This is why Danny Ainge is one of the best.

[chambers]

I had this in another reply but thought it was a good topic on its own.

To me, and most Ainge fans, the events of last night are evidence of what separates Danny Ainge from other GM's.
(And our owners/organization that back him up for that matter)

Danny's not afraid to gamble. He's also not interested in mediocrity. I'm seeing people wonder why we don't use the caproom to go after Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao etc.. so we can contend.

 What team are Rondo and Jefferson and Green taking past the 2nd round against the Bulls, Miami and Pacers? Let alone the Grizzlies, OKC etc in the West?
People are willing to spend our caproom on free agents like Josh Smith or Al Jeff and Verajao blah blah blah.
That team is handicapped salary wise for 4-5 years and doesn't get out of the 2nd round unless Derrick Rose or Lebron go down for a full season.
Yet they complain about Gerald Wallace for 3 seasons to get our hands on THREE first rounders AND the guarantee that we'll properly STINK enough to have a great shot at a game changing draft pick. Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, Pierce, KG- they all came out of the draft. Nowitzki came at 9. Pierce came at 10 behind him in the same draft! Danny bought back into the draft to get Rondo at #21 too!

As another forum member mentioned, we now have NINE first round picks over 5 years to play with.

We take back Wallace because the money must be spent somewhere. He sucks. His contract sucks. That's the point. He ain't helping us win games but his contract helps us stay close to the minimum salary cap threshold.
There just aren't any free agents out there good enough for Danny to commit to long term. So at this point, our best possible shot at a title is to tank and collect assets, waiting for those free agents to become available or for game changers to be on the block. (Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol). They're all going to be open to talks with other teams in the near future. And they're going to be there with or without Wiggins or Jabari Parker.

This isn't a one year program. It's at least a 3 year journey. It probably means Rondo is gone too- Danny is probably just waiting for the right offer. And really, he can wait because Rondo's got 2 years of offers coming our way before we do anything. If he pouts and acts out, that's great because it means we suck even more. If he plays well, his trade value goes up and we most likely get another top 10 pick in 2014.

Why are people whining about Gerald Wallace's deal? Danny knows he sucks. This is called a rebuild. He's the PERFECT candidate for a salary stuffer.
Hell if we move Rondo in February for another lotto pick hopefully we'll put a 5 out there of:

*rookie pg
*Bradley
*Green
*Sully
*Olnyk

with Melo, Lee and Jordan Crawford off the bench.
We'll suck so bad but we'll also have a great shot at Wiggins or Parker. If we miss out on them, there are another 5-8 possible All Stars in that draft. One of them and all the assets Danny will have collected gives us the ability to make another monster trade when some game changing free agents are available.
Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao- all great players, but they command too much money and aren't leading us to banner 18.

This is why Danny is the best. He shoots for the moon but always has a backup plan incase we get unlucky in the draft.
He also doesn't care about filling seats. He cares about championships. I think this time he's going to try and build a championship team from the ground up and he's basically waiting for the best offer for Rondo.

The only other option is that he sits Rondo most of next year, lets the youngins tank, prays for Wiggins/Parker, then brings back Rondo with Green, Wiggins, Rondo and a max player while we wait for Wallace to expire.
We'll have enough assets in young players and picks that every team will talk to us.

This is why Ainge is GM and we are not.
All he cares about is championships because that's what the Celtics are about.

[rondohondo]

Thank you, a post using logic on the whole situation, instead of raw emotion .

Tp

[PhoSita]

We have a solid chance to have at least one top 10-15 pick in each of the next 3-4 drafts, and we are already starting with a decent stable of assets (Rondo, Green, Bradley, Sullinger, Olynyk, Lee).  That's amazing.

A poor GM could still screw that up and we could be in the same place a few years from now (see: Timberwolves).

But I trust Danny to draft well.

[chambers]

We have a solid chance to have at least one top 10-15 pick in each of the next 3-4 drafts, and we are already starting with a decent stable of assets (Rondo, Green, Bradley, Sullinger, Olynyk, Lee).  That's amazing.

A poor GM could still screw that up and we could be in the same place a few years from now (see: Timberwolves).

But I trust Danny to draft well.

Nothing's guaranteed. We could fudge all draft picks, but to me it's better to take a shot at building a true championship caliber team than pay a few near-all stars max salaries to finish 4-7th every year in the East. That's what the Atlanta Hawks do. That's what the 76ers do. In fact it's what they did. They're now all copying Ainge's strategy of rebuilding.
We have the right front office to give this method a proper chance at succeeding.

[D.o.s.]

I suppose you'll not be attending any 2014 games, then?

Wait, don't answer yet, I'm not done ramming my special bits into my desk drawer.

[kozlodoev]

I suppose you'll not be attending any 2014 games, then?

Wait, don't answer yet, I'm not done ramming my special bits into my desk drawer.

Wait, you want to rebuild through the draft _and_ not get to be horrible for at least a season in the process?

[Tgro]

Excellent post TP.

I think now that KG and PP are gone, everyone just needs to lick their wounds and let it sink in for awhile and then what Danny is doing will start making sense. I think he's on the fast track to getting us back to being awesome. Yeah, we might suck for a year or 2 or 3. But I'll bet around year #3 we're going to be looking at a very bright future.

The Big 4 era with Doc was great but it's ran it's course. Danny created it. He's older and wiser now. I think he can do it again.

Go Danny!

[vinnie]

Well thought out post. That said, this is still an extremely high risk/high reward proposition given the past record of teams who tried to build through the draft. My guess is if this works, the team might be ready to contend again by 2017-18. The next few years ar going to be brutal and Rondo is definitely gone. I give Wyc and the other owners credit, because they are going to take a bath for at least two years, because attendance will be brutal.

[Chief Macho]

wow, that's like a danny ainge verbal lapdance.

suck to get a good pick.  he's a genius!

[chambers]

I suppose you'll not be attending any 2014 games, then?

Wait, don't answer yet, I'm not done ramming my special bits into my desk drawer.

Funnily enough my wifes side is from Hopkinton, MA. We actually live in Australia so we only get over for thanksgiving or June/July twice a year. So I probably won't attend any games in 2014
I'll still watch at least 2 games a week on League Pass though and probably cheer for as many losses as possible.
I don't care if people say it's the wrong attitude. The way the NBA is structured now you have to take this route to be able to afford enough pieces for a championship team in my opinion. Even Miami probably won't last under these cap rules next season. You have to follow the OKC model of continually drafting solid picks in order to keep within the cap.
It's basically tank and trade your assets for a superstar or tank and get lucky with a superstar pick.

[PhoSita]

Well thought out post. That said, this is still an extremely high risk/high reward proposition given the past record of teams who tried to build through the draft. My guess is if this works, the team might be ready to contend again by 2017-18. The next few years ar going to be brutal and Rondo is definitely gone. I give Wyc and the other owners credit, because they are going to take a bath for at least two years, because attendance will be brutal.

I think Wyc and co are smart enough to not be short-sighted.  I think they understand that if you want to keep fans long term in the NBA, you have to be willing to dip down into suckitude for a few years at a time every once in a while.

It's better than riding a roller coaster from season to season because you're trying to constantly reload on the fly by attempting to find the right mix of free agents and mid-1st round draft picks.

[D.o.s.]

I suppose you'll not be attending any 2014 games, then?

Wait, don't answer yet, I'm not done ramming my special bits into my desk drawer.

Funnily enough my wifes side is from Hopkinton, MA. We actually live in Australia so we only get over for thanksgiving or June/July twice a year. So I probably won't attend any games in 2014
I'll still watch at least 2 games a week on League Pass though and probably cheer for as many losses as possible.
I don't care if people say it's the wrong attitude. The way the NBA is structured now you have to take this route to be able to afford enough pieces for a championship team in my opinion. Even Miami probably won't last under these cap rules next season. You have to follow the OKC model of continually drafting solid picks in order to keep within the cap.
It's basically tank and trade your assets for a superstar or tank and get lucky with a superstar pick.

Right, I'm not disagreeing with you,really. I watch all the games on television too, so I can get behind you there--just pointing out that tanking seems to garner more enthusiasm from the people who don't have to suffer through the season in person.

Australia is awesome. I have some family friends who live down there. Lovely place.

I suppose you'll not be attending any 2014 games, then?

Wait, don't answer yet, I'm not done ramming my special bits into my desk drawer.

Wait, you want to rebuild through the draft _and_ not get to be horrible for at least a season in the process?

Yes. We can tank for Wiggins and compete for a title in the same season. I'm a fan, I'm allowed to have competing emotions that befuddle the mind more than 'Toine's shot selection.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I had this in another reply but thought it was a good topic on its own.

To me, and most Ainge fans, the events of last night are evidence of what separates Danny Ainge from other GM's.
(And our owners/organization that back him up for that matter)

Danny's not afraid to gamble. He's also not interested in mediocrity. I'm seeing people wonder why we don't use the caproom to go after Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao etc.. so we can contend.

 What team are Rondo and Jefferson and Green taking past the 2nd round against the Bulls, Miami and Pacers? Let alone the Grizzlies, OKC etc in the West?
People are willing to spend our caproom on free agents like Josh Smith or Al Jeff and Verajao blah blah blah.
That team is handicapped salary wise for 4-5 years and doesn't get out of the 2nd round unless Derrick Rose or Lebron go down for a full season.
Yet they complain about Gerald Wallace for 3 seasons to get our hands on THREE first rounders AND the guarantee that we'll properly STINK enough to have a great shot at a game changing draft pick. Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, Pierce, KG- they all came out of the draft. Nowitzki came at 9. Pierce came at 10 behind him in the same draft! Danny bought back into the draft to get Rondo at #21 too!

As another forum member mentioned, we now have NINE first round picks over 5 years to play with.

We take back Wallace because the money must be spent somewhere. He sucks. His contract sucks. That's the point. He ain't helping us win games but his contract helps us stay close to the minimum salary cap threshold.
There just aren't any free agents out there good enough for Danny to commit to long term. So at this point, our best possible shot at a title is to tank and collect assets, waiting for those free agents to become available or for game changers to be on the block. (Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol). They're all going to be open to talks with other teams in the near future. And they're going to be there with or without Wiggins or Jabari Parker.

This isn't a one year program. It's at least a 3 year journey. It probably means Rondo is gone too- Danny is probably just waiting for the right offer. And really, he can wait because Rondo's got 2 years of offers coming our way before we do anything. If he pouts and acts out, that's great because it means we suck even more. If he plays well, his trade value goes up and we most likely get another top 10 pick in 2014.

Why are people whining about Gerald Wallace's deal? Danny knows he sucks. This is called a rebuild. He's the PERFECT candidate for a salary stuffer.
Hell if we move Rondo in February for another lotto pick hopefully we'll put a 5 out there of:

*rookie pg
*Bradley
*Green
*Sully
*Olnyk

with Melo, Lee and Jordan Crawford off the bench.
We'll suck so bad but we'll also have a great shot at Wiggins or Parker. If we miss out on them, there are another 5-8 possible All Stars in that draft. One of them and all the assets Danny will have collected gives us the ability to make another monster trade when some game changing free agents are available.
Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao- all great players, but they command too much money and aren't leading us to banner 18.

This is why Danny is the best. He shoots for the moon but always has a backup plan incase we get unlucky in the draft.
He also doesn't care about filling seats. He cares about championships. I think this time he's going to try and build a championship team from the ground up and he's basically waiting for the best offer for Rondo.

The only other option is that he sits Rondo most of next year, lets the youngins tank, prays for Wiggins/Parker, then brings back Rondo with Green, Wiggins, Rondo and a max player while we wait for Wallace to expire.
We'll have enough assets in young players and picks that every team will talk to us.

This is why Ainge is GM and we are not.
All he cares about is championships because that's what the Celtics are about.

TP! good post!

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

We have a solid chance to have at least one top 10-15 pick in each of the next 3-4 drafts, and we are already starting with a decent stable of assets (Rondo, Green, Bradley, Sullinger, Olynyk, Lee).  That's amazing.

A poor GM could still screw that up and we could be in the same place a few years from now (see: Timberwolves).

But I trust Danny to draft well.

Nothing's guaranteed. We could fudge all draft picks, but to me it's better to take a shot at building a true championship caliber team than pay a few near-all stars max salaries to finish 4-7th every year in the East. That's what the Atlanta Hawks do. That's what the 76ers do. In fact it's what they did. They're now all copying Ainge's strategy of rebuilding.
We have the right front office to give this method a proper chance at succeeding.

exactly. sure we could have kept PP and KG and maybe added someone else and stayed at a 7th or 8th seed for a few more years but not winning jack. why not start rebuilding now? exactly what DA is doing!

[birdwatcher]

I had this in another reply but thought it was a good topic on its own.

To me, and most Ainge fans, the events of last night are evidence of what separates Danny Ainge from other GM's.
(And our owners/organization that back him up for that matter)

Danny's not afraid to gamble. He's also not interested in mediocrity. I'm seeing people wonder why we don't use the caproom to go after Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao etc.. so we can contend.

 What team are Rondo and Jefferson and Green taking past the 2nd round against the Bulls, Miami and Pacers? Let alone the Grizzlies, OKC etc in the West?
People are willing to spend our caproom on free agents like Josh Smith or Al Jeff and Verajao blah blah blah.
That team is handicapped salary wise for 4-5 years and doesn't get out of the 2nd round unless Derrick Rose or Lebron go down for a full season.
Yet they complain about Gerald Wallace for 3 seasons to get our hands on THREE first rounders AND the guarantee that we'll properly STINK enough to have a great shot at a game changing draft pick. Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, Pierce, KG- they all came out of the draft. Nowitzki came at 9. Pierce came at 10 behind him in the same draft! Danny bought back into the draft to get Rondo at #21 too!

As another forum member mentioned, we now have NINE first round picks over 5 years to play with.

We take back Wallace because the money must be spent somewhere. He sucks. His contract sucks. That's the point. He ain't helping us win games but his contract helps us stay close to the minimum salary cap threshold.
There just aren't any free agents out there good enough for Danny to commit to long term. So at this point, our best possible shot at a title is to tank and collect assets, waiting for those free agents to become available or for game changers to be on the block. (Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, Lamarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol). They're all going to be open to talks with other teams in the near future. And they're going to be there with or without Wiggins or Jabari Parker.

This isn't a one year program. It's at least a 3 year journey. It probably means Rondo is gone too- Danny is probably just waiting for the right offer. And really, he can wait because Rondo's got 2 years of offers coming our way before we do anything. If he pouts and acts out, that's great because it means we suck even more. If he plays well, his trade value goes up and we most likely get another top 10 pick in 2014.

Why are people whining about Gerald Wallace's deal? Danny knows he sucks. This is called a rebuild. He's the PERFECT candidate for a salary stuffer.
Hell if we move Rondo in February for another lotto pick hopefully we'll put a 5 out there of:

*rookie pg
*Bradley
*Green
*Sully
*Olnyk

with Melo, Lee and Jordan Crawford off the bench.
We'll suck so bad but we'll also have a great shot at Wiggins or Parker. If we miss out on them, there are another 5-8 possible All Stars in that draft. One of them and all the assets Danny will have collected gives us the ability to make another monster trade when some game changing free agents are available.
Josh Smith, Al Jeff, Verajao- all great players, but they command too much money and aren't leading us to banner 18.

This is why Danny is the best. He shoots for the moon but always has a backup plan incase we get unlucky in the draft.
He also doesn't care about filling seats. He cares about championships. I think this time he's going to try and build a championship team from the ground up and he's basically waiting for the best offer for Rondo.

The only other option is that he sits Rondo most of next year, lets the youngins tank, prays for Wiggins/Parker, then brings back Rondo with Green, Wiggins, Rondo and a max player while we wait for Wallace to expire.
We'll have enough assets in young players and picks that every team will talk to us.

This is why Ainge is GM and we are not.
All he cares about is championships because that's what the Celtics are about.

Thanks for this, man.
It's hard to see our heroes go, but I am not about chasing ghosts, like we have in the past. It had to happen now to get better. Also, 100% certain Danny isn't done dealing, and although whatever he does at this point is not going to make us a good team next season, he's accumulating assets at a high clip, much like when we were so peeved when we got Raef LaFrentz, and Sczerbiak and the countless others. I'm sure even a bad contract like Wallace's will turn into something in a couple years as it's about to expire, when it will actually become valuable again.
Thanks Danny, for doing the things fans and even other GMs don't have the balls or heart to do.