This is why Danny Ainge is one of the best.

[LGC88]

As a Celtics fan, I want them to win of course, but I also like to watch the youngs developing.
Last season, my favorite moments were :
1. Watch KG playing at this level at his age.
2. Watch Green getting better throughout the season (his first half against Miami was orgasmic)
3. Watch Sully improving.

My least favorite moments were :
1. Realising Doc stuggle to fit the new players defensively and offensively.
2. Watching PP doing it all and get nothing back (painfull)

According the above, I will enjoy next season watching the young core growing together and hopefully be the future contributors for the next banner.

[chambers]

lol at those calling Ainge a coward.
You simply don't understand basketball if that's your conclusion.
2nd longest tenure as an NBA GM behind Buford and has all the young wannabes copying him. OKC, Houston, Orlando. All copying his methods of assets/acquire/shoot for draft and have a back up plan of assets if draft falls through.

I mean he picked Al Jeff and Rondo at 15 and 21. I think his highest pick was 5 (Jeff Green when they missed Durant and Oden somehow, and that was for the Sonics) and then it was number 15 as his next highest with Al Jeff! Actually I take that back, he may have had a 7 pick and blown it though in 2005? Still his percentages on trades diamonds are probably the best in the NBA. Look up the stats.

Has the balls to even ask for the KG and Ray trades and then pull them off. I remember weeks beforehand KG saying he'd NEVER got to Boston.

Moves Perkins at the perfect time and gets unlucky with Green's heart condition. Landed Krstic too in the same deal basically getting maximum value out of Perkins just before his value crashed.

Brings in Shaq and we start rolling again. Shaq goes down. then does Rondo. meh.

Then decides that Green is going to be good and gives him 4 years at 9 million. Green's probably already proven he's very good value at 9 million even in half a season of starting. At worst he's worth 9 million, perhaps up to 12-13 if he has a breakout season?

Ainge buys his way back into the 2006 draft, purchasing Phoenixs pick to get Rondo at 21.
Explores all oppurtunities with every team and player.

Tried to sign David West in 2011, and Celtics fans were told that the West deal was done. Probably puts us at least into the ECF in 2010-11 season (Rondos arm still got snapped but meh, they'd be really tough with West instead of Bass).

Probably gets us past Heat in 2012. (hindsght is beautiful)
He's now just moved Pierce, KG, Doc and Terry to get us a total of
6 first round picks over the next 3 drafts.
9 first round picks over the next 5 years.

We'll still have Rondos great deal to play with in a trade, or he'll sit Rondo and tank properly.
I mean he's got 2 years to wait for an offer while Rondo recovers from the knee.

Just has amazing vision and an aggression for doing deals that almost always end up in the Celtics favor.
I mean he got out of paying Doc Rivers 7 million a year by deciding to rebuild but also got a draft pick for it? lol
Doc gets the blame, we get the pick.
He then states 'there are no big moves on the horizon and I can't see anything happening to our squad any time soon'.
24 hours later KG and Pierce are gone to the Nets and the Celtics rebuild is in full swing.
He's got his eyes on the 2014 draft and if he can't get Dwight Howard he'll probably move Rondo for a 2014 top 10 pick too.

He's too smart to go after Josh Smith and Millsap, Al Jeff and mediocre overpaid guys like that.
Only way he'd go after Smith is if he felt it would lure Howard with Rondo.

He'd rather shoot for Wiggins/Parker and get a superstar then re-tool and be a 5th/6th seed first or second round exit. If that fails he'll go after Durant and Kevin Love, Marc Gasol etc with his treasure chest of picks and young talent from mid first round picks.... Bradley, Sully, Rondo.

I'm confused by the Olnyk pick, I thought he would have gambled on athleticism more, but it appears he's gone for size and fundamentals this time. 7 footer with great handle and shot so I can't complain too much.

Without Ainge, there's no championship in Boston in 2008. If KG doesn't go down in 2009, he's probably scored 3 championships.

*KG going down and then Perkins in the finals has actually taken away from how good he is as a GM
*David West slipping away probably cost us a good shot at making the finals one or two times. Chicago lost Rose though so again it's all hindsight.
*Shaq's foot...Miami finds it hard to stop him inside with KG stretching the floor and Rondo throwing him those lobs/assits around the rim.

Danny Ainge is kind of like Kevin Garnett. Most of the NBA's fans hate him because you wish you had him on your team. Grit and Balls and a brilliant basketball mind.

Coward? hahahaha 99% of NBA fans wish their GM's had the balls and guts that Danny Ainge has. I mean is there another GM that is as fearless as Ainge other than Dumars?
The difference? Ainge is smart, fearless...but not reckless.

[EDWARDO]

1) How is Danny a coward?   That was one of the ballsy trades in sports history!!!

2) People are saying we need to tank and get lucky for this trade to work. Absolutely not. Remember, Danny just built a a team that won a championship and would have won 1-2 more if not for injuries without the benefit of a #1 pick falling in his lap like Duncan or Lebron. In fact, they had only 1 top ten pick to use the last several years and we leveraged that to get Allen and KG. It sure would help to have a top 3 pick, but Danny's drafting record indicates he'll be able to extract value deeper in the draft as well to build assets to move for available talent.

3) Regarding the uncertainty of tanking... no one knows that uncertainty better than Celtics fans (Duncan, Durant), the odds are long of getting that top 5 player in the NBA. What Danny was concerned with was not the uncertainty of the path he chose, but the DEAD CERTAINTY of the path he avoided. Building a team around Rondo and Josh Smith/Jefferson/Millsap or whomever leads to nowhere - always and forever. 95% of NBA champions are built on very very high draft picks. 5% are constructed by genius GMs who are able to cobble together a contender by collecting assets and maneuvering for great players (DANNY TAKE A BOW - ONE OF THE FEW EVER TO BUILD A LASTING CONTENDER THIS WAY).

ZERO championship teams come from overpaying mediocre free agents and trying to maintain a top 5-6 in the East position by clinging to hope of getting one more year out of 35 and 37yr olds. THE CERTAINTY IS THAT LEADS TO NBA PURGATORY....

Danny wasn't rolling the dice on an uncertain situation. He was making sure we wouldn't be stuck in a quicksand that 85% of the NBA is stuck in on a year to year basis. 

Incredibly brave.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

lol at those calling Ainge a coward.
You simply don't understand basketball if that's your conclusion.
2nd longest tenure as an NBA GM behind Buford and has all the young wannabes copying him. OKC, Houston, Orlando. All copying his methods of assets/acquire/shoot for draft and have a back up plan of assets if draft falls through.

I mean he picked Al Jeff and Rondo at 15 and 21. I think his highest pick was 5 (Jeff Green when they missed Durant and Oden somehow, and that was for the Sonics) and then it was number 15 as his next highest with Al Jeff! Actually I take that back, he may have had a 7 pick and blown it though in 2005? Still his percentages on trades diamonds are probably the best in the NBA. Look up the stats.

Has the balls to even ask for the KG and Ray trades and then pull them off. I remember weeks beforehand KG saying he'd NEVER got to Boston.

Moves Perkins at the perfect time and gets unlucky with Green's heart condition. Landed Krstic too in the same deal basically getting maximum value out of Perkins just before his value crashed.

Brings in Shaq and we start rolling again. Shaq goes down. then does Rondo. meh.

Then decides that Green is going to be good and gives him 4 years at 9 million. Green's probably already proven he's very good value at 9 million even in half a season of starting. At worst he's worth 9 million, perhaps up to 12-13 if he has a breakout season?

Ainge buys his way back into the 2006 draft, purchasing Phoenixs pick to get Rondo at 21.
Explores all oppurtunities with every team and player.

Tried to sign David West in 2011, and Celtics fans were told that the West deal was done. Probably puts us at least into the ECF in 2010-11 season (Rondos arm still got snapped but meh, they'd be really tough with West instead of Bass).

Probably gets us past Heat in 2012. (hindsght is beautiful)
He's now just moved Pierce, KG, Doc and Terry to get us a total of
6 first round picks over the next 3 drafts.
9 first round picks over the next 5 years.

We'll still have Rondos great deal to play with in a trade, or he'll sit Rondo and tank properly.
I mean he's got 2 years to wait for an offer while Rondo recovers from the knee.

Just has amazing vision and an aggression for doing deals that almost always end up in the Celtics favor.
I mean he got out of paying Doc Rivers 7 million a year by deciding to rebuild but also got a draft pick for it? lol
Doc gets the blame, we get the pick.
He then states 'there are no big moves on the horizon and I can't see anything happening to our squad any time soon'.
24 hours later KG and Pierce are gone to the Nets and the Celtics rebuild is in full swing.
He's got his eyes on the 2014 draft and if he can't get Dwight Howard he'll probably move Rondo for a 2014 top 10 pick too.

He's too smart to go after Josh Smith and Millsap, Al Jeff and mediocre overpaid guys like that.
Only way he'd go after Smith is if he felt it would lure Howard with Rondo.

He'd rather shoot for Wiggins/Parker and get a superstar then re-tool and be a 5th/6th seed first or second round exit. If that fails he'll go after Durant and Kevin Love, Marc Gasol etc with his treasure chest of picks and young talent from mid first round picks.... Bradley, Sully, Rondo.

I'm confused by the Olnyk pick, I thought he would have gambled on athleticism more, but it appears he's gone for size and fundamentals this time. 7 footer with great handle and shot so I can't complain too much.

Without Ainge, there's no championship in Boston in 2008. If KG doesn't go down in 2009, he's probably scored 3 championships.

*KG going down and then Perkins in the finals has actually taken away from how good he is as a GM
*David West slipping away probably cost us a good shot at making the finals one or two times. Chicago lost Rose though so again it's all hindsight.
*Shaq's foot...Miami finds it hard to stop him inside with KG stretching the floor and Rondo throwing him those lobs/assits around the rim.

Danny Ainge is kind of like Kevin Garnett. Most of the NBA's fans hate him because you wish you had him on your team. Grit and Balls and a brilliant basketball mind.

Coward? hahahaha 99% of NBA fans wish their GM's had the balls and guts that Danny Ainge has. I mean is there another GM that is as fearless as Ainge other than Dumars?
The difference? Ainge is smart, fearless...but not reckless.

YEP. WELL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Celtics4ever]

He basically took a huge chance blowing up the team.   He did it cleverly too.   He knew KG would not bolt on Doc, so he got rid of him first.    he then blew up the team and drafted a high risk reward guy.   Some people must not understand what a coward is folks.  I have been in the service, a coward to me is someone who is afraid or shirks from his duty.   Ainge did neither.   He didn't hide behind anyone or run when it hit the fan.

[gar]

Ok so I have stepped back from the edge and now see the logic in Danny's moves. Utah was taking Olynyk at 14 so he had to move up. Olynyk makes sense when paired with Sulinger. Olynyk may be the best 3pt. shooter in the draft (I really hope he does not kill us on defense).

The Nets trade made no sense as originally announced (Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.). It makes much better sense now with Brooks and Joseph. Kudo's for landing Brooks and bringing back Joseph - huge difference and the best we could do under the circumstances.
The pick for Doc is also big - he needed to go.

The Pressey pickup explains why he did not get a PG at the end of the second rd - so in hindsight it all kind of makes sense.

Kudos Danny, Mia Culpa.

Now all we need is a Van Gundy to replace Doc and to keep things interesting in the interim.