Ainge Dominates as a GM in this climate.

[GreenFaith1819]

I'd rather wait until FA this year, the draft, and THEN FA NEXT YR before I can say whether Ainge dominates or not.

It is simply way too early to give him a grade. We MUST see the final product.

I'll be fair - "IF" we can acquire a top FA (or two), "IF" our pick(s) parlay into either a top choice (or choices)...and we can do this either this year or next?

Then I'd say that Ainge Dominates.

Now? He's tearing down the team and grading the remains for a new foundation. I wish he could've gotten more for the materials he sent away (Rondo), but it is what it is at this point.

Jared Sullinger is, IMO - starting to SLOWLY make me glad that we do not have KLove. I think Jared is already a better defender than KLove, and he is still getting better.

Plus, Jared is THREE YEARS younger than KLove.

Sully could very well soon put up KLove-like numbers on the regular...look at what he did vs Anthony Davis and NO. And Sully was a 21st pick?

I like Marcus Smart and he could very well develop into a Dwayne Wade clone, or close to it.

I love Jae Crowder and his play. His intensity is infectious. I love what Coach Stevens is doing with Zeller.

But all this "Love" I have means nothing if the ping pong balls don't fall our way and if FA's turn BOS down.

The last GM to my memory, that built a contender from the ground-up was Sam Presti. And even with that, SEA/OKC "HAD" to have the ping pong balls fall their way.

Plus, I don't think anyone here saw that KD or Westbrook would blow up like they did.

I give Presti much respect for drafting Serge. he's turned into quite a steal for OKC. I give Presti much respect for acquiring Perkins and trimming their roster by letting Harden move on.

There is only SO MUCH that Ainge can control, though - same with Presti.

This is why I cannot state that he is dominant quite yet. Sam Presti has proven that, but even STILL Presti and OKC don't have a Banner, yet.

Ainge does have a Banner, thankfully. He could've had more if not for KG's visit to Utah in 08-09

But - this time around - I don't see another KG scenario brewing on the horizon...no one game-changer out there that will turn BOS around by himself.

Ainge is going ALL IN this time around...he has way more courage than I do, but that's why he's the GM and I'm just a fan.

[clover]

I'd rather wait until FA this year, the draft, and THEN FA NEXT YR before I can say whether Ainge dominates or not.

It is simply way too early to give him a grade. We MUST see the final product.

I'll be fair - "IF" we can acquire a top FA (or two), "IF" our pick(s) parlay into either a top choice (or choices)...and we can do this either this year or next?

Then I'd say that Ainge Dominates.

Now? He's tearing down the team and grading the remains for a new foundation. I wish he could've gotten more for the materials he sent away (Rondo), but it is what it is at this point.

Jared Sullinger is, IMO - starting to SLOWLY make me glad that we do not have KLove. I think Jared is already a better defender than KLove, and he is still getting better.

Plus, Jared is THREE YEARS younger than KLove.

Sully could very well soon put up KLove-like numbers on the regular...look at what he did vs Anthony Davis and NO. And Sully was a 21st pick?

I like Marcus Smart and he could very well develop into a Dwayne Wade clone, or close to it.

I love Jae Crowder and his play. His intensity is infectious. I love what Coach Stevens is doing with Zeller.

But all this "Love" I have means nothing if the ping pong balls don't fall our way and if FA's turn BOS down.

The last GM to my memory, that built a contender from the ground-up was Sam Presti. And even with that, SEA/OKC "HAD" to have the ping pong balls fall their way.

Plus, I don't think anyone here saw that KD or Westbrook would blow up like they did.

I give Presti much respect for drafting Serge. he's turned into quite a steal for OKC. I give Presti much respect for acquiring Perkins and trimming their roster by letting Harden move on.

There is only SO MUCH that Ainge can control, though - same with Presti.

This is why I cannot state that he is dominant quite yet. Sam Presti has proven that, but even STILL Presti and OKC don't have a Banner, yet.

Ainge does have a Banner, thankfully. He could've had more if not for KG's visit to Utah in 08-09

But - this time around - I don't see another KG scenario brewing on the horizon...no one game-changer out there that will turn BOS around by himself.

Ainge is going ALL IN this time around...he has way more courage than I do, but that's why he's the GM and I'm just a fan.

I'd say pretty much everyone--including Danny--thought that KD would blow up as he did, and Westbrook was, after all, a #4 pick.

[GreenFaith1819]

I'd rather wait until FA this year, the draft, and THEN FA NEXT YR before I can say whether Ainge dominates or not.

It is simply way too early to give him a grade. We MUST see the final product.

I'll be fair - "IF" we can acquire a top FA (or two), "IF" our pick(s) parlay into either a top choice (or choices)...and we can do this either this year or next?

Then I'd say that Ainge Dominates.

Now? He's tearing down the team and grading the remains for a new foundation. I wish he could've gotten more for the materials he sent away (Rondo), but it is what it is at this point.

Jared Sullinger is, IMO - starting to SLOWLY make me glad that we do not have KLove. I think Jared is already a better defender than KLove, and he is still getting better.

Plus, Jared is THREE YEARS younger than KLove.

Sully could very well soon put up KLove-like numbers on the regular...look at what he did vs Anthony Davis and NO. And Sully was a 21st pick?

I like Marcus Smart and he could very well develop into a Dwayne Wade clone, or close to it.

I love Jae Crowder and his play. His intensity is infectious. I love what Coach Stevens is doing with Zeller.

But all this "Love" I have means nothing if the ping pong balls don't fall our way and if FA's turn BOS down.

The last GM to my memory, that built a contender from the ground-up was Sam Presti. And even with that, SEA/OKC "HAD" to have the ping pong balls fall their way.

Plus, I don't think anyone here saw that KD or Westbrook would blow up like they did.

I give Presti much respect for drafting Serge. he's turned into quite a steal for OKC. I give Presti much respect for acquiring Perkins and trimming their roster by letting Harden move on.

There is only SO MUCH that Ainge can control, though - same with Presti.

This is why I cannot state that he is dominant quite yet. Sam Presti has proven that, but even STILL Presti and OKC don't have a Banner, yet.

Ainge does have a Banner, thankfully. He could've had more if not for KG's visit to Utah in 08-09

But - this time around - I don't see another KG scenario brewing on the horizon...no one game-changer out there that will turn BOS around by himself.

Ainge is going ALL IN this time around...he has way more courage than I do, but that's why he's the GM and I'm just a fan.

I'd say pretty much everyone--including Danny--thought that KD would blow up as he did, and Westbrook was, after all, a #4 pick.

He may very well have....but Kevin Durant wasn't going to bring us a Banner in 07-08, nor Greg Oden.

It all turned out well for BOS. We got one banner and could've gotten 2.

[Fred Roberts]

Dominate strikes me as a strong opinion. The ink is not dry yet on this rebuild.

the BKN trade was a no brainer home run from the get go, and I'd never deny that.

getting such low return for green & rondo is disappointing to me, but much of that is because of the timing.

other trades that look good are the Jordan Crawford trade, Zeller trade and Wright trade . .. where something is had for nothing. the Turner signing was a great value play as well. that kid could generate interest.

all in all, I think Danny is giving himself a lot of options and plenty of room for error, but this is no sure thing and I am disappointed that he had to make the Rondo and Green trades. I hoped we'd have a winning record and reason to hold off on making fire sale trades this season.

at least he is decisive. it's on now. and this crowah chowda fellow appears to be a keeper.

[Boris Badenov]

I'm in the "too early to tell" camp, but one thing I admire about Ainge is that he is seemingly one of the hardest-working guys out there. If he needs to burn the phone lines for a week and the end result is a minor upgrade in our assets (like a TE or 2nd round pick, or an extra $3m in future cap room)...he does it.

And while individually all those deals look minor, when you add them up you have something pretty impressive.

Just for example, suppose Ainge had decided to let the Big 3 play out their careers here, and then let all those other guys (including our coach) expire/walk without getting anything in return. I don't think our own draft picks would have been any better, and we'd have nothing else to show at this point but our own picks going forward and cap room.

Instead we have the best stable of picks in the league, some nice moveable pieces we might not otherwise have, and tons of cap room after this year.

[Timdawgg]

I'm in the "too early to tell" camp, but one thing I admire about Ainge is that he is seemingly one of the hardest-working guys out there. If he needs to burn the phone lines for a week and the end result is a minor upgrade in our assets (like a TE or 2nd round pick, or an extra $3m in future cap room)...he does it.

And while individually all those deals look minor, when you add them up you have something pretty impressive.

Just for example, suppose Ainge had decided to let the Big 3 play out their careers here, and then let all those other guys (including our coach) expire/walk without getting anything in return. I don't think our own draft picks would have been any better, and we'd have nothing else to show at this point but our own picks going forward and cap room.

Instead we have the best stable of picks in the league, some nice moveable pieces we might not otherwise have, and tons of cap room after this year.

I agree, and that's even after hanging on to the vets a little too long (which I did not mind)

[celts10]

I'd say pretty much everyone--including Danny--thought that KD would blow up as he did, and Westbrook was, after all, a #4 pick.

True. The Sonics received quite a bit of flack for taking Westbrook that high during the draft, but it was a choice that turned out well for them.

[MJohnnyboy]

Ainge has a lot of assets on his disposal but I'm going with the crowd with this one. Until the Celtics start winning games, I'm going to withhold judgment on Danny's performance as a GM right now. He has built a contender before but the difference is you're not seeing too many superstar talents rotting away on horrible teams these days (unless your Carmelo Anthony) like KG and Ray were in 2007.

Time will tell.

[obnoxiousmime]

Dominate strikes me as a strong opinion. The ink is not dry yet on this rebuild.

the BKN trade was a no brainer home run from the get go, and I'd never deny that.

getting such low return for green & rondo is disappointing to me, but much of that is because of the timing.

other trades that look good are the Jordan Crawford trade, Zeller trade and Wright trade . .. where something is had for nothing. the Turner signing was a great value play as well. that kid could generate interest.

all in all, I think Danny is giving himself a lot of options and plenty of room for error, but this is no sure thing and I am disappointed that he had to make the Rondo and Green trades. I hoped we'd have a winning record and reason to hold off on making fire sale trades this season.

at least he is decisive. it's on now. and this crowah chowda fellow appears to be a keeper.

The main reason he had to make the Rondo and Green deals is because the team wasn't good enough to keep them around. And the reason the team wasn't good enough is because the Pierce and Garnett deal did not bring any significant players back, only picks and the horrible Wallace deal.

Everything is connected. Ainge did get a great deal for Pierce and Garnett, but it came at a significant cost in the short term. The picks were great, but the first one was only 17 and the others will come far in the future. Secondly, the Wallace deal taking up 10 million on the roster for three years hurts the team's ability to make moves. When the deal was made I pretty much figured at least the next two years would be big tanking jobs.

A better deal would have been for younger players who were ready to play now, like for example the oft-rumored Bledsoe and Jordan deal. However, Ainge (ownership?) waited too long and it has significantly delayed the rebuild.

When Ainge made the Pierce/Garnett deal it made it very unlikely that we were going to be able to keep Rondo. However, I think that if Rondo hadn't been injured he may have been dealt earlier anyway. Ainge either really wanted to straddle the fence between true tanking and going for it or was waiting for the perfect deal to materialize. Unfortunately the risk in waiting is that a significant injury might destroy the player's trade value and that is exactly what happened.

[Jarrin John]

Dominate strikes me as a strong opinion. The ink is not dry yet on this rebuild.

the BKN trade was a no brainer home run from the get go, and I'd never deny that.

getting such low return for green & rondo is disappointing to me, but much of that is because of the timing.

other trades that look good are the Jordan Crawford trade, Zeller trade and Wright trade . .. where something is had for nothing. the Turner signing was a great value play as well. that kid could generate interest.

all in all, I think Danny is giving himself a lot of options and plenty of room for error, but this is no sure thing and I am disappointed that he had to make the Rondo and Green trades. I hoped we'd have a winning record and reason to hold off on making fire sale trades this season.

at least he is decisive. it's on now. and this crowah chowda fellow appears to be a keeper.

The main reason he had to make the Rondo and Green deals is because the team wasn't good enough to keep them around. And the reason the team wasn't good enough is because the Pierce and Garnett deal did not bring any significant players back, only picks and the horrible Wallace deal.

Everything is connected. Ainge did get a great deal for Pierce and Garnett, but it came at a significant cost in the short term. The picks were great, but the first one was only 17 and the others will come far in the future. Secondly, the Wallace deal taking up 10 million on the roster for three years hurts the team's ability to make moves. When the deal was made I pretty much figured at least the next two years would be big tanking jobs.

A better deal would have been for younger players who were ready to play now, like for example the oft-rumored Bledsoe and Jordan deal. However, Ainge (ownership?) waited too long and it has significantly delayed the rebuild.

When Ainge made the Pierce/Garnett deal it made it very unlikely that we were going to be able to keep Rondo. However, I think that if Rondo hadn't been injured he may have been dealt earlier anyway. Ainge either really wanted to straddle the fence between true tanking and going for it or was waiting for the perfect deal to materialize. Unfortunately the risk in waiting is that a significant injury might destroy the player's trade value and that is exactly what happened.

The number of suppositions in this last post made my head hurt.

[ballin]

No, I agree with the original poster... Ainge has actually dominated and I can't believe I'm saying that.

We have a bevy of your guys who are already playing at league-average levels, and who figure to play better as they get into their primes! At EVERY POSITION!! Observe: http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/players/compare?utf8=%E2%9C%93&player_ids%5B%5D=1259&player_ids%5B%5D=1493&player_ids%5B%5D=1252&player_ids%5B%5D=1369&player_ids%5B%5D=1492&player_ids%5B%5D=1258&season=2014

One of them has star potential (Smart), and with our picks in this year's draft we'll get enough bites at the apple to likely pick someone else up who has similar potential. After that, we only need to add one more impact player using all of our extra picks/assets and we're contenders in about 2 years. If you think I'm exaggerating, just look at teams like the Hawks and Spurs who have been dominating with mostly above average players and no real "stars". Two years down the road, we figure to be at LEAST at that level based on natural progression and guys entering their primes, with the potential to be even better if Smart becomes a star or if we pick one up in the draft this year.

The best part about the position we're in is that it doesn't really require throwing pennies into a wishing well; everyone on the team is young and WILL get better as they approach their primes. Our assets are valuable and can definitely be converted for a star player who will want to stick around once we start proving we have potential (sort of like how Cleveland convinced Lebron to come home after getting loaded with potential). The biggest "if" is walking out of this year's draft with a quality rim protect. That's the only thing that really needs to go right in order for this plan to play out beautifully.

I can't believe I'm saying it, but Ainge has earned my respect (well, other than the Bradley contract which is complete crap, but that doesn't really figure to have much of an impact going forward).

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

I think the best way won't be to strictly rebuild through draft or strictly rebuilt through trade.  I think the best way (especially for the us) is to rebuild through both.  Draft star quality potentials and when t he opportunity to trade for a star gets open, you take it. 

bingo

[spikelovetheCelts]

Ainge has a track record folks, he has done it once.  Hopefully, he does it again.

DA will find some Gems. All Our guys are young like other posters have said I SEE potential in them all.. We have picks and some good TPES. Our Coach can mold players and has done well allowing players to play to their strengths. I see a Hawks Like team if Danny Nails a Rim Protector. i Think every thing else is in place.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Would not be at all surprised to see Ainge go all in for Kevin Love FA this Summer...and trade Sully and/or K.O./Picks for the Go to Guy we need.... I know Love has been beaten up around here...but there are no KG's available--and Danny has to start somewhere...Remember when he tried to get a washed up Scottie Pippen---?

[mctyson]

It's not just Ainge; the entire Celtics front office from Wyc on down is one of the best in the league.  We are lucky to have them running the team we root for.

It's going to be an exciting next phase of this organization's history.