Always amazed by the narrative on this one, that Ainge got lucky (true) but that Jordan's an idiot.
Not that I don't think Jordan is an idiot when it comes to GM moves, but it's the way the narrative focuses solely on Jordan here.
According to Simmons, the deal was offered to New York (#4), Detroit (#8), Charlotte (#9), and Miami (#10), but everybody just makes fun of Jordan for not making the trade while the other teams have mostly stayed free from criticism. And I have to think if it was offered to 4 and 8-10, then it was likely offered to 5-7 as well, but again I only really ever see Jordan criticized here. Only New York should be off the hook for taking Porzingis.
And if Simmons interpretation is to believed, Jordan was contemplating it but couldn't figure it out in time, while Riley just laughed at Ainge and hung up. Who deserves more criticism, the guy trying to figure out if the deal could work, or the guy who laughed at it and didn't even consider it?
I think the Knicks passed on it, I know the Pistons passed on it. Whatever it was eight, nine, 10. It was Pistons passed. They offered the same thing. They wouldn’t even talk about it, because they wanted to take Stanley Johnson.
The ninth pick was Charlotte. Jordan couldn’t figure it out in time and finally didn’t do it, so they passed on those four picks, one of which would have been Jaylen Brown. Another one would have been Rozier.
And then the 10th pick, they called Riley, and Riley just laughed and hung up on them. Riley was like, “No, I’m taking Justise Winslow. I’ll talk to you guys later.”