Tweets from Presser

[WeMadeIt17]

gary washburn ‏@GwashNBAGlobe 3m Danny Ainge to Globe: "We are not tanking. Thats ridiculous. This is the Boston Celtics." #celtics

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge repeats Part II: I will not be the coach of the Boston Celtics next year.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge repeats: We will always take calls ... But we have no intention of trading Rajon Rondo.

A. Sherrod Blakely @SherrodbCSN
Ainge reiterates he will not coach the #Celtics this season.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge: we will spend this summer paring down roster, will not pursue any high-profile free agents.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge would not specifically address KG, Pierce trade but said "we all knew this day was coming at some point."

Gary Washburn @GwashNBAGlobe
Danny Ainge said he made courtesy call to Dwight Howard's reps to see interest in coming to #celtics through s & t. Answer was no

A. Sherrod Blakely @SherrodbCSN
Ainge added that the #Celtics have "too many players on our roster and need to "clean that up" before focusing on Free agency.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge confirms former Waltham High star Phil Pressey on summer league roster - praised his elite passing ability.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge says Austin Ainge, some video guys who are 'aspiring coaches' helping work w/ summer league team.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge: no timetable on new coach, no rush since draft over, not courting free agents. Jay Larranaga one holdover.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics president Danny Ainge: we have gotten trade calls on Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, Rajon Rondo - not looking to deal them.

Scott Souza @scott_souza
#Celtics Danny Ainge: have spoken to Rajon Rondo several times, not met w/ him yet. He wants us to sign FAs this year, but not realistic.

A. Sherrod Blakely @SherrodbCSN
#celtics prez of basketball ops Danny Ainge tells CSNNE.com that the C's made no calls to free agents today.

[WeMadeIt17]

interesting. Says we are not tanking but doesn't wanna make a move on high profile FA's. Yet he made a call to Dwight Howard. Sometimes i wish i was a fly on the wall of his office rather then him talking in the pressers.

[kozlodoev]

interesting. Says we are not tanking but doesn't wanna make a move on high profile FA's. Yet he made a call to Dwight Howard. Sometimes i wish i was a fly on the wall of his office rather then him talking in the pressers.

My best guess: "Rondo wanted us to get Howard, despite the fact there is no way on earth for us to do that, so I had to make a call to get him off my back". Old pal Rajon has never been particularly reasonable.

[PhoSita]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

[LarBrd33]

Team is tanking.  They can't admit they are tanking, but this team is completely designed to "lose with a purpose". 

[kozlodoev]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

[PhoSita]

Team is tanking.  They can't admit they are tanking, but this team is completely designed to "lose with a purpose".

I'm sure Danny understands that in Boston, the fans can forgive a team that loses, as long as they fight hard.

If we send out a team of young guys who appear to be working their butts off, people will still buy in even if the team is losing 2 out of every 3 games.

Might hold people's interest better than the team did the last few regular seasons, where the team clearly coasted for long stretches of the regular season despite winning the solid majority of their games over that stretch.

[PhoSita]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

Yeah.  Well, I mean, even Kevin Garnett got restless in Minnesota eventually.

Players like to be on good teams with good teammates.  I get that.  I wonder if Rondo realizes that currently he's in a fairly precarious spot.  He has a lot to prove over the next year or so to back up a lot of his talk about being such a great player.  Between the Celtics being totally mediocre with him at the helm for the first half of this past season and then his knee injury, things have gone really badly for him.

I can just picture him being so headstrong and confident that he doesn't see it that way, though.

My point is that Rondo isn't really in a position to do any talking right now.  He should keep his head down and just go along with whatever happens until he gets the chance to take the court again and let his play do the talking for him.  He should approach every regular season game like it's a meaningful playoff game because, well, he probably won't sniff the playoffs anytime soon unless he shows he can still play at a super high level and gets some team to give up assets for him.

[Snakehead]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

Yeah I think you answered your own question.  And even KG got restless at some point.

And frankly I would never be critical of Rondo for saying any of this because I would probably do the same thing.  He is on the brink of his prime years.  You don't get these back.

[Celtics18]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

Is there any evidence whatsoever that Rajon Rondo isn't conducting himself with a professional attitude right now?

[blink]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

Well I love KG too, but who's to say a younger KG didn't get in McHale's ear every off season asking for more help?  Yeah he stuck it out in Minny for a long time, but he did eventually ask for a trade, and he certainly wasn't sticking around Boston to help mentor the young guys this year.  He had the cards, he waived the no-trade clause.  Why?  Because it was something he wanted to do. 

We owe KG a lot, but one report of Rondo talking to DA about the future doesn't make him a malcontent begging to be traded.  How do you know his attitude wasn't professional?  Why does everyone have to project their own 'feelings' about a player onto their supposed 'actions' that no one can even confirm?

[Evantime34]

Danny's definition of tanking must be instructing your players to lose games, he must not consider fielding a team that isn't good enough to win tanking.

Rondo can say he wanted them to add free agents all he wants. His two choices are report to camp or don't. If he decides this team is so bad that he is going to sit out the season rather than honor his contract, then we will essentially be tanking anyway.

Rondo should see this as a chance. If he can lead this team to a surprisingly good season, then he deserves to be mentioned as one of the top pgs just like he says he is. If he really wants out his best chance is to play like a man possessed making him a more attractive trade targets for other teams. If he plays well  without the surrounding pieces he will prove he is closer to a max contract than his current deal would indicate.

[Snakehead]

The Rondo thing is kind of amusing, though unsurprising.

I can imagine Rondo being a little bit excited about Pierce and KG leaving, initially thinking, alright yeah, this is my team now.  Let's get some of my friends on board!  Then he talks to Danny and realizes that no help is coming, and it's just him and Jeff and Avery and a bunch of flotsam for the next year or two.

It's also a bit unsettling. I guess expecting professional attitude from the team's marquee athlete is just unheard of. And by professional, I mean: I'm under contract, I'm a marquee player, I'll be all-in and not create a distraction regardless of who else is on the roster.

Well, I guess it's too much to expect for everyone to be Kevin Garnett.

Well I love KG too, but who's to say a younger KG didn't get in McHale's ear every off season asking for more help?  Yeah he stuck it out in Minny for a long time, but he did eventually ask for a trade, and he certainly wasn't sticking around Boston to help mentor the young guys this year.  He had the cards, he waived the no-trade clause.  Why?  Because it was something he wanted to do. 

We owe KG a lot, but one report of Rondo talking to DA about the future doesn't make him a malcontent begging to be traded.  How do you know his attitude wasn't professional?  Why does everyone have to project their own 'feelings' about a player onto their supposed 'actions' that no one can even confirm?

On KG: Yeah, as mentioned by me and others, he got restless, but before he had hope.  Marbury, Cassell, Sprewell, etc etc.  Didn't pan out how you'd hope but there was a string of players up until the last couple years.

On Rondo: I agree.  These are the times we live in.  One "source" form some reporter says you are disgruntled in some way and that's the narrative.  Who knows who the "source" is or their motives.  Some of these guys, Chris Broussard in particular, is so in bed with agents that frankly I don't know if he isn't just a tool of theirs, knowingly or not.

[kozlodoev]

Well I love KG too, but who's to say a younger KG didn't get in McHale's ear every off season asking for more help?

If no-one ever heard about it, it pretty much didn't happen, and you certainly couldn't  tell by the way Garnett was playing.

Also, there's a distinct difference between asking for help, and asking to sign FAs who clearly aren't feasible.

[kozlodoev]

On Rondo: I agree.  These are the times we live in.  One "source" form some reporter says you are disgruntled in some way and that's the narrative.  Who knows who the "source" is or their motives.

You realize these here are direct quotes from Danny Ainge's presser, right?