Does Ainge deserve criticism for not going after Bismack Biyombo?

[JSD]

Here is a guy who is a fantastic rebounder, available in free agency last summer, and all he would have cost you was A. Johnson and Jerebko (Not picking up their team options would have had Celtics under the cap). And here's the kicker, you could have retained RJ Hunter.

Ainge is putting too much stock in short term flexibility and it is costing the team right now.

[kozlodoev]

Here is a guy who is a fantastic rebounder, available in free agency last summer, and all he would have cost you was A. Johnson and Jerebko (Not picking up their team options would have had Celtics under the cap). And here's the kicker, you could have retained RJ Hunter.

Ainge is putting too much stock in short term flexibility and it is costing the team right now.

We're not talented enough to afford to play 4 on 5 on the offensive end.

[saltlover]

No.  Biyombo and the Magic came to an agreement while the Celtics were still waiting on both Horford and Durant.  If Biyombo came to an agreement a week later, maybe we could have that debate.

Dewayne Dedmon, however, was a miss.

[BitterJim]

Here is a guy who is a fantastic rebounder, available in free agency last summer, and all he would have cost you was A. Johnson and Jerebko (Not picking up their team options would have had Celtics under the cap). And here's the kicker, you could have retained RJ Hunter.

Ainge is putting too much stock in short term flexibility and it is costing the team right now.

A 4/68 million contract for a bench player impacts a lot more than short-term flexibility

Not to mention that, when Danny moved Amir and Jerebko's options back, it was almost certainly with the understanding that if things didn't work out with Durant he would bring them back.  Getting them to agree to move their options back (causing them to miss out on a lot of the money being thrown around) only to let them go to sign a player that's marginally better would be a huge slap in the face to them and their agents

[Who]

Nope. Biyombo was too expensive.

[Bobshot]

Nope. Biyombo was too expensive.

Yeah. BB was too expensive, which is why Toronto didn't keep him. Ainge would never pay that much for a "Bill Russell" type of player. All D, no O. Instead, he settled for the reverse, all O, no D, in Zeller, for much less, and he's now paying the price. Granted, he didn't foresee Horford getting wacked in the head (by Zeller, of all people).

Who knows what Ainge-Stevens (they work as a tandem on personnel) are thinking right now. They know what the problem is. The defensive rebounding type bigs are all gone except for trades. The best bet is to trade for Noel when he's ready to come back. But we have no idea if they value a player like Noel.

[LarBrd33]

I got a lot of flack for pushing for Biyombo last Summer.   It was taken out of context, though.

At the time, this forum was extremely pro-Willie Cauley Stein.  It seemed like the vast majority had targeted WCS as our ideal 2015 draft candidate.  The idea being that WCS would be able to anchor a defense. 

Draft projections had WCS going top 10 and it sounded like moving up from #16 would be extremely expensive as there was widely believed to be a significant drop-off after pick 10.  We later got a sense of exactly how expensive that might have been... we reportedly offered 6 draft picks (4 of which were 1st rounders, including a Brooklyn pick that some sources claim was the 2016 pick that net Jaylen Brown) just to move up from #16 to #9... and we were turned down.  It would have cost even more to move up to #6 where WCS was selected. 

Biyombo was a free agent.  My point was simple.  Why waste a ridiculous amount of assets to trade up for WCS when you could just sign Bismack Biyombo.  Biyombo was cheap.  People here like eja didn't even think Biyombo would be signed to an NBA contract.   But as far as I could tell, Biyombo gave you 80% of WCS at the very least.  Biyombo's per-minute numbers on the Hornets as a 22 year old 4th year NBA player were more impressive than WCS's per-minute numbers on Kentucky as a 22 year old 3rd year College player.    If WCS was putting up Biyombo-esque numbers against inferior competition, why would he be a significantly better prospect than Biyombo??

Biyombo ended up getting a 2 year contract paying him 2.5 mil per year (second year was a player option).  We could have easily acquired him.  We likely could have paid him a little more to lock him in for a longer time.

Biyombo's stats last year:  5.5 points, 8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 54% shooting in 22mpg. 
WCS's stats last year:  7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1 block, 56% shooting in 21mpg.

I stand by it. 

He had a player option that he turned down this year.  He was solid enough in the playoffs to land himself a 72 million dollar contract this Summer.  He's putting up typical Biyombo stats on Orlando through 7 games.  WCS looks worse. 

I was all for signing Biyombo for 2.5 mil per year.  It was far preferable to what everyone else seemed to want - give up half our assets (picks that net Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown and others) for Willie Cauley Stein.  Instead, we gave Amir Johnson 12 mil per year.   That was fine*.   

I wouldn't have been too excited about signing Biyombo to a 72 million dollar contract.  My support was about getting a bargain rim protector for almost nothing.

*Note:  The Amir signing made sense within context.  He was better offensively and had a veteran presence that could help the team.  More importantly, his 12 mil per year contract was structured in such a way to maximize our ability to trade for a star, as the contract was partially guaranteed.   The big money made sense with an eye towards potentially using that as salary filler for a guy like DeMarcus Cousins. 

[BitterJim]

Nope. Biyombo was too expensive.

Yeah. BB was too expensive, which is why Toronto didn't keep him. Ainge would never pay that much for a "Bill Russell" type of player. All D, no O. Instead, he settled for the reverse, all O, no D, in Zeller, for much less, and he's now paying the price. Granted, he didn't foresee Horford getting wacked in the head (by Zeller, of all people).

Who knows what Ainge-Stevens (they work as a tandem on personnel) are thinking right now. They know what the problem is. The defensive rebounding type bigs are all gone except for trades. The best bet is to trade for Noel when he's ready to come back. But we have no idea if they value a player like Noel.

That is a huge insult to Bill Russell

Also, we don't know who hit Horford in the head, saying it's Zeller is just baseless speculation

[LooseCannon]

Here is a guy who is a fantastic rebounder, available in free agency last summer, and all he would have cost you was A. Johnson and Jerebko (Not picking up their team options would have had Celtics under the cap). And here's the kicker, you could have retained RJ Hunter.

Ainge is putting too much stock in short term flexibility and it is costing the team right now.

Thinking long-term, I would rather have Johnson on his current contract  than Biyombo on his current contract.

[detour]

Nope. Biyombo was too expensive.

Yeah. BB was too expensive, which is why Toronto didn't keep him. Ainge would never pay that much for a "Bill Russell" type of player. All D, no O. Instead, he settled for the reverse, all O, no D, in Zeller, for much less, and he's now paying the price. Granted, he didn't foresee Horford getting wacked in the head (by Zeller, of all people).

Who knows what Ainge-Stevens (they work as a tandem on personnel) are thinking right now. They know what the problem is. The defensive rebounding type bigs are all gone except for trades. The best bet is to trade for Noel when he's ready to come back. But we have no idea if they value a player like Noel.

That is a huge insult to Bill Russell

Also, we don't know who hit Horford in the head, saying it's Zeller is just baseless speculation

Does it even matter, who hit Horford in the head? We can't blame a player for this.

About Biyombo, it is too much hindsight to criticize Ainge for a trigger he didn't pull two years ago.

[blink]

Here is a guy who is a fantastic rebounder, available in free agency last summer, and all he would have cost you was A. Johnson and Jerebko (Not picking up their team options would have had Celtics under the cap). And here's the kicker, you could have retained RJ Hunter.

Ainge is putting too much stock in short term flexibility and it is costing the team right now.

Thinking long-term, I would rather have Johnson on his current contract  than Biyombo on his current contract.

I agree with this.  I would rather save the flexibility to grab someone great on both sides of the ball.

[alldaboston]

Not for his contract, no. He doesn't deserve any criticism.

[cltc5]

Danny coulda had rebounding already.  He sucks at drafting.  He's starting to show he sucks at putting a team together without using the big 3 formula

[alldaboston]

Danny coulda had rebounding already.  He sucks at drafting.  He's starting to show he sucks at putting a team together without using the big 3 formula

lol

edit: i looked at your post history. man, you really love saying negative stuff about this team don't you? it's fine to criticize the team or its decisions or its players from time to time, but would it kill you to look at the glass half full?

sometimes i wonder if you're CoachBo's twin...lol

[Tr1boy]

Danny could have drafted diallo, moved up for sabonis , moved up for poetl ... he could have just kept zizic. Cam you imagine how much help zizic would be right now

He just loves small ball too much.