Between the fireworks stuff and this, I get the sense that Wyc is kind of impatient and wants Ainge to get the team winning a lot of games quickly. Not willing to wait for an organic building process.
Not good. Generally speaking we can't complain much about our ownership, but impatience in a rebuild process is never, ever a good thing.
Nonsense. He stands off and lets Ainge do what's necessary. Doesn't object to him spending money to take on dead salary if draft picks are attached. He trusts Ainge very much. In his ideal world, the Celtics are a championship contender every year, and as an owner who's trying to sell his team to the public, he'll always express his "ideal world" scenario. And Ainge will always swing for the fences, anyway, because that's who he is. But ownership isn't going to force Ainge into doing something that hurts long-run championship aspirations without a real good chance of creating a championship earlier.
He's not impatient, he's optimistic. Those are two very different things.
Eh, I'm not convinced.
I think the pressure to keep the team at least somewhat competitive and entertaining, and to not be bad for more than a season, has probably informed Ainge's decision making process at least somewhat in the rebuild so far.
Ainge has done a good job of keeping the team flexible and not sacrificing future assets for the sake of now. I just can't help feeling that at least part of this strategy of always keeping open the possibility, however remote, that the team could suddenly turn it around and become a contender really quickly, is coming from ownership. I think that same pressure has probably also informed decisions to make moves for guys who help the team win and entertain fans now, even if they are in theory also decent trade assets (e.g. Thomas, Lee, Amir, Jerebko).
It's nice that owernship is optimistic and has high expectations. I just think patience and discipline are paramount in a rebuild. I don't trust the idea of angling for a quick fix and placing our hopes on Ainge "bamboozling" one or more of his fellow GMs.
What evidence do you have that says that Celtics hVent been patient to this point, in spite of repeated statements from ownership of fireworks and other grand gestures?
Going back to October 2014, they have:
1) Traded Keith Bogans for 2 2nd round picks and Josh Powell
2) Traded Rondo and Powell for a 1st, 2nd, Brandon Wright, Jameer Nelson, and Jae Crowder
3) Traded Wright to Phonix for the Minny protected 1st
4) Traded Jeff Green for a 2018 (at the earliest) 1st, Tayshaun Prince, and Austin Rivers
5) Traded Nelson to Denver for Nate Robinson's expiring, who was immediately released
6) Traded Rivers to Clippers for a 2nd
7) Traded an unhappy Prince to Detroit for Jerebko and Datome
Traded a late 2016 1st (From Cleveland) for 3.5 season of IT on a bargain salary that decreases every year.
They then made the playoffs in part because of some of the moves and in spite of the others. They hoped to make fireworks happen on draft night. They hoped Love would walk in free agency -- he didn't. So instead they:
9) Signed Amir Johnson to a deal with 1-year guaranteed.
10) Sign Jerebko to a deal with 1-year guaranteed
11) Signed Crowder to a 5-year deal that's structured to give the C's the most cap room in 2016 and 2017
12) Traded a useless Gerald Wallce expiring contract for a less useless David Lee expiring contract.
13) Received a future 2nd for paying some of PJ3's salary before releasing him.
14) Received a future 2nd for releasing Zoran Dragic (didn't even have to pay him.)
None of these moves have resembled fireworks, aside from the Rondo trade, and that was fireworks from Dallas. They've all been incremental moves changing the team slowly. Now, many are done in mind of creating the assets and flexibility to make a major move down the road, but they're generally being selective when it turns to making decisions that can be bad in the long run. Rather than spending max money on pursuing Greg Monroe or Tobias Harris, they said "those aren't championship players. Let's get other non-championship players in short deals instead."
Some day they'll break their piggy bank of cap room and draft picks for a star or two, but it won't be just any player. They nearly did that for Winslow, whom they felt was that special. Time will tell if he will be, but they're not looking for just any good player. They want transcendent ones.
Topic: Grousbeck: ‘I’d like to trade the Nets pick’ (Read 4781 times)