He finds them in the discount aisle at the NBA swap meet.

I was wondering if this is a burst of adrenaline to two players in different situations or whether the Celts may have uncovered something here.  As of now, I lean towards the former but in the words of Bill Parcells: I reserve the right to change my mind.

In fairness to Jerebko, he's always at least been a back-end-of-the-rotation player.  Career PER of 14.4.  This isn't something that has come out of absolute nowhere.  He's shown flashes in his career.

Funny because it'd be nice too if Datome legitimately did work out.  Or at least, developed into a player who warranted a rotation spot.  Even 10 minutes a game.  Talk about someone who'd develop into a fan favorite.

Ainge's success in finding scrap heap guys is mixed though.  But who, outside of Pat Riley, is the master at this? They're scrap heap guys for a reason.  Only Riley seems to have the right to uncover guys like Bruce Bowen, Voshon Leonard, Ike Austin, Eddie House, Udonis Haslem, Hassan Whiteside, etc.

My theory is that Danny is bringing in guys who are a good fit for what the coach is trying to do.

This, and that these guys were not good fits on their prior teams.  Thomas, Jerebko, Datome all work in Boston.

Lots of players in the NBA have the talent to contribute, they just have to find the right coach and teammates.

I was wondering if this is a burst of adrenaline to two players in different situations or whether the Celts may have uncovered something here.  As of now, I lean towards the former but in the words of Bill Parcells: I reserve the right to change my mind.

In fairness to Jerebko, he's always at least been a back-end-of-the-rotation player.  Career PER of 14.4.  This isn't something that has come out of absolute nowhere.  He's shown flashes in his career.

Funny because it'd be nice too if Datome legitimately did work out.  Or at least, developed into a player who warranted a rotation spot.  Even 10 minutes a game.  Talk about someone who'd develop into a fan favorite.

Ainge's success in finding scrap heap guys is mixed though.  But who, outside of Pat Riley, is the master at this? They're scrap heap guys for a reason.  Only Riley seems to have the right to uncover guys like Bruce Bowen, Voshon Leonard, Ike Austin, Eddie House, Udonis Haslem, Hassan Whiteside, etc.

What struck me about Datome's play in each of these games was a sense of surprise, but rather of familiarity.

He looked just like he looked when he played in Italy two years ago.   Long.  Mobile.  Excellent shooter from all over the court.  Knows the game very well and makes smart plays.   That's who this guy was and there is no reason to think he isn't still that guy.

I think he just needed real minutes to prove he can be that guy in the NBA.   A lot of that is mindset.  Lots of guys who crush other leagues (NBA-DL, Spain, Turkey, Italy) come to the NBA and, despite having the physical tools to succeed, just don't have the mindset, the confidence or whatever, to still 'be that guy'.   Gigi looks like he has decided to 'be that guy'.

SVG has got to be kicking himself right now.

Of course, whether these guys end up as long-term assets depends on whether we sign them this summer, since they both will be free agents.

I believe we'll have Bird Rights on Jerebko.   Will Gigi be an RFA?

I think it's a combination of Danny finding players and Stevens getting the most out of them. CBS has done an excellent job giving these guys opportunities and putting them in a position to succeed. And Danny has shown he has an eye for guys with talent who've been under-utilized by their former team and are available at a bargain rate.

Just think. At the time many people, including me, derided the Rondo trade. We were shocked that Danny Ainge, a man famous for his ability to make great trades, would take so little for Rondo when he got so much for KG and Pierce. But here we are three months later and it's clear as day he won that trade too. A guaranteed 1st in the 14-20ish range, what will probably become an early 2nd and a mid 2nd (Although I wouldn't sleep on the wolves, especially if KG comes back in any capacity, they prob won't make the playoffs next year, but Wiggins is legit.), 2 trade exceptions and Jae Crowder. No one heard of him before, but now he's a key part of why we've been playing so well, and would be an great role player for the long term.

All for a surly, unengaged, one foot out the door half-season rental version of Rondo who hasn't made them any better if he hasn't made them worse. Amazing. And we had to drag Prince to play for us, he wanted a buyout from the get go. But he played well with this group and Stevens and Danny managed to turn that into Jerebko and Datome!

Since the rebuild started, Danny has just been incredible. I am genuinely excited to see what him and Stevens can do together in the next few years. It's gonna be good.

Will Gigi be an RFA?

Yes, with a QO of $2,187,500, per Spotrac.

What is the icing on the cake so far is that  teams like the suns, mavs, pistons are doing worse after the trade

Danny is a genius.

Well, the Suns were actually blowing things up. The other two make sense though.