SI.com: Danny's summer was a flop, second worst among "notable" teams

[BaronV]

This is a case of the media buying into their own BS.  Essentially, the author is saying 'Danny didn't do any of the things we said he would do, so we rated him badly for it'. 

In terms of Fultz vs. Tatum, why is some writer's opinion more valid than that of a long-time NBA player and GM?  Guess what?  It's not.  If Danny would have drafted Tatum first anyway, and Philly was going to give something back for the chance to draft Fultz, why not take that offer?  And to follow this guy's logic, might Fultz be better than Tatum in the long run?  Maybe.  Will Fultz be better than Tatum and whoever is drafted with the LAL or SAC pick.  Most likely not. 

In terms of Paul George, Jimmy Butler, etc., the media kept linking the Celtics to those players, but it doesn't look like Ainge actually seriously considered either of them, and Indy's GM said the supposed offer on the table didn't exist.  All along Hayward was their guy, and since all those guys play essentially the same position, there wouldn't be a point in bringing more than one of them in.  Not to mention that all Hayward cost was money, while either of the others would have required trading at least one significant player and some picks.  I think this was a good long term move, and again, Stevens knows Hayward from his college days, and Ainge decided he was the best option of these three.  How is that a bad grade? 

The media gets more stupid by the day. 

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are sort of the inverse of the Thunder story, and not just because they were the biggest name that missed out on Paul George. Like OKC, processing the Summer of Ainge means considering not just what happened, but what was possible.

What actually happened: Boston's starting nucleus is better than it was last year, and they still have more assets than any team in the league. They added Gordon Hayward, they drafted Jayson Tatum and grabbed a lottery pick from the Sixers, and they forfeited very little. Losing Avery Bradley will hurt, but they flipped him for Marcus Morris on an affordable deal, and that's better than losing Bradley for nothing next summer. After this summer, the Celtics believe they're positioned to continue winning now, with young players who will be around to keep it going well into the next decade.

What was possible: The Celtics could have come away from this summer with a potential cornerstone for the post-Warriors, post-Isaiah era, but they traded Markelle Fultz to Philly. They could've put together a title nucleus for this season, but they refused to include any of their most valuable assets in Paul George talks with the Pacers—a factor that may have annoyed Indiana into taking the OKC offer. Instead they are betting big on a poor man's version of Paul George (Hayward), a lottery pick with a lower ceiling than Markelle Fultz (Tatum), and they just traded a shooting guard who's perimeter defense helps hide Isaiah Thomas's biggest weakness. (Also, now that Fultz is in Philly and Bradley is in Detroit, Boston is likely boxed into paying huge amounts of money to Thomas next summer. How much are you winning if Hayward, Isaiah, and Horford are your Big Three?)

Without Paul George they're not all that well positioned to contend next year, and without Fultz, the young core still doesn't have any player who looks like a future superstar. Maybe that will come via next year's Nets pick? Or the Lakers/Kings pick? Or another trade? Or maybe it'll change with a promising rookie season from Tatum. The only guarantee is that arguments about the Celtics will continue for at least another few years. This is our new version of the Sixers. Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated. Grade: C

https://www.si.com/nba/2017/07/10/nba-offseason-grades-free-agency-draft-trades-rumors-summer-league

Only the Cavs were rated worse.

Riiiiiiight.

What garbage. So because Ainge didn't trade the future for one year of Paul George—a year in which the Celtics probably weren't gonna beat the Warriors, no matter what—and because Ainge felt that Markelle Fultz was not the best player in the draft for this Celtics team, the summer was a flop? Please.

[celticsclay]

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are sort of the inverse of the Thunder story, and not just because they were the biggest name that missed out on Paul George. Like OKC, processing the Summer of Ainge means considering not just what happened, but what was possible.

What actually happened: Boston's starting nucleus is better than it was last year, and they still have more assets than any team in the league. They added Gordon Hayward, they drafted Jayson Tatum and grabbed a lottery pick from the Sixers, and they forfeited very little. Losing Avery Bradley will hurt, but they flipped him for Marcus Morris on an affordable deal, and that's better than losing Bradley for nothing next summer. After this summer, the Celtics believe they're positioned to continue winning now, with young players who will be around to keep it going well into the next decade.

What was possible: The Celtics could have come away from this summer with a potential cornerstone for the post-Warriors, post-Isaiah era, but they traded Markelle Fultz to Philly. They could've put together a title nucleus for this season, but they refused to include any of their most valuable assets in Paul George talks with the Pacers—a factor that may have annoyed Indiana into taking the OKC offer. Instead they are betting big on a poor man's version of Paul George (Hayward), a lottery pick with a lower ceiling than Markelle Fultz (Tatum), and they just traded a shooting guard who's perimeter defense helps hide Isaiah Thomas's biggest weakness. (Also, now that Fultz is in Philly and Bradley is in Detroit, Boston is likely boxed into paying huge amounts of money to Thomas next summer. How much are you winning if Hayward, Isaiah, and Horford are your Big Three?)

Without Paul George they're not all that well positioned to contend next year, and without Fultz, the young core still doesn't have any player who looks like a future superstar. Maybe that will come via next year's Nets pick? Or the Lakers/Kings pick? Or another trade? Or maybe it'll change with a promising rookie season from Tatum. The only guarantee is that arguments about the Celtics will continue for at least another few years. This is our new version of the Sixers. Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated. Grade: C

https://www.si.com/nba/2017/07/10/nba-offseason-grades-free-agency-draft-trades-rumors-summer-league

Only the Cavs were rated worse.

Riiiiiiight.

What garbage. So because Ainge didn't trade the future for one year of Paul George—a year in which the Celtics probably weren't gonna beat the Warriors, no matter what—and because Ainge felt that Markelle Fultz was not the best player in the draft for this Celtics team, the summer was a flop? Please.

I do actually really believe the Celtics would win the championship next year if they could have gotten George provided they could have kept two of the three of our defensive bulldogs (would have obviously preferred losing crowder to bradley for a title run)

[fairweatherfan]

Maybe the weirdest thing is claiming Paul George alone, for just 1 year, at the likely expense of multiple starters, made us automatic contenders.  He's good, but not that good.

[tankcity!]

This is pretty much spot on, including this part:

Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated

Lol how many times do you want to be embarrassed by Ainge? It's pretty sad fans feel this way. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be a fan of this team ala the Knicks for example. Will enjoy making fun of you when we're contenders. It's not like Ainge hasn't proven you wrong enough times already. Same with Stevens.

[kozlodoev]

Yeah this seems like it's not only holding moves we didn't make against us, but mutually exclusive moves to boot.

Yes. Opportunity cost is real.

[Casperian]

That's the real kicker

Boston is likely boxed into paying huge amounts of money to Thomas next summer. How much are you winning if Hayward, Isaiah, and Horford are your Big Three?)

Without Paul George they're not all that well positioned to contend next year, and without Fultz, the young core still doesn't have any player who looks like a future superstar.

[aingeforthree]

This is pretty much spot on, including this part:

Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated

Lol how many times do you want to be embarrassed by Ainge? It's pretty sad fans feel this way. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be a fan of this team ala the Knicks for example. Will enjoy making fun of you when we're contenders. It's not like Ainge hasn't proven you fwrong enough times already. Same with Stevens.

These have got to be like trolls or a joke, or something, right ?

Ainge has this franchise setup for gold and fools still complain !!! I don't get it.

[kozlodoev]

This is pretty much spot on, including this part:

Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated

Lol how many times do you want to be embarrassed by Ainge? It's pretty sad fans feel this way. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be a fan of this team ala the Knicks for example. Will enjoy making fun of you when we're contenders. It's not like Ainge hasn't proven you wrong enough times already. Same with Stevens.

I know, Ainge is right even if he's wrong.

[tankcity!]

This is pretty much spot on, including this part:

Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated

Lol how many times do you want to be embarrassed by Ainge? It's pretty sad fans feel this way. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be a fan of this team ala the Knicks for example. Will enjoy making fun of you when we're contenders. It's not like Ainge hasn't proven you wrong enough times already. Same with Stevens.

I know, Ainge is right even if he's wrong.

Lol I know man. I mean you were right about Fultz so far. You're clearly a genius. Tatum has been so god awful this SL  . We definitely should've drafted Dunn over Brown as well. Shucks, Ainge really sucks. I wish a genius like you could be GM.

Have fun being miserable bro. Like I said, will be fun making fun of you in two years.

[dreamgreen]

This is spot on:

What actually happened: Boston's starting nucleus is better than it was last year, and they still have more assets than any team in the league. They added Gordon Hayward, they drafted Jayson Tatum and grabbed a lottery pick from the Sixers, and they forfeited very little. Losing Avery Bradley will hurt, but they flipped him for Marcus Morris on an affordable deal, and that's better than losing Bradley for nothing next summer. After this summer, the Celtics believe they're positioned to continue winning now, with young players who will be around to keep it going well into the next decade.

That's at least a stand up double, right? Maybe even a triple.

Danny had a couple of shots at HRs, but I don't think anybody can call a summer where we landed Hayward, Tatum and a likely lottery pick a "C", behind loser franchises like the Hawks.

That part is spot on and I would say close to a home run. The rest of what he said is a joke. Nobody knows what the real odds were to get PG, the cost and if he would just be a rental. Lottery picks IMO right now are worth a ton with everyone in the league getting max contracts or close to it. Only time will tell but I find it annoying people give grades before they see the end result.

Patriots didn't look to goo at half time during the Superbowl did they? At the end an "A" it's called "winning"!

[DooVoo]

Tatum will likely be more of a superstar than Fultz will ever be.

[celticsclay]

I am starting to have this feeling Fultz is going to be a bust.

[ETNCeltics]

An "I"ncomplete I can understand. A "C" I can't. We're a significantly better team than we were a year ago and have added a potentially huge draft pick.

We get a "C" for not overpaying for Paul George? Only a fool would give up good assets for a guy who is free to walk in a year. He was traded for a couple of 2nd and 3rd tier players who likely would never be anything more than the 4th or so best players on a great team.

I get his issue with the Fultz trade, I had the same issue myself. However, if we get a top 5 pick next year from that trade and get somebody like Ayton, that trade is viewed in a whole new light. And I also wanted Fultz, but Tatum's given us no reason to believe he'll be anything less than a star himself.

[Casperian]

This is pretty much spot on, including this part:

Everyone in basketball has an opinion on what the Celtics are doing with their assets, why they're doing it, and whether it's stupid or brilliant. I'm just not sure it needed to be this complicated

Lol how many times do you want to be embarrassed by Ainge? It's pretty sad fans feel this way. You have no idea how fortunate you are to be a fan of this team ala the Knicks for example. Will enjoy making fun of you when we're contenders. It's not like Ainge hasn't proven you wrong enough times already. Same with Stevens.

I know, Ainge is right even if he's wrong.

Lol I know man. I mean you were right about Fultz so far. You're clearly a genius. Tatum has been so god awful this SL  . We definitely should've drafted Dunn over Brown as well. Shucks, Ainge really sucks. I wish a genius like you could be GM.

Have fun being miserable bro. Like I said, will be fun making fun of you in two years.

I've bolded the important part of your post.