Does anybody think that Danny Ainge has been a disappointing GM?

[tarheelsxxiii]

I'm slowly coming to support him as a GM. That takes a lot, considering I strongly dislike him as a person. I think if you're going to take a cut-throat, Belichick-style, you have to be able to give a rationale for your moves and make them work. He's definitely no Billy. And I also think KG was handed to him (as I've said and been flamed for approximately 42x), and the rest of our title run played out as a result of that trade. But I think he is doing as of late. Can't really question his moves this season. Think time will tell... if he can land another 2 big FAs, or 1 big FA and a budding star from the draft, I think he will have proven himself without any doubt. If he can't, I can fall back on my initial perception of him as a scrub.

[alldaboston]

The ignorance of some people on this thread...

[BDeCosta26]

The ignorance of some people on this thread...

Talk about it. If their is anyone left on this earth that thinks Ainge is anything less than a top 5 GM, or he somehow "should've" won more titles with the KG/Pierce squad than he did, clearly need to go watch a different sport.

Danny Ainge is one of the best, if not THE best in the league. He's obviously a master of trades, he drafts VERY well considering the spots he's picked at (to say otherwise shows you don't have much concept of what to expect from a draft pick, or the likelihood someone picked between 20-30 even lasts in the NBA) and as far as FA's, he's done quite well picking guys we can afford who fit his team well.  Until this season, we've never had max money to offer a top-tier free agent, so crying over the fact we didn't sign LeBron holds no merit.

Seriously, Celtic fans should appreciate what they have in DA. Almost every franchise in basketball would trade their GM for ours. I lived through the Pitino years. Ainge is a godsend.

[Sixth Man]

The ignorance of some people on this thread...

He's probably another wind-up merchant. 

[tyrone biggums]

I mean I'm not the biggest Ainge fan in the world (I find his draft picks since the title to be lackluster overall) but come on. Is this actually a thread? Okafor would have been great and hell if Ainge wants him bad enough then make a team like the Knicks or Sixers a godfather offer. The Celtics are already a better team than the Nets and essentially own their next three picks. Amazing.

[fairweatherfan]

The ignorance of some people on this thread...

Talk about it. If their is anyone left on this earth that thinks Ainge is anything less than a top 5 GM, or he somehow "should've" won more titles with the KG/Pierce squad than he did, clearly need to go watch a different sport.

Danny Ainge is one of the best, if not THE best in the league. He's obviously a master of trades, he drafts VERY well considering the spots he's picked at (to say otherwise shows you don't have much concept of what to expect from a draft pick, or the likelihood someone picked between 20-30 even lasts in the NBA) and as far as FA's, he's done quite well picking guys we can afford who fit his team well.  Until this season, we've never had max money to offer a top-tier free agent, so crying over the fact we didn't sign LeBron holds no merit.

Seriously, Celtic fans should appreciate what they have in DA. Almost every franchise in basketball would trade their GM for ours. I lived through the Pitino years. Ainge is a godsend.

It really seems to depend on whether the fan compares Danny to other actual GMs (where he looks great by almost any standard) or to hypothetical GMs in the poster's imagination (where he can easily fall short). 

[the_Bird]

It's a cliche for a GM to take over a team and say they'll deliver a championship in 3-5 years.  Ainge is one of the only GM's I've ever seen actually accomplish that.  He took over a sad sack irrelevant franchise in turned them into a contender in 4 years. 

You can look at his draft record and nit pick guys he whiffed on.  Would have been nice to have Giannis and Rudy Gobert in the last draft, for instance.  But that stuff is so crazy unpredictable.   He usually does a solid job with the picks he has.  He gets how to build a champion.  He gets when patience is necessary.  I wouldn't want anyone else running this team.

Preface this by saying I believe Danny's a pretty good GM...

I don't believe, on balance, Danny's draft record is quite as impeccable as some believe.  He's really only drafted one guy (Rondo) who turned into an All Star.  He's gotten some solid players in the middle of the draft though, and tended to get useful players in the second round.  But, a couple 1st rounders who didn't last more than one season in the league.  Probably dodged a bullet when he traded the #5 pick for Ray Allen (sounded at the time that he would have drafted Yi, if a trade wasn't made).

But on balance, solidly above-average.

He did have the stones to break up the Big 3 at the right time - right when you could still extract real value from Pierce and KG.  We're in a much better position today than we would have been had they kept those two guys around.  I think he got too cute with some moves in the years after the title - counting too much on Shaq and JO being able to return from injury as one example. 

Is he Top 5?  I don't know...  maybe?  He's certainly top 10.  He's got the support of ownership, so he's not going anywhere.

[Fafnir]

Absolutely not.

This.

[Fafnir]

it's ALL about KG's Knee injury---it doesn't happen....and Ainge gets 3 Rings most likely.

Ugh. I hate thinking about this. But I believe it is true. At least 1 more ring if not 2.

Yeah, a fully healthy KG and they're probably the favorites in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Yup.

The thing that really bothers me somedays, if KG gets his surgery immediately is he that much stronger for 2010?

[Hemingway]

It's crazy that anyone thinks he's no a good GM. It's silly to think he's not a great GM. The only way to have a bad opinion of Ainge's tenure here is to either be very ignorant of the current and previous CBA or to have already made up your mind and then just cherry pick facts to make your point.

If you look through all his trades there really isn't a head screatcher to be found. Some deals look bad on paper (like when we got Telfair) but the reason was to make sure we had an expiring max contract when needed. And the few times where Danny lost a star it seemed to be proven the right move in time.

[TheTruthFot18]

DA traded away basically Big Al for Garnett, Allen, and banner 17. The other players and picks involved didn't help those teams.

Meanwhile Brooklyn sold all of their 1st rounders until 2050 for Joe Johnson, and rentals on Pierce and Garnett.

Then add the recent acquisitions of Thomas, Zeller, Crwoder, Jerebko, Datome, and at least another first for a TE, Rondo, Green, and players just passing through. 

[slamtheking]

I think Danny Ainge has been a let down as GM. In over ten years as GM the Celtics went to the finals twice and won 1 NBA championship title. Even if all star free agents is deemed as unrealistic for the Celtics to land a good GM still tries  his best(Danny Ainge has failed to do so). The Celtics have failed to land a young franchise player within his time as GM. Rondo isn't a frachise point guard; Russel Westbrook is, Derrick Rose is, Stephan Curry is, and ect.

What do you guys think about Danny Ainge performance as GM?

I saw the title of the topic and wondered "is this person serious or is this a gag"?

went to the first page, saw the OP and thought "figures - that explains it"

[bmac934]

No not even in the least bit.  I'm also very confused by this post.  If your not happy with Danny ainge as a gm your best off not having a favorite team because every other gm will be infinitely more "disappointing".

[aingeforthree]

I'd sign him for another 10 years, at least.  He's that darn good

[LarBrd33]

It's a cliche for a GM to take over a team and say they'll deliver a championship in 3-5 years.  Ainge is one of the only GM's I've ever seen actually accomplish that.  He took over a sad sack irrelevant franchise in turned them into a contender in 4 years. 

You can look at his draft record and nit pick guys he whiffed on.  Would have been nice to have Giannis and Rudy Gobert in the last draft, for instance.  But that stuff is so crazy unpredictable.   He usually does a solid job with the picks he has.  He gets how to build a champion.  He gets when patience is necessary.  I wouldn't want anyone else running this team.

Preface this by saying I believe Danny's a pretty good GM...

I don't believe, on balance, Danny's draft record is quite as impeccable as some believe.  He's really only drafted one guy (Rondo) who turned into an All Star. 

See... how often do teams who exclusively pick in the mid-to-late 1st actually land all-star talent? 

Our highest pick of his tenure was the #5 Jeff Green pick... which he used to land Ray Allen and then used that momentum to convince Kevin Garnett to agree to a trade. 

We picked Smart #6 and it's too soon to tell if he's going to pan out or not. 

People bring up players taken #22 like Fab Melo.  How often do players taken #22 turn into all-stars? It's silly.  Total crap shoot that late in the draft.  I mean in that same draft Thomas Robinson went 5th.   We snagged Sullinger at #21.   Melo was taken right before John Jenkins and Jared Cunningham.  Are you grossly disappointed we didn't take one of those guys instead?

Ainge is one of the best GM's in the league.