Regardless of feelings on the trade, does anybody really believe that Danny thinks he "owes" players anything?
He traded Antoine. He traded Pierce and KG. He almost traded Ray. He traded Perk and Rondo. And Avery. And IT.
When Danny makes trades, he doesn't do it out of a sense of obligation to any individual player. His loyalty is to ownership and the franchise.
It's just an odd, obviously untrue thing to say.
I don't know. It's the thing that made me wonder the most. And here's how I see it:
Horford and Hayward both left competitive teams where they'd been their entire careers to come to the Celtics. Presumably Ainge promised them the team would compete for championships, and not merely playoff appearances.
With the others, it's (mostly) different. He neither drafted nor extended Walker. No promise there. He did draft and give second contracts to Perk, Rondo, and Bradley, but at the same time, none were unrestricted free agents, and all three made it to the final season of their second deal and were moved either before or during that last season. I'd be surprised if those three were promised anything more than money and a chance to prove themselves, which all three received.
IT was on the same contract when he was acquired by trade as he was when traded away. Certainly no promises were made when he joined the team, other than a chance to prove himself, which he obviously did.
I don't know what promises were made to Pierce, KG, and Ray. He promised Pierce they would try to compete when he brought on KG and Ray, which is why Pierce didn't demand a trade himself and why KG ultimately waived his no-trade clause. They won a championship, so that promise was delivered. Does it still hold true 5 years later when Ainge tried to trade Ray? A year later when Pierce and KG were traded? I don't know. Obviously Ray was upset when he was almost traded -- but did he feel specifically betrayed by a promise Ainge had made him, or generally betrayed like most players certainly feel after a trade? Beats me.
KG waived a no-trade clause to leave, meaning he ultimately was okay enough with it. Both he and Pierce could have remained with a Celtics team going nowhere and getting a new coach, but that wasn't what they signed up for anyway. I don't know how much of a promise was broken.
Anyway, I don't like the trade (still). But I do see Horford and Hayward being different from all the rest, in terms of promises that might have been made.
Topic: Ainge On Trading 2018 Nets Pick: "Owed It To Horford And Hayward" (Read 18498 times)