Danny's interest in David West is another reason to be concerned with him

[birdbrady]

What's the last champion built through a draft rebuild?

San Antonio Spurs

  Love that. Win the lottery when there's a franchise center, have that center wait 2 years to play for you to get *more* high picks, then tank when there's an even better franchise player and win that lottery as well. Seems like an easily repeatable formula.

Right. "Tank for lottery picks" works once in a blue moon.  For every Spurs, there are all these scrub teams have been lottery teams for years.

from 92-96, the Lakers remained pretty competitive.  West was making good picks in the middle of the first round and the Lakers were still a playoff team.  As long as you hit your picks, make decent moves - you're always in the position to become a championship team.  Danny was basically rebuildinng 04-07.  And even then - we made the playoffs twice.

[KCattheStripe]

Right. "Tank for lottery picks" works once in a blue moon.  For every Spurs, there are all these scrub teams have been lottery teams for years.

from 92-96, the Lakers remained pretty competitive. 

Convincing a top 5 center of all time to join your team as a free agent happens less often.

[Eddie20]

Right. "Tank for lottery picks" works once in a blue moon.  For every Spurs, there are all these scrub teams have been lottery teams for years.

from 92-96, the Lakers remained pretty competitive. 

Convincing a top 5 center of all time to join your team as a free agent happens less often.

Well, the Heat stayed competitive with Wade. They had that one year they were awful and landed Beasley, but he did nothing for their current team makeup.

Same thing with Dallas. They were competitive for years, but IMO were never true title contenders until they shored up their interior D. One Chandler trade later and they're champions.

You don't have to be awful for years to get back on top. Ainge has put us in position cap wise to prove that correct. Although, our chances of landing Howard are remote, at least we have the ability.

[xmuscularghandix]

You can't judge how a player would have impacted the Celtics by the way they've performed elsewhere.

.

[Cman]

I completely disagree with the OP. Danny's almost S&T of West was a sign to me that Ainge still has it.

[greenpride32]

This team was way over the cap during the big three era.  We took that gamble and had 3 great shots at a title (08 09 10) and won one.  The gamble we took was hedging everything on 3 aging superstars.  But to assemble that we obviously could not be competitive in the FA market, or even in trades unless we broke up the core.  I don't know how you can criticize FA and trades when our hands were basically tied to vet min quality player and really rejects for MLE (at the late stages in their career Sheed and JO were not in high demand around the league).

[raynman]

I don't really love everything DA has done, but you gotta admire some of his brilliant moves! What he has done with so little to work with, and securing that precious cap space for next season (including 'The Trade') has been great. Yes, David West was a great risk, but he would have fit perfectly with the team's offense.. We couldn't get Marc Gasol, Nene, or Chandler so DWest is the next logical choice, too bad Larry got in the way.. Regarding the knee, i don't think it would've bothered him because of hi style of play.. And look at Amare! HOw's his knee doing?

[gar]

I completely disagree with the OP. Danny's almost S&T of West was a sign to me that Ainge still has it.

A lot of good points. The off season was a roller coaster. Not something static as some suggest. I think Danny adjusted his strategy to reflect changes in the 2012 free agent picture. In this context and with Green out a year West made sense. I think that long term West / Rondo / Green would complement a fading Pierce / Allen / KG.

Wilcox / Bass and Dooling were all good pickups under the circumstances although Wilcox has yet to prove himself, he needs more spoon feeding at the rim.

[Moranis]

Not what I said at all.  Just pointing out that if it was really about winning, all of those teams have cap space and are more likely to be "winners" than Boston.

Boston needs to be bad, get lucky with some high lottery picks, and start over.

That's not exactly the winning formula.  Wasn't the formula we used to build The Big 3.  Highest pick Ainge actually used for the Celtics was Jefferson at 14.  That was coming off a playoff season.

Only team I've seen use that formula and have success with it is OKC.  And they haven't won a title yet.

He traded #5 to land Allen.  He traded #6 the year before to get an expiring contract a year earlier and Telfair, both of which were used in the Jefferson trade.

[rickyfan3.0...]

I actually agree with this point strongly. he is killing me with his draft picks lately. He lately seems to pass on NBA ready guys (CDR, Brooks, Deandre) and go with these athletic guys. The last pick he made that I loved was Bill Walker and he gave up on him.

And don't undersell that Big Al/Robert Swift point because it's TRUE, and it would have been an enormous mistake!! 

[ballin]

Ainge isn't a very good GM.

What's the last thing he's done where he should get any credit? Getting KG and Ray? I refuse to even applaud him for that because even a brain-dead GM like Kahn would know that if you have the opportunity to sign 2 hall of famers, you do it.

Really, the last time he did anything even remotely useful was picking Al Jefferson and Delonte West back in 2004. Tony Allen was a decent pickup too, I guess. Everything else he's done since has been pathetic.

He doesn't suck on a Kahn-like magnitude, but as Red would say "What have you done for me lately?"

[PosImpos]

What's the last thing he's done where he should get any credit?

Trading Glen Davis and Von Wafer for Brandon Bass.

[ssspence]

What's the last thing he's done where he should get any credit?

Trading Glen Davis and Von Wafer for Brandon Bass.

Signing Rajon Rondo to one of the most reasonable contract extensions for an impact player in the NBA.

Considering Garnett's shaky start, in retrospect his interest in David West on a short, reasonable contract shows he's still got some chops and understands his team well. Just wish he could hit a double or even a single in the draft....

[Celtics18]

What's the last thing he's done where he should get any credit?

Trading Glen Davis and Von Wafer for Brandon Bass.

Signing Rajon Rondo to one of the most reasonable contract extensions for an impact player in the NBA.

Considering Garnett's shaky start, in retrospect his interest in David West on a short, reasonable contract shows he's still got some chops and understands his team well. Just wish he could hit a double or even a single in the draft....

For what it's worth, David West is having a shakier start to the season than Kevin Garnett.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Ainge isn't a very good GM.

What's the last thing he's done where he should get any credit? Getting KG and Ray? I refuse to even applaud him for that because even a brain-dead GM like Kahn would know that if you have the opportunity to sign 2 hall of famers, you do it.

Really, the last time he did anything even remotely useful was picking Al Jefferson and Delonte West back in 2004. Tony Allen was a decent pickup too, I guess. Everything else he's done since has been pathetic.

He doesn't suck on a Kahn-like magnitude, but as Red would say "What have you done for me lately?"

Way to miss-characterize what went on that off-season. For all your "brain-dead" GM's, no one had the balls to make the type of package Ainge did to acquire Garnett, and let's also ignore the fact that he rolled the dice with Ray Allen, who was coming some injury plagued seasons and ankle surgery when we got him. A move which ultimately convinced Garnett that coming to Boston wasn't such a bad idea after all. Sorry, for all this talk about being the obvious move, teams are very reluctant to giveaway their future as Ainge did, just for a chance of a small championship window with aging superstars.

And let's not forget that amount of people who were reluctant to trade away Al Jefferson. And let's also not forget how he managed to keep Rondo through all of this, when it would be quite obvious that with two trades for Hall of Famers, and with a team lacking in talent, it would be quite easy for him to be included in some package. And we kept Pierce too. Not an easy thing to do sorry.