.  I'm not sure if they can beat any of the other contenders either with the state of the team right now. 

[2short]

Ainge was handcuffed by Posey & his agent. 

How so?  What did Posey and/or his agent do that was wrong, unethical, or misleading?  If Danny misread the situation, and didn't have a viable contingency in place, isn't that on Danny, rather than Posey's agent?

He did the CORRECT thing in letting him walk instead of a contract that would have hurt us later on.

Would a $7 million expiring contract four years from now really hurt the team that much?  Based upon what?

He picked up a true big with a nice offensive skill set for a project (for nothing).

... while leaving Glen Davis as the only proven backup "center" on the roster.  This team came into the season with two many projects, and it's hurting the team.

Drafted 2 players who are nba ready.

How do you know they're NBA ready?  They're certainly not seeing NBA minutes.

Has Sam ready to be part of the coaching staff and his spot can be filled, Ainge isn't done yet.

What scraps and dregs is Danny going to find?  Unless Joe Smith gets bought out, it doesn't look like there will be a lot out there.

(As for Sam, he said recently that he's going to start playing soon.)

I like Danny, but yes, that was an atrocious off-season.  He didn't make one move to improve the team in the short-term.  Danny should have been savvy enough to understand that championships are so rare that you need to maximize your chances while you're within your window of opportunity.  Instead, Danny didn't put Doc and the team in the best position to succeed, and that was a mistake.

I guess roy just doesn't like anything I've said, sounds a bit nit picky to me.
handcuffed as in length of deal, posey and his agent did nothing wrong they were looking for the best deal for posey the hired gun
actually i'm not going to go item by item i hate when people do that it makes for unreadable content

[Who]

Ohhh, I knew I was forgetting somebody, the Houston Rockets, they had a very good offseason. I think they had the best offseason amongst Contenders.

Make that three teams that have had off-seasons that they can be proud of. That's three teams out of eleven for the folks keeping score.

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

I believe the big 3 are mad about the posey situation, and they complain about not having him, doc has to constantly remind them he's not coming back..