Danny Ainge interview on Bill Simmons BS Report (good)

[chambers]

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/player?id=9639283

Was on the front page but incase you missed it or skip the front page stuff...

Very good interview. Simmons is annoying when he acts like he knows what was going on 20 years ago but not too bad overall.
*Talks about trading for Chris Paul (says Rondo was involved and that it was close to happening).
*Considered Pierce for Chris Paul in 2005 (?) when Pierce was frustrated.
*Puts Doc out to dry a little bit saying Doc originally said he'd be cool with coaching forever- but then says he understands as coach it's tough to go through a rebuild.
*proceeds to defend Doc quite aggressively but being non-confrontational.


Interesting point for me is when he said something along the lines of not many teams are trying to win a championship these days- they are just trying to compete.

[D.o.s.]

TP for the link, will listen later.

[Interceptor]

I don't get the Simmons hate; he's prone to hyperbole and he's usually wrong about predictions, but he does know his stuff historically (and especially Celtics).

Was sort of surprised that Ainge admitted to some of those trades, though. I think Simmons was surprised, too.

[manl_lui]

I actually like how Danny handles the media. I wasn't that surprised to his answers especially when Simmons was trying to make Danny a bad guy for trading Pierce. I listened to this yesterday and I remember him asking this

S: Pierce wasn't happy about the trade etc, etc
DA: Well I also remember him saying this as well "but if I were in his shoes, I'd probably trade me"

media likes to use that one line and make it look bad on Danny's part. The Doc/Danny incident is old now, and he is still defending Doc.

My only question was the part when Danny talked about getting the best value for the big 3 (well, KG and PP) this year vs the years before. What were those proposals from years before vs this one with the Nets?

[StartOrien]

I don't get the Simmons hate; he's prone to hyperbole and he's usually wrong about predictions, but he does know his stuff historically (and especially Celtics).

Was sort of surprised that Ainge admitted to some of those trades, though. I think Simmons was surprised, too.

I'm a fan of his podcasts, find his writing abysmal now:

I did kind of find it funny when he pretended the Perkins/Schrempf for McHale package was a great value when I'm 100% certain he mocked the trade in another podcast this year. He's certainly not one for confrontation.

[gpap]

I listened to the interview yesterday and I enjoyed it (though I am not a fan of Bill Simmons.)

I did enjoy the back and forth about the alleged deals there were on the table for Bird and McHale back in the late 80s.

I did find it funny when Simmons said "I think there would've been riots in Boston if Bird was ever traded."

I would tend to agree with that.

Back in the 80s, I think sports was a lot less like a business and more about a "fraternity."

[Interceptor]

I'm a fan of his podcasts, find his writing abysmal now:

I did kind of find it funny when he pretended the Perkins/Schrempf for McHale package was a great value when I'm 100% certain he mocked the trade in another podcast this year. He's certainly not one for confrontation.

Agreed, but the things he used to bring -- volume writing and interesting content, juvenile/toilet humor -- have been replaced by Zach Lowe and The Triangle, respectively. So that leaves the Mailbag and the podcasts, both of which are still pretty entertaining. Some of the yearly features like the Trade Value column are alright as well.

It's about 99.9% likely that he mocked the McHale trade before he accepted it, and expect him to mock it again some day. That's par for the course. See: Jeff Green trade, Sullinger pick, blockbuster Nets trade, etc.

Although he was right about Melo.

[StartOrien]

I'm a fan of his podcasts, find his writing abysmal now:

I did kind of find it funny when he pretended the Perkins/Schrempf for McHale package was a great value when I'm 100% certain he mocked the trade in another podcast this year. He's certainly not one for confrontation.

Agreed, but the things he used to bring -- volume writing and interesting content, juvenile/toilet humor -- have been replaced by Zach Lowe and The Triangle, respectively. So that leaves the Mailbag and the podcasts, both of which are still pretty entertaining. Some of the yearly features like the Trade Value column are alright as well.

It's about 99.9% likely that he mocked the McHale trade before he accepted it, and expect him to mock it again some day. That's par for the course. See: Jeff Green trade, Sullinger pick, blockbuster Nets trade, etc.

Although he was right about Melo.

But he mocked it in the year 2013, with the advantage of seeing how everybody pans out. I think that he has a tendency to backdown on points, and this was just a case of it.

[Roy H.]

Danny is crazy if he thinks that Person + Williams + Stipanovich for Larry Bird was a fair trade.

We're talking about either the '87 or '88 season.  In '87, the Celts made the Finals, and Larry averaged 28p / 9r / 8a / 2s / 1b, on 53% / 40% / 90% shooting.  In '88, he basically averaged the same.

It's the equivalent of trading Lebron James for Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger.

[fairweatherfan]

Danny is crazy if he thinks that Person + Williams + Stipanovich for Larry Bird was a fair trade.

We're talking about either the '87 or '88 season.  In '87, the Celts made the Finals, and Larry averaged 28p / 9r / 8a / 2s / 1b, on 53% / 40% / 90% shooting.  In '88, he basically averaged the same.

It's the equivalent of trading Lebron James for Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger.

Yeah, the McHale trade (Detlef + Sam Perkins) would've been far better, especially since it was after his broken foot.  The Larry trade made no sense, especially with Larry playing another 3-4 seasons afterward.

[86MaxwellSmart]

at least they Both were correct on 2 things:

1:The 1986 Celtics are the GREATEST NBA Team ever--!

2:Things would have been alright IF Len Bias had not died.

[LooseCannon]

Danny is crazy if he thinks that Person + Williams + Stipanovich for Larry Bird was a fair trade.

We're talking about either the '87 or '88 season.  In '87, the Celts made the Finals, and Larry averaged 28p / 9r / 8a / 2s / 1b, on 53% / 40% / 90% shooting.  In '88, he basically averaged the same.

It's the equivalent of trading Lebron James for Jeff Green, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger.

Well, Bird turned 31 during the 1987-88 season so, given the advancements in medicine that have prolonged some careers, it might be more like the equivalent of trading Kobe Bryant for Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, and Jared Sullinger.

There are some people who think you should trade stars when they wind up on the wrong side of 30.

[D.o.s.]

Just got around to listening.

"I love Chris Paul. I think he's a perfect player."


"Kelly Olynyk has to learn how to play defense."

-Danny Ainge.

[TitleMaster]

In '88, he basically averaged the same.

In '88, the Pistons essentially shutdown Bird in the ECFs, where he was consistently below 50% FG for the entire series. I think his best game in that series was only a 46% FG night, which only netted some 20 points. And it was also the only game where he logged less than 40 minutes whereas the rest of the time, he played for most of the game.

This is the bane of KC Jone's style where in effect, he depended upon only the starters, to win or lose it all. At 31, with his increasing orthopedic problems, Bird needed to play a lot less than 44-48 minutes per contest.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I love when DA get's interviewed, I just wish they would ask him more things about our team now then about crybaby Doc or old Celtics. I think it's crazy that he thinks that Larry should have been traded, I wish more people stayed with one team like they use to. I hope RR can be the next guy like that for the Cs but no way Danny is gonna do that b/c he gave up on PP who could have been/wanted to be that guy.