Danny Ainge reveals major factor in Celtics’ offseason acquisitions

All-NBA point guard Kyrie Irving was the wellspring, with his mercurial nature lending itself to teammates being unsure of what to say around him and his issues with leadership one of the reason’s the team experienced disharmony. Or, at least, why they weren’t more successful battling against it.

Backup point guard Terry Rozier, a favorite of Ainge’s but a player who had become increasingly disgruntled by his role, may have been another source of tension.

Where Irving would test his teammates’ patience with public finger-pointing, Rozier remained quiet as a church mouse about his discontent but played with all the passion you would expect of a church mouse as well. After having the best playing stretch of his NBA career in the 2018 Eastern Conference Playoffs, his play suffered significantly last season.

A reduction in playing time may have been the major catalyst in his counting stats not measuring up to the prior postseason but it shouldn’t have caused him to play poorly. Perhaps the best evidence that Rozier let his mood dictate his play are the performances he had in spot-starts last season.

Per NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely:, Ainge says that “it’s good to go through some adversity. But last year was a little much.”

Aside from Irving’s free agency drama, ironically caused by him making a premature and public promise to a throng of Celtics fans, and Rozier, there were a couple of other incidents that shined a light on a fractured locker room.

Former Celtics forward Marcus Morris (who signed with the New York Knicks in the offseason) and Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown’s comes to mind. It wouldn’t be the first time that teammates almost came to blows but, as much as the team tried to downplay it, it certainly wasn’t evidence of a healthy locker room.

All in all, last season’s adversity led to Ainge growing concerned about the happiness of not just his players but his coaches. Not just his head coach in the highly respected Brad Stevens — who beat himself over how last season panned out — but the coaching staff.

“My biggest concern through all of this was, I want my coach to be happy who he’s coaching and that’s the hardest job,” said Ainge.

“I’ve been at this business a long time. It’s…you gotta have fun. You really have to have joy. That doesn’t mean every minute is going to be happy. Everybody is going to face adversity and challenges and trials through the course of a season. But, it still has to be fun.”

So, does Ainge believe he rectified last season’s issues? In the short, yes.

He, and Stevens, have been especially excited about the chemistry and passion they already see from their players. Their spirit.

Traits shown throughout the offseason and that continue to be proven as rookies and veterans alike find themselves in Boston at the Celtics’ practice facility.

Ainge says he’s seen more players come to offseason workouts than he has in his entire Celtics tenure.

“I think that Brad is really excited for the year,” Ainge said. “There’s still some uncertainty what’s gonna happen. We have a new group. He really likes the spirit of the team. He likes how many people have come to offseason workouts, much more than we ever had in my 17 years here in Boston. We have a lot more players in the gym. We’d probably have a lot more if we didn’t have six playing in the World Cup.”

All-Star point guard Kemba Walker (who replaces Irving), veteran center Enes Kanter, rookie point guard Carsen Edwards (who replaces Rozier), rookie forward Grant Williams and rookie center Tacko Fall — should Fall make the team — have already done plenty to shift the mood of the Celtics and the fan base, media, locker room, coaching staff and front office are equally excited.

Then again, there was at least this much excitement about the roster this time last year, which resulted in the sky-high expectations set for the team.

This time around, expectations will be quelled and that should help as well.

The Celtics have great players who are equally great people and far fewer gritty, volatile personalities on the roster but until they experience adversity, there’s no guarantee they’ll handle it well. Only time will tell with this group but there’s undoubtedly as much reason to be excited about this group as any the Celtics have had in past seasons.

Looks like a very concerted effort to avoid the selfish, back fighting stuff that happened last season.

Hope it turns into more wins, but at least should make for a more fun team to watch.

Brad has a lot of things to figure out but his roster appears ready to come together.

We need to give the team and the coach time to gel. Hope springs external for the start of every Celtics season.

dboss wrote:Brad has a lot of things to figure out but his roster appears ready to come together.

We need to give the team and the coach time to gel.  Hope springs external for the start of every Celtics season.

oh I don't know, I still like the idea of getting Sabonis from Indiana for Langford and a non grizzlies first maybe. Would balance the roster nicely and Ainge would still control him as a RFA the next season.


But maybe I'm just still scratching my head about Ainge picking Langford in the first place.

If Ainge trades one of our prized wings for a more complete big, that’s a sign smallball positionless basketball doesn’t work, we still have time to see how everything gells, no rush IMHO.

what makes you think Sabonis is on the trading block? We would have to give up Jaylen for him, and I just cannot see him doing that. I am sure Bird would love Brown, his kind of a player. Keep Jaylen and lets see where the chips fall.

Everyone is walking on eggshells not wanting to blame Kyrie for alot of what went wrong last year. Sorry, not me. After that Milwaukee series, I truly believed he did not want to play or win. It would have just made things much harder to look like a superstar walking away after all the talk about this team and "wait until the playoffs". If I was an owner, that statement alone would have ticked me off. But this is the first article where you are reading that DA knew this team was in big trouble.

Funny, my son is a Celtics fan, and harped on me all year about Morris, saying he was one of the problems. Well, I guess he may have been right.

If this team fails this year, Kyrie will be scottfree of all blame. If they surprise everyone and win more than their fair share, ???????????????

This has been a strange year in Boston. Celtics failed to even get fans excited, and the Red Sox took the pipe, last to first to wherever they end up out of the playoffs. They are bailing the Celtics out a little

there have been stories (some even posted here) bout Indiana not having the cash to be able to keep both Turner and Sabonis and if they compliment each other as well. They already gave Turner and extension and Sabonis is a RFA (I think) next year.

I wouldn't trade Brown, Tatum or Smart for Sabonis either. But Langford's deal matches his salary wise for a trade and adding the Celtics first next year to the mix might get Bird thinking. Especially if he thinks he may not be able to pay him.

Hell I'd trade any two players not named Tatum, Brown, Smart, Walker, Hayward and Katner for him. Tell Bird to pick two...any two...but just two!



for instance , Theis and Langford make $8.4M next year and Theis has a non- guaranteed $5M next year. Langford is under his multi-year rookie deal

Sabonis ($3.5M) and Justin Holiday (one year $4.7M deal) works salary wise. Again Sabonis is a RFA next year along with Jaylen for us already.

just one trade that could work IF both teams felt it made sense of course.

If I think it makes sense, I do know it will never happen of course!

anyhow

Having really not seen much from Langford because of his surgery and recovery, I don't care much if he is the one they are talking about. I don't see how we will see much playing time. Three rookies plus Williams, that is alot to carry. I guess people are right when they say Semi could be traded, I wish there was a way to keep him. He is one hard working ball player and has worked hard this summer to improve. If he does get traded, he may be one of those players that turns into a defensive specialist on a team and very valuable

Funny last year I was saying Irving was our problem and everyone kept disagreeing with me,  kept pointing out stats he had.  I saw this early in the year that no one but Horford was really getting involved.  I bet half of Kyries assists went thru Horford.  Now if we have a bad year this year it will be more of lack of Horford playing for us than missing Kyrie. Horford is a huge loss even though he was getting up there in age.
The other factor will be if Walker gets other people involved and doesn't dominate the ball like Irving did.  If he does expect the same results or worse this year.   If we don't make it a point to make sure Tatum and Brown are heavily involved this team will go no where.

I agree about Horford for sure.

I would feel much better if Horford was here instead of Walker myself, but obviously that was not what Ainge felt.

tardust wrote:Funny last year I was saying Irving was our problem and everyone kept disagreeing with me,  kept pointing out stats he had.  I saw this early in the year that no one but Horford was really getting involved.  I bet half of Kyries assists went thru Horford.  Now if we have a bad year this year it will be more of lack of Horford playing for us than missing Kyrie. Horford is a huge loss even though he was getting up there in age.
The other factor will be if Walker gets other people involved and doesn't dominate the ball like Irving did.  If he does expect the same results or worse this year.   If we don't make it a point to make sure Tatum and Brown are heavily involved this team will go no where.

No question Tatum and Brown were underutilized last year, they were 3rd and 4th options most of the time. Brad’s coaching was off all year, Kyrie couldn’t lead or make others better, too much disfunction....I went all the way to Chicago for a Bulls game and we got totally blown out, team wasn’t on same page.

I'm heading into this season with cautious overoptimism. This season could really sway dramatically either way depending upon who shows up and to what degree.

We know we are really unlucky when it comes to injuries every season so just the slightest swing to the positive on this could really fast forward intangibles like chemistry and synergy. Maybe it's just me being micro-focused on the Celtics, but it certainly seems we get more than our fair share each season. Teams at the top experience injuries but not to our degree. I may be wrong. Just a feeling I get.

If the real Gordon Hayward shows up and looks anything even remotely close to Utah GH, that will be spell danger for the competition. No one in the league is really putting the radar on him for the last two seasons (understandably) so he's almost a non-event in that aspect and they have no plans for how to defend him. We know he can put up 30 on any given night and that wasn't even at full speed last season. He's a big one piece of this puzzle.

Tandem JT & JB - This may need to be the one constant, night in and night out. Essentially the glue holding everything together. These two know the spotlight is blaring on the both of them this year much like what you get using a magnifying glass on the sun with a piece of paper. It's Saturday and it's moving day at the Masters.

I'm not well versed on the center/Big Man situation as there seems to be the constant struggle between the past and the future of the NBA here in their regard with where they fit in if at all. The ramping up of the 3-ball has definitely put them in a state of flux.

Brad is somewhat on the hot seat after last year's performance. I don't see Danny swinging the ax early via his contract, but DA has provided him with pretty much a completely new look and reset. Brad does work better in the off the radar, underdog role. But eventually he is going to have to crossover that bridge to get the ring and rid himself of whatever ghosts he may have as a coach.

As for a range of finishes, this team could either barely make/miss the playoffs or could scare 2nd or even 1st in the East. This will depend on a lot of things that are out of their control but most is in their control.

Finally for our four on the FIBA USA Team. It definitely helped developed some chemistry to bring back to Boston for the upcoming season. Pop is a great coach to have and learn from. But they also saw in a microcosm there is a still a long way and a lot of work to go to reach a championship.

db

kdp59 wrote:

dboss wrote:Brad has a lot of things to figure out but his roster appears ready to come together.

We need to give the team and the coach time to gel.  Hope springs external for the start of every Celtics season.

oh I don't know, I still like the idea of getting Sabonis from Indiana for Langford and a non grizzlies first maybe. Would balance the roster nicely and Ainge would still control him as a RFA the next season.


But maybe I'm just still scratching my head about Ainge picking Langford in the first place.

I do not see Sabonis coming here.

Langford was a curious pick but if Danny decides to move JB you have another young wing to fill in.  Boston does not have a lot of depth at SG.

The Celtics could use a long and athletic PF.  Maybe RW can fill that need at least on the defensive end.

dboss wrote:

kdp59 wrote:

dboss wrote:Brad has a lot of things to figure out but his roster appears ready to come together.

We need to give the team and the coach time to gel.  Hope springs external for the start of every Celtics season.

oh I don't know, I still like the idea of getting Sabonis from Indiana for Langford and a non grizzlies first maybe. Would balance the roster nicely and Ainge would still control him as a RFA the next season.


But maybe I'm just still scratching my head about Ainge picking Langford in the first place.

I do not see Sabonis coming here.

Langford was a curious pick but if Danny decides to move JB you have another young wing to fill in.  Boston does not have a lot of depth at SG.

The Celtics could use a long and athletic PF.  Maybe RW can fill that need at least on the defensive end.

I agree, but you nave to admit it would lower concerns many of us have about our bigs.

Kdp59

Sabonis is a solid PF. He is physical and can rebound and score. He is a step slow on defense and commits a lot of fouls.

I do not think he checks all the boxes.

Regardless, it may be best to let this team play some games before dumping Lanford and a first rounder.

We really do not know how things will fit together.

Agreed it’s not like he’s KG, let’s see what G Will and Theis or in smallball lineups, what GH/Tatum can do. X factor is RW as a Rodman clone.

G Williams remains a dark horse candidate to get some starts at PF.  If he can defend the 4 and show ability in defensive rotations then he will get minutes.

What he brings to the table will be established.

I am hoping that RW finally gets a chance to play meaningful minutes.  

I cannot wait to see VP run the floor and bang down low.  Boston should be a more physical team at the 5.  Kanter will be a better defender this year because he will be playing with guys that actually want to play defense.

Agreed dboss, if you defend and can’t secure the rebound what good is that? We should be a better defensive team this year.