How good is Danny Ainge?

[cdif911]

holy crap. Dwight Howard?!?! yes please! Rondo-Dwight would make a beast of a defensive team!

Imagine a close game.  Both teams are in the penalty, and the game comes down to drawing fouls and knocking down free throws.

imagine

[GreenEnvy]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

[housecall]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

[BballTim]

The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

  It never ceases to amaze me how much people complain about the 5th or 6th bigs on our roster. Who was Cleveland's 5th big? Miami's? Orlando's? LA's? Were they all markedly better than Sheldon? Did any of them even get into more than a few games all year?

[GreenEnvy]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

I actually like what he did with the bench. Low risk/high reward for the most part. Only JO and Nate are slightly risky because of the money given to them. Daniels was a no-brainer for that price, and so was Shaq. Von Wafer will either be a great signing or not see any time. The only signing I didn't like was Erden. Not overpaying for TA was the right call IMO. He could have the steal of the draft. We can't complain over non-signings/trades, because we don't know what really goes down behind the scenes.

As for Sheldon, he actually showed promise early in the season filling in for BBD. By the end of the season his confidence was shattered and he gave us nothing. I wasn't disappointed in him in the Finals at all, I was just horrified at the fact that were actually gonna try to win a championship with him.

[housecall]

The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

  It never ceases to amaze me how much people complain about the 5th or 6th bigs on our roster. Who was Cleveland's 5th big? Miami's? Orlando's? LA's? Were they all markedly better than Sheldon? Did any of them even get into more than a few games all year?

Sheldon was not the only player i had a problem with,just happens he's the one i used as an example.Im not interested in other teams 5th or 6th bigs and how much playing time they get.I felt Danny could have done a better job reloading their bench this past season.If a 5th or 6th big is sent into a playoff situation i expect him to do better than what Sheldon did in the finals.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

As a small league player, I always liked what i saw from sheldon, always in position for the rebound, always up with the play, running...good stats for his limited minutes, very limited.....some people always want minute rice, sit on the shelf for 3 months, then get into the fire and be perfect...! THAT was doc rivers fault....didn't plan for an injury, had a solid rebounder that produced some great minutes in the regular season, you always forget 12 points in 12 minutes from him, and that wasn't the only great showing.

   Doc either didn't like him (dumb and personal decision) (keep it pro) or he didn't see the potential (bad coach) BBD had some games like that, so they played him a lot more....so sheldon should have gotten more time too, especaillty before the playoffs. Why, because you keep players ready for injury situations. Practice is not the same as game time, playoffs aren't even close to the regualar season, if you played the game, you already know this...given that, you know it was not sheldon to blame...throwing a guy into the fire like that when you COULD have given him SOME minutes in the playoffs prior to game 6, the finals, the LAKERS...come on, think about that.....also, bbd played a lot harder, when sheldon was playing good, because he knew his time was being threatened...! You think Denver is dumb.? Not hardly.....maybe they didn't realize SCAL was available...hahahhahahaha. Remeber how DOC started scal all those times ahead of sheldon.....why, what was that for.THAT WAS DUMB coaching. doc did some good things, but that was dumb, and he deserves the hurt for sheldons 2 bad passes, and maybe consider that shaeldon wasn't the only one on the floor yo......why was everyone else just watching the game..? Also, those were pure rebounds, that sheldon grabbed. And threw to someone who didn't want the ball as bad as kobe did...ever think about that, someone passes to you, do you get the ball, or let some chump TAKE it...i know what i do, i don't expect the ball to come to me, I GET IT, or stop anyone else from taking it, especially in the playoffs, and if it was a hacker dirty player like kobe, i get the ball, or i get him, that was after he took out perk....huh. he should have gotten rammed while going for a close ball, drop the shoulder, it would have been cleaner than what he did/does. Then he would think about his game after that, when he got out of the stands...besides, the nba showed that they like and condone that stuff...(rays thigh, rondos face, perks kneeand the rest!)

[housecall]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

I actually like what he did with the bench. Low risk/high reward for the most part. Only JO and Nate are slightly risky because of the money given to them. Daniels was a no-brainer for that price, and so was Shaq. Von Wafer will either be a great signing or not see any time. The only signing I didn't like was Erden. Not overpaying for TA was the right call IMO. He could have the steal of the draft. We can't complain over non-signings/trades, because we don't know what really goes down behind the scenes.

As for Sheldon, he actually showed promise early in the season filling in for BBD. By the end of the season his confidence was shattered and he gave us nothing. I wasn't disappointed in him in the Finals at all, I was just horrified at the fact that were actually gonna try to win a championship with him.

I was posting about last seasons' bench...and what was Sheldon's confidence shattered from?Are you a personal friend of his and he told you some things we don't know?

[LilRip]

holy crap. Dwight Howard?!?! yes please! Rondo-Dwight would make a beast of a defensive team!

Imagine a close game.  Both teams are in the penalty, and the game comes down to drawing fouls and knocking down free throws.

oh shoot. you're right. I guess we should trade our potential Rondo-Dwight combination for a Ridnour-Ilgauskas combo then. Both are excellent FT shooters. As a matter of fact, i don't know why we're not trading Rondo right now. I wonder if Luke Ridnour is available.



- LilRip

[CoachBo]

Or there were no young guys that Ainge liked.  Youth for the sake of youth isn't a good strategy.

As 04 to 07 taught us.

[BballTim]

The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

  It never ceases to amaze me how much people complain about the 5th or 6th bigs on our roster. Who was Cleveland's 5th big? Miami's? Orlando's? LA's? Were they all markedly better than Sheldon? Did any of them even get into more than a few games all year?

Sheldon was not the only player i had a problem with,just happens he's the one i used as an example.Im not interested in other teams 5th or 6th bigs and how much playing time they get.I felt Danny could have done a better job reloading their bench this past season.If a 5th or 6th big is sent into a playoff situation i expect him to do better than what Sheldon did in the finals.

  But what Sheldon did in the finals was pretty uncharacteristic for him. He's not a great player but he's not generally prone to such stupidity. I don't think you can reasonably put that on Ainge. And, again, whatever you expect a 5th or 6th big to do, I don't think it would be surprising if they played pretty badly in the finals. You can nit-pick the bench but IMO the bottom line is that Danny put together a good enough bench to win the title with.

[GreenEnvy]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

I actually like what he did with the bench. Low risk/high reward for the most part. Only JO and Nate are slightly risky because of the money given to them. Daniels was a no-brainer for that price, and so was Shaq. Von Wafer will either be a great signing or not see any time. The only signing I didn't like was Erden. Not overpaying for TA was the right call IMO. He could have the steal of the draft. We can't complain over non-signings/trades, because we don't know what really goes down behind the scenes.

As for Sheldon, he actually showed promise early in the season filling in for BBD. By the end of the season his confidence was shattered and he gave us nothing. I wasn't disappointed in him in the Finals at all, I was just horrified at the fact that were actually gonna try to win a championship with him.

I was posting about last seasons' bench...and what was Sheldon's confidence shattered from?Are you a personal friend of his and he told you some things we don't know?

I played with Shelden at Duke, my cover is blown!

He was a different player in the playoffs than he was to start the season. He had a chance to win a spot in the rotation and played like he wanted it. Then BBD came back and Doc stopped calling his number. Once the playoffs rolled around, he received mostly DNP's and maybe 5 minutes a game. Then in THE championship game he is relied on to perform and he wasn't prepared to. Not surprising.

[CoachBo]

Totally disagree. Game 7 - and several others - were lost for lack of rebounds. Can't lay that on the Perkins injury, either. This was a poor rebounding team all season.

Good bench? Yeah, not bad. One rebounder short, however, of being good enough to win a title.

[nickagneta]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

I actually like what he did with the bench. Low risk/high reward for the most part. Only JO and Nate are slightly risky because of the money given to them. Daniels was a no-brainer for that price, and so was Shaq. Von Wafer will either be a great signing or not see any time. The only signing I didn't like was Erden. Not overpaying for TA was the right call IMO. He could have the steal of the draft. We can't complain over non-signings/trades, because we don't know what really goes down behind the scenes.

As for Sheldon, he actually showed promise early in the season filling in for BBD. By the end of the season his confidence was shattered and he gave us nothing. I wasn't disappointed in him in the Finals at all, I was just horrified at the fact that were actually gonna try to win a championship with him.

I was posting about last seasons' bench...and what was Sheldon's confidence shattered from?Are you a personal friend of his and he told you some things we don't know?

I played with Shelden at Duke, my cover is blown!

He was a different player in the playoffs than he was to start the season. He had a chance to win a spot in the rotation and played like he wanted it. Then BBD came back and Doc stopped calling his number. Once the playoffs rolled around, he received mostly DNP's and maybe 5 minutes a game. Then in THE championship game he is relied on to perform and he wasn't prepared to. Not surprising.

Sorry, but I will always maintain that bench players in the NBA are paid to come off the bench and perform. That is why they get paid millions of dollars, to come off the bench cold and maybe not having played in days or even weeks and perform. It is their job to be mentally and physically able and ready to produce the results that are required to succeed.

Shelden was not mentally prepared for the pressure to make proper decisions in the Finals and it showed. That is not on Doc for not giving him minutes regularly. That is Shelden's fault for not being prepared and for not making the proper decision that would enhance his team's ability to win.

I think this whole "let's blame the coach when a bench player doesn't perform" stuff is pure crap. They get paid millions to be cold coming into a game and be their best and perform. That's their job. If they don't do it it is their fault for not being ready to produce or not being able to produce. Or it's the GM's fault for not recognizing they didn't have the skills to produce in that role. The last person that should be blamed is the coach.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

From reading Scooby Doo's first post it focused more on the bigger picture of what Danny has done for the team for the long term.I agree he has made some good moves in making sure that the roster will be open in 2012 to reload but i can't forget the medicore job he did in filling the bench this past season.Overall i give him a B+...he could have done a better job with the bench.(IMO)  

 The Sheldon Williams signing is still haunting me at night.

I don't know exactly what some of us expect. It's not like fringe all-stars in their prime want to come here for minimal contracts and low playing time. Danny is doing the best he can IMO. Every contract he signed throughout his tenure was on his terms. No overpaying. No extra years. No head-scratchers.

Sheldon's signing wasn't a bad one at all. He was a cheap big body who was a former collegiate player-of-the-year, so he obviously had some potential.

However, that Sheldon Williams sighting in the NBA Finals is still haunting me at night.

What part of my post didn't you understand?I gave Danny credit for all he has done.Im not going to say he did a good job on the reloading of the bench because he did a good job in other areas.
  Even though Sheldon Williams was a very good college player,his NBA career so far has not been a good one.Danny had a large enough sample size to know he wasn't worth the signing(imo).Being the 14th-15th man on one of the worst teams in the NBA at one time(Minny)should have been a good warning sign of what to expect,especially come playoff time.I wasn't as disappointed in him in the finals as most..why?because i never had any high expectations of him doing more than what he did.

I actually like what he did with the bench. Low risk/high reward for the most part. Only JO and Nate are slightly risky because of the money given to them. Daniels was a no-brainer for that price, and so was Shaq. Von Wafer will either be a great signing or not see any time. The only signing I didn't like was Erden. Not overpaying for TA was the right call IMO. He could have the steal of the draft. We can't complain over non-signings/trades, because we don't know what really goes down behind the scenes.

As for Sheldon, he actually showed promise early in the season filling in for BBD. By the end of the season his confidence was shattered and he gave us nothing. I wasn't disappointed in him in the Finals at all, I was just horrified at the fact that were actually gonna try to win a championship with him.

I was posting about last seasons' bench...and what was Sheldon's confidence shattered from?Are you a personal friend of his and he told you some things we don't know?

I played with Shelden at Duke, my cover is blown!

He was a different player in the playoffs than he was to start the season. He had a chance to win a spot in the rotation and played like he wanted it. Then BBD came back and Doc stopped calling his number. Once the playoffs rolled around, he received mostly DNP's and maybe 5 minutes a game. Then in THE championship game he is relied on to perform and he wasn't prepared to. Not surprising.

A TP there, and hurray for you GE...at last, common sense, from a real player..! There isn't many who would sit like that, then be a star. Timing only comes from playing, you can't really get that much timing from practice, some, but not enough to do playoff action. You have to play against opposing guys, not your teammates, guys you don't know, because they keep coming at you with diff stuff, to make you ready for all. In practice, your teammates...you know them, their game, and they don't want your hear and the ball, like opposing teams do..! You must still play....Boston area..?