The First Domino

[LB3533]

What a mess our state of the franchise is in.

The first domino to fall was the anticipated release/buyout of Paul Pierce.

This move changed Doc Rivers's course. Doc no longer wants to coach a crappy mediocre team that can't even beat the New York Knicks in the playoffs.

You could see evidence of this all over Doc's face this past regular season and post season. I don't think I have ever seen Doc as least composed or as demonstratively angry at his guys on the court, during timeouts or even with his expressions out towards the media and the press than I have this season.

So basically what had happened, no PP, Doc no longer on board, thus KG is now OK to leave. KG still wants to play, but he is going to play when all the situations and factors suit his desires, his needs.

 
If anyone is looking to find an anger outlet or someone to pin this mess on, look in the direction towards Celtics management (Owners/GM).

[PhoSita]

Um . . . in what way is it Danny's fault that the players he got last summer never meshed, or that Rondo, Sullinger, and Barbosa went down for the season?

I mean, I guess you can say Sullinger was a gamble.  But Rondo was the main factor in this past season being disappointing.  The ACL tear means that he won't be back to himself until 8-10 months from now. 

What was originally supposed to be a 2-3 year "reload on the fly" period went down the tubes because the team's key player was going to be out for the majority of that time.

[MBunge]

What a mess our state of the franchise is in.

The first domino to fall was the anticipated release/buyout of Paul Pierce.

This move changed Doc Rivers's course. Doc no longer wants to coach a crappy mediocre team that can't even beat the New York Knicks in the playoffs.

You could see evidence of this all over Doc's face this past regular season and post season. I don't think I have ever seen Doc as least composed or as demonstratively angry at his guys on the court, during timeouts or even with his expressions out towards the media and the press than I have this season.

So basically what had happened, no PP, Doc no longer on board, thus KG is now OK to leave. KG still wants to play, but he is going to play when all the situations and factors suit his desires, his needs.

 
If anyone is looking to find an anger outlet or someone to pin this mess on, look in the direction towards Celtics management (Owners/GM).

Doc Rivers was a mediocre coach with a mediocre record before KG and Ray arrived in Boston.  If he thinks he's too big to ever coach something other than a championship contender, that's not Ainge's fault.

Frankly, I think Doc is a great leader and will help the Clips in a lot of ways but I look at how many options that roster offers and remember how poorly Doc could coach in Boston whenever he had too many choices to make.

Mike

[Chris]

What a mess our state of the franchise is in.

Are they really a mess? 

They are a team in transition.  However, I actually think they are in a pretty decent position.  Danny has a lot of work to do, but this team is in much better shape than say, 2004 (or whenever Danny last blew it up was).

[gpap]

I agree and disagree.

I agree in the sense that Danny Ainge made a few big mistakes leading into last season.

1.) He didn't trade Rondo when he had high trade value. He hung onto him and then Rondo's value goes down the toilet when he tore his ACL

2.)Bad free agent acquisitions. Terry, Courtney Lee, Bass, etc....ugh
If he wanted to compete a couple more years with KG/Pierce, they could've/should've surrounded them with better players.

I disagree in the sense that, IT'S OVER!

Time to move on from KG and Pierce. They just don't have it anymore. KG can't even play a full season anymore. Every year, expect him to miss at least a month of games because of his age.

With Pierce, he plays a full season but his body breaks down come playoff time.

If the team was brought back with KG/Pierce, I think they would be absolutely awful.

Time to go in a different direction.

[celticpride1]

Its over with people you can love the Celtics all you want. It is time to move towards the future and now live in the past. Danny has a job to to and that is to get this team back to being a contending team. Within a few year and a little luck hopefully we can do that. If you are a diehard fan you will still cheer for this team even if they go 20-62 if your not than jump off the ship now. I am 31 and have been a diehard fan all of my life going back to Bird Kevin the Chief. Going through tough time with Ml Carr to the Pitino days to having be Lucky to have Kg Ray and Pierce for this run. The time has come Danny good luck us true Celtic fans will be right by your side.

[RJ87]

I agree and disagree.

I agree in the sense that Danny Ainge made a few big mistakes leading into last season.

1.) He didn't trade Rondo when he had high trade value. He hung onto him and then Rondo's value goes down the toilet when he tore his ACL

2.)Bad free agent acquisitions. Terry, Courtney Lee, Bass, etc....ugh
If he wanted to compete a couple more years with KG/Pierce, they could've/should've surrounded them with better players.

I disagree in the sense that, IT'S OVER!

Time to move on from KG and Pierce. They just don't have it anymore. KG can't even play a full season anymore. Every year, expect him to miss at least a month of games because of his age.

With Pierce, he plays a full season but his body breaks down come playoff time.

If the team was brought back with KG/Pierce, I think they would be absolutely awful.

Time to go in a different direction.

If you go back on this board to the free agency, people were excited by the moves Danny made. Being over the cap, but trying to avoid the hard cap to make use of the full MLE, he made all of the right moves. He resigned KG, Jeff, Bass, got Jet for the MLE, traded scraps for Courtney Lee, got Barbosa and Darko for the minimum, drafted Sully. I mean really,  what more was he supposed to do with no cap space? 

I say this a lot lately,  but this isn't NBA2k where you can whoever you want whenever you want. There are life factors in play. I know a lot of people are crying because we didn't sign Chris Andersen, but who knows if he actually was interested in playing here? Danny gave Doc the pieces to make another run, it didn't work out. But Danny did his job, don't try to tear it down in hindsight.

[PhoSita]

The other thing people need to remember is that General Managers in the NBA are like baseball players.

If you have a GM who bats .300 (or .400, or whatever) or better, that's a pretty darn good GM.

Just 'cause a guy makes mistakes doesn't mean he's bad at his job.