Danny has quite a bit of blame to fail us to repeat

[BballTim]

I agree that Ainge gambled in the offseason with the MLE signings, trying to get Posey at a cheaper price and then trying to get Maggette, and that by taking these risks he lost out on the opportunity to sign Pietrus and other lower profile but also effective free agents.

So in that sense I agree that he took risks that he shouldn't have.

But many in this thread seem upset about the gambles that didnt pay off but wanted other risk gambles that paid off elsewhere.

The reason the Birdman signed for a minimum deal at a franchise that according to some sources was not even his top choice should tell everyone how much of a gamble most people familiar with his situation thought he was.

As I've said, my problem was to gamble by forming a roster full of question marks (the so-called "low risk, high reward" signings) and with evident flaws that could have been covered. The fact that the gamble didn't work leaves me absolutely indifferent; I don't like to assess moves with the benefit of hindsight (if KG had his knee injury last season and not this one, would that make trading for him a bad move? Of course not, it was the right one).

yeah, I'm with you Cor.

KG going down doesn't in and of itself take Danny off the hook for the way he filled out the bench. That's a hindsight argument.

It does, however, make it difficult to answer the question of whether or not the bench was good enough to have brought us another Title if not for the KG injury...

  KG going down affected what we got from the bench. The hindsight argument would be "we shouldn't have signed Posey because we weren't going to win a title after KG went down".

[Chief]

Maybe I'm being forgetful, but I don't recall many FA wanting to sign with the C's last summer. If someone could remind me with a legit article, I'd appreciate it.

[winsomme]

I agree that Ainge gambled in the offseason with the MLE signings, trying to get Posey at a cheaper price and then trying to get Maggette, and that by taking these risks he lost out on the opportunity to sign Pietrus and other lower profile but also effective free agents.

So in that sense I agree that he took risks that he shouldn't have.

But many in this thread seem upset about the gambles that didnt pay off but wanted other risk gambles that paid off elsewhere.

The reason the Birdman signed for a minimum deal at a franchise that according to some sources was not even his top choice should tell everyone how much of a gamble most people familiar with his situation thought he was.

As I've said, my problem was to gamble by forming a roster full of question marks (the so-called "low risk, high reward" signings) and with evident flaws that could have been covered. The fact that the gamble didn't work leaves me absolutely indifferent; I don't like to assess moves with the benefit of hindsight (if KG had his knee injury last season and not this one, would that make trading for him a bad move? Of course not, it was the right one).

yeah, I'm with you Cor.

KG going down doesn't in and of itself take Danny off the hook for the way he filled out the bench. That's a hindsight argument.

It does, however, make it difficult to answer the question of whether or not the bench was good enough to have brought us another Title if not for the KG injury...

  KG going down affected what we got from the bench. The hindsight argument would be "we shouldn't have signed Posey because we weren't going to win a title after KG went down".

the hindsight argument is it didn't matter what Danny did with the bench because we weren't going to win a Title anyway...

[Ed Teach]

I am very disappointed in the Celtics off-season last season, I understand not braking the bank. But the Celtics ended up paying slightly less for players that were projects.  They picked up POB based on potential, a former lottery pick.  They stuck with Gabe and Tony Allen, they were not super cheap options just cheaper than more proven options.  They also were easier to dump because they wouldn't require a long term deal.  They signed Sam Cassell and he didn't even play a game.  If they wanted Sam to be an coach for Rondo they should hired him as a coach instead of using a roster spot.  
Not replacing Posey was an irresponsible move by Danny, it was obvious that none of the new players acquired during the off-season would fill the role Posey filled during the championship run.  I didn't necessarily think it was a mistake to not to resign Posey based on the contract he was asking for, but it was a mistake to not fill Posey's role and instead load up on projects.  Due to this mistake the added pressure on Pierce and Ray Allen led to increased min and decreased efficiency.  In my opinion Pierce and Allen had a great season, but were asked to do much during the regular season and it showed in the play offs.

All I want for a happy offseason is a solid 3/4 to spell Pierce, a backup PG so that House can spell Ray, and another big to allow the Celtics to not rely on Scal as much as was required this season.

I still have confidence in management that they are committed to a championship and will not let this happen again.  I think that the instant success caused some overconfidence that they could out smart the rest of the NBA.  This year hopefully humbled them.

[Jon]

I agree that Ainge gambled in the offseason with the MLE signings, trying to get Posey at a cheaper price and then trying to get Maggette, and that by taking these risks he lost out on the opportunity to sign Pietrus and other lower profile but also effective free agents.

So in that sense I agree that he took risks that he shouldn't have.

But many in this thread seem upset about the gambles that didnt pay off but wanted other risk gambles that paid off elsewhere.

The reason the Birdman signed for a minimum deal at a franchise that according to some sources was not even his top choice should tell everyone how much of a gamble most people familiar with his situation thought he was.

As I've said, my problem was to gamble by forming a roster full of question marks (the so-called "low risk, high reward" signings) and with evident flaws that could have been covered. The fact that the gamble didn't work leaves me absolutely indifferent; I don't like to assess moves with the benefit of hindsight (if KG had his knee injury last season and not this one, would that make trading for him a bad move? Of course not, it was the right one).

yeah, I'm with you Cor.

KG going down doesn't in and of itself take Danny off the hook for the way he filled out the bench. That's a hindsight argument.

It does, however, make it difficult to answer the question of whether or not the bench was good enough to have brought us another Title if not for the KG injury...

  KG going down affected what we got from the bench. The hindsight argument would be "we shouldn't have signed Posey because we weren't going to win a title after KG went down".

the hindsight argument is it didn't matter what Danny did with the bench because we weren't going to win a Title anyway...

I don't think Danny deserves a free pass.  I've been quite critical of him looking too far down the line and not focusing enough on our narrow window of opportunity.  I think we should have resigned Posey, even if it meant we'd be kicking ourselves three years from now.  

However, that doesn't mean that Ainge is to blame for not repeating.  KG's injury really is the reason.  And though I think Danny didn't position us the best he could this season, I don't think that we necessarily wouldn't have won the title because of it.  I really think that if KG was healthy, Pierce and Allen wouldn't have been as beat up going into the playoffs.  Furthermore, I really think that Perkins and Rondo improved so much this year that they really would've made up for a lot of the lack of bench depth.  If you recall last year, at times Doc went with Cassel/House over Rondo and Brown/Posey over Perkins even when fouls and fatigue weren't the issue.  That certainly wouldn't have happened this year with the the improvement they made.  

With this improved starting lineup that probably could've averaged 38+ mpg in the playoffs, I do think we could have beaten Cleveland and LA.  

Now, again, that doesn't take Ainge entirely off the hook.  However, I think it does mitigate his blame in our failure to repeat.  

[Ed Teach]

Something that I forgot to mention in my previous post was that I did like the Celtics drafting Bill Walker.  I think he may prove to be a legit NBA player, not a star but a productive player.  I wish he had been ready for more PT this year, but given Doc's history of bring players along slowly I don't think that it is a reflection on Walker's ability.  I expect to see him in a more prominant role on next years team.  My only concern is that Celtics expect him to fill the hole at the 3 and use it as an excuse to not sign a FA.

[winsomme]

Something that I forgot to mention in my previous post was that I did like the Celtics drafting Bill Walker.  I think he may prove to be a legit NBA player, not a star but a productive player.  I wish he had been ready for more PT this year, but given Doc's history of bring players along slowly I don't think that it is a reflection on Walker's ability.  I expect to see him in a more prominant role on next years team.  My only concern is that Celtics expect him to fill the hole at the 3 and use it as an excuse to not sign a FA.

yeah, i'm a little worried about that too. Walker like TA is a SG who can move over to the 3 but not someone that can realistically get any time at the 4.

we need a SF/PF, not a SG/SF.

but i do like Walker and am glad Danny grabbed him...just at the 2 not the 3...