Danny Ainge:" Would Consider Trading The Big Three For Younger Talent "

[rondohondo]

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge used the brief window following the end of the NBA lockout to feverishly prepare for one final championship run with the aging Big Three.

Three weeks into the season, murmurs are growing louder that he should blow up the roster and begin preparing for the next era after a 5-8 start.

Ainge said he has loyalty to his roster and is willing to give his veterans more than this brief window to prove themselves, but he won’t allow them to age and decline drastically the way Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish did in the early 1990s.

“First of all, it’s a different era,’’ said Ainge. “I sat with Red [Auerbach] during a Christmas party [20 years ago]. Red was talking to Larry, Kevin, and myself, and there was a lot of trade discussion at the time, and Red actually shared some of the trade discussions. And I told Red, ‘What are you doing? Why are you waiting?’

“He had a chance to trade Larry [to Indiana] for Chuck Person and Herb Williams and [Steve] Stipanovich, and he had a chance to trade Kevin [to Dallas] for Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins. I was, like, ‘Are you kidding?’

“I mean, I feel that way now. If I were presented with those kinds of deals for our aging veterans, it’s a done deal, to continue the success.

“After those guys retired, the Celtics had a long drought. But those things aren’t presenting themselves. In today’s day and age, with 30 teams in the NBA, 15 teams know they have no chance of winning a championship. They are building with young players.

“It’s a different era that we live in. It’s easy to say conceptually but you have to always weigh what are real opportunities.’’

“I think there’s no excuses, because every team has had the same training camp, but we weren’t prepared,’’ said Ainge. “We haven’t been prepared mentally, physically to win.

“I think Kevin is not playing as well as he’s capable of,’’ Ainge said. “He’s been through stretches like this before, but I think he’s trying, and I think his demise has been highly exaggerated from a lot of people who ask me those questions.

“I think Kevin is still a very good player - very smart, savvy, high character. A big part of our team. Can he carry us like he’s done in the past? Hopefully for stretches he can, but we don’t expect him to be MVP Kevin Garnett anymore or even All-Star Kevin Garnett anymore. But a very good player.’’

“I’m hoping that this team does turn it around and start playing better,’’ said Ainge. “I don’t expect a miracle that all of a sudden it’s going to get better overnight. Is it incrementally going to get better? I hope that it can.

“Sure, I think in the next few weeks I’ll have a better feel. If the pattern continues like it is now, then I think that our hopes diminish, of course.

“It still doesn’t mean we do anything, because there may not be opportunities to do anything. But I think that we’ll have a better feel rather than a 12-game sample.’’

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/01/19/ainge-patience-has-limits/dd0okO5jvxYRAJVdHKqkAP/story.html

Blow it up Danny, don't make us suffer though a year of mediocrity and a 1st round exit when you could get a lottery pick and get a great young athletic piece for the future. With the cap space the c's have they could even use the  pick to trade for a young all star level talent and not have to match salarie because they will be so far under the salary cap.

There is nothing positive for the future of this franchise that comes from keeping the old 3 together and so much to gain from just tanking it.

If Rondo's wrist is hurt more than they are leading on it will likely be a couple of brutal weeks of bball coming up for the c's.

[rondohondo]

pp and jo for batum and camby anf filler

ray and wilcox for mayo and speights


PG: Rondo / vet min
SG: Mayo  / clippers pick
SF: Batum / green
PF: Bass  / JJJ
 C: Speights/ C'S pick

young ,fast .athletic team. Obviously no where near a contender, but you can start building around it and have some very good trade chips and plenty of cap room if a superstar becomes available

[lightspeed5]

pp and jo for batum and camby anf filler

ray and wilcox for mayo and speights


PG: Rondo / vet min
SG: Mayo  / clippers pick
SF: Batum / green
PF: Bass  / JJJ
 C: Speights/ C'S pick

young ,fast .athletic team. Obviously no where near a contender, but you can start building around it and have some very good trade chips and plenty of cap room if a superstar becomes available

no offense but horrible trades

[chambers]

pp and jo for batum and camby anf filler

ray and wilcox for mayo and speights


PG: Rondo / vet min
SG: Mayo  / clippers pick
SF: Batum / green
PF: Bass  / JJJ
 C: Speights/ C'S pick

young ,fast .athletic team. Obviously no where near a contender, but you can start building around it and have some very good trade chips and plenty of cap room if a superstar becomes available

Maybe Batum+pick for Pierce.
Forget Camby- he's cooked.

We can do much better than scrubs like Mayo and Speights with the money we will have. We'd be better off going into full rebuilding mode and getting some picks in my opinion.

[jc3celticsphan]

how bout a 4 team trade that lands us dwight and deron.

celtics get
Dwill
Dwight
Marion

Nets get
Rondo
Ray

magic get
Lopez
odom
okur
Draft picks

mavericks get
Pierce
JO

Our line up
Dwill
Pietrus
Marion
KG
Dwight

[Roy H.]

What year was Danny's Christmas party conversation?  I'd guess Christmas of '87.  That year, Larry Bird was 31 years old, and averaged 29.9 points, plus over 9 rebounds and 6 assists.  The Celtics were coming off of a Finals run.  

Person + Williams + Stipanovich would have been a bad trade for us at the time, and in hindsight, having those guys wouldn't have helped our team a whole lot.  We would have had a good-but-not-great player in Person (zero career all-star games), a mediocre guy in Williams, and a guy who would quickly be out of the league in Stipanovich.

If that is the level of trades Danny is considering, look out.  I just don't see the sense in picking up mid-level players and attempting to build around them; it ensures mediocrity.

[Tgro]

Who is Danny appeasing by saying that? The fans at Celtic's blog? Maybe the term "blow it up" has been heard once too many times this season and instead of looking like he's just settling for a mediocre season he needs to let everyone know he'll pull the trigger if "the right" deal comes along. Maybe it's also meant to light a fire under the current team that they need to get it in gear or we're going to break it up.

It's kind of funny reading this after a win and after we've been playing slightly better. He semi blew it up last year after he traded Perk and a lot of people said he threw away our chances of winning another title after he did it.

He's really in a no win situation. I don't think "the right" deal is there. Not unless you want 50 cents on the dollar deals. If he doesn't blow it up and the team has a 1st round exit, he'll be lambasted for not pulling the trigger. If he does blow it up and we have a 1st round exit, he'll be tarred and feathered because he ruined our chances.

I wouldn't want to be Danny Ainge right now. Anything short of an Eastern Conference Finals probably has people saying he failed us either way he goes.

[Spilling Green Dye]

If Danny does blow it up, I hope it somehow leads to a high draft pick or two. 

Trading the big 3 for mediocre players will do this team no good in the short or long run.

[Who]

Ainge said he has loyalty to his roster and is willing to give his veterans more than this brief window to prove themselves, but he won’t allow them to age and decline drastically the way Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish did in the early 1990s.

“First of all, it’s a different era,’’ said Ainge. “I sat with Red [Auerbach] during a Christmas party [20 years ago]. Red was talking to Larry, Kevin, and myself, and there was a lot of trade discussion at the time, and Red actually shared some of the trade discussions. And I told Red, ‘What are you doing? Why are you waiting?’

“He had a chance to trade Larry [to Indiana] for Chuck Person and Herb Williams and [Steve] Stipanovich, and he had a chance to trade Kevin [to Dallas] for Detlef Schrempf and Sam Perkins. I was, like, ‘Are you kidding?’

“I mean, I feel that way now. If I were presented with those kinds of deals for our aging veterans, it’s a done deal, to continue the success.

Paul Pierce is the only member of the Big Three who could net a deal like that at this stage of their respective careers.

[hwangjini_1]

expect danny to clear at least $30 million in salary space and at least try to bring in 1-2 max free agents after the season. that is probably why he loaths taking on mediocre players with 2+ year contracts right now.

i am glad he will try, but i doubt it will work since by selling off the big three, or part of them, boston would become a less desirable place for top free agents who are leaving their current team so as to join a "winner". case in point is KG. until ray arrived KG would not come to boston.

and let's face it...rondo and pierce came here initially because of being drafted. ray and KG due to a trade. and KG largely came because the celtics did NOT stink but the wolves did and would.

if free agents are looking for winners, better choices than boston-minus-the-B3 would be maybe LAC, denver, indiana, even portland. and the last few teams should have room for max salaries i think.

this season and beyond is tricky for ainge and i wish him a lot of luck. but i suspect that the rebuilding process is at least 3-5 years unless the celtics hit free agent gold.

draft picks will take a few years to develop...assuming the celtic's recent draft luck improves greatly and no busts appear on the horizon.

i will be a celtics fan during those upcoming hard times for sure...just a less happy one as i watch the team get beaten like a rented mule by other teams.

the immediate future? looks a lot like toronto last night....but i will still love the celtics.  

[CelticG1]

Shocking news that ainge would trade one of the big 3 if a   good  deal presented itself.

wait nevermind thats not shocking.

Like he said its a different era. Bottom line is he won't get good enough value in return and it won't be Worth it to make a trade. Just because he he said he would have made those deals with the old big 3 doesn't mean he is going to trade the new big 3 just to prove to people that he is not sentimental.

[Eja117]

I think it's within the realm of possibility that Danny is remembering things from 30 years ago fondly and with hindsight, like for example, knowing that Bird hurt his back and knowing that Perkins and Detlef became pretty good.

[TBreezy]

What year was Danny's Christmas party conversation?  I'd guess Christmas of '87.  That year, Larry Bird was 31 years old, and averaged 29.9 points, plus over 9 rebounds and 6 assists.  The Celtics were coming off of a Finals run.  

Person + Williams + Stipanovich would have been a bad trade for us at the time, and in hindsight, having those guys wouldn't have helped our team a whole lot.  We would have had a good-but-not-great player in Person (zero career all-star games), a mediocre guy in Williams, and a guy who would quickly be out of the league in Stipanovich.

If that is the level of trades Danny is considering, look out.  I just don't see the sense in picking up mid-level players and attempting to build around them; it ensures mediocrity.

I agree with your assesment in hindsight, but I think your persepctive should be inversed.  I may be just young enough not to have a valuable / wise opinion, and it still may have been an unwise proposal.

better perspective is: what was the value / prospects of Person + Williams + The Stipanovich at the time of the proposed trade?

[PosImpos]

Like Danny said, it's a different era.  He's not going to get a young potential All-Star for any of the Big 3.

[Moranis]

What year was Danny's Christmas party conversation?  I'd guess Christmas of '87.  That year, Larry Bird was 31 years old, and averaged 29.9 points, plus over 9 rebounds and 6 assists.  The Celtics were coming off of a Finals run.  

Person + Williams + Stipanovich would have been a bad trade for us at the time, and in hindsight, having those guys wouldn't have helped our team a whole lot.  We would have had a good-but-not-great player in Person (zero career all-star games), a mediocre guy in Williams, and a guy who would quickly be out of the league in Stipanovich.

If that is the level of trades Danny is considering, look out.  I just don't see the sense in picking up mid-level players and attempting to build around them; it ensures mediocrity.

It had to be 86 or 87 since that was the only years those players were all on the same team.

The McHale trade would have been a solid trade.  Perkins and Schrempf both had solid careers after that point in time and were key members of title contenders and/or winners.

As for the Bird trade, I think it only looks worse now because Stipanovich retired after the 88 season.  He was a pretty solid player early in his career before he walked away in his prime.  Person was a great scorer for a number of years and Herb Williams was a solid role player for much of his fairly long career.  It wasn't a terrible trade at the time, but had Stipanovich still retired right after it, it would have been.

The Celtics were still a contender in 87-88 (losing to Detroit in the ECF), but weren't close again after that never getting past the second round (and losing in the first round a lot).