Should Danny Ainge be, or already have been on the hot seat

http://www.celticsblog.com/2016/3/20/11271998/should-danny-ainge-be-or-already-have-been-on-the-hot-seat

How has Ainge’s Celtics, not yet under the three years of Brad Stevens as the head coach, not yet have picked up a legitimate center, is baffling. I am having a hard time trusting in Danny, such a glaring hole can not go un-dealt with for 4 years. In any other franchise Ainge would have been ousted with no wonderment of why. In the past 4 seasons, dating back to our beloved Doc River’s days, we (as in the Celtics) have always known that a genuine rim protector of the paint was a position of urgency and necessity. Under the reign of "Trader Danny" the commitment to guys at 6 feet 8 inches playing underneath the rim is almost a given, at least three players at this size would be on the roster, all with similar skill sets ( Glen Davis, Brandon Bass, Sullinger). The Celtics, have too long gone without a natural center, disrupting any chance of parading through the playoffs.

Coaching offense in the NBA is really not that hard of a concept, high pick and rolls with shooters surrounding the perimeters right? One of the most important positions on the floor is not the man standing at the three line, merely to space the floor, it’s the seven foot big man setting the screen and rolling to the basket, awaiting a pass or securing his spot in the paint for a rebound or perhaps an alley-oop. It is the giant in the middle whose presence is felt most prominently, not to mention the defensive side of the ball, where his existence would be needed most. Ainge has drafted big men poorly (Fab Melo, Colton Iverson), and instead has opted for the hybrid bigs, where their weaknesses outweigh their strengths. Hopefully, Jordan Mickey will help the Boston Celtics and Danny Ainge keep his job. At least give us Celtics fans a Plumlee, geez.


My note: Here's another Celtic fan that doesn't get it. Scroll down and read the comments. John McKay has a couple good ones. I am sure that Danny doesn't work alone, most major decisions involve the owner's input to some degree.

Thought there was a sale on centers at K-mart?

beat

I would doubt that Ainge is on the hotseat at this time, but do agree that he has had very little (if any) luck with drafting centers since becoming our GM.

The team struggled this week, but has been on a very nice path toward rebuilding for three years since Garnett and Pierce were traded including having a bunch (maybe even too many?) draft picks, good young NBA talent and salary cap space heading into year number four of the post Pierce era. I doubt that much more could have been done better by anyone else in this time period.

Now about drafting centers....unfortunately no positives to announce on this front to date AND this is still a big hole that needs to be filled on this team that may not get filled with draft picks this year either.

For this reason (and others) the big guy in Sacremento still needs to be a target via trade. Finding a shooting and scoring wing is also an issue, but needs to be filled AFTER a center is found.

With 30 teams in the NBA (all else being equal) we can expect to win a championship once every 30 years, and go to the finals twice every 30 years. We've already done that with Danny as GM, and if somehow Danny stayed in his position all 30 years I'd expect to be well ahead of the average.

first off we all laugh at the Danny on the hot seat title, as we should.

his quicker than thought rebuild after Pierce and KG has him firmly planted in his seat for a while.

but the writer is correct in that Danny does have a blind spot for big men. He doesn't draft them and when he does he drafts badly and he seems to sign smaller players over bigger men most times (see Amir coming here for $12M and Robin Lopez going to the Knicks for $13M).

now maybe Danny begged/pleaded/ offered the moon to Lopez (and others) and was rebuffed, only press leaks would allow us to know such things. But the history says big men are a bit of blind spot for Ainge.

hot seat though.....NOT.

This subject makes me laugh. All of a sudden Danny has a target on his back because he has been so successful in building a competitive team faster than anyone could have imagined. The fact that he has not traded or drafted a big man is not from a lack of trying, no one works harder than Danny. But he is not going to sign someone or trade away pieces for an overpaid center who may or may not help the team. I applaud Danny for the way he has pulled this all together so fast. Cousins? I am not so sure he is the answer. But he has to be made available before Danny can even think about him.

Too many people have forgotten that this was supposed to be a long range rebuild. Who would have ever guessed we would be where we are today. Give credit where credit is due, Danny Ainge is mostly responsible for this.

I hate articles like this, where the guy makes a statement like 'Ainge has failed to get a center' and doesn't offer concrete examples of where he could have done better. So who should Danny have drafted at the positions he had? Who should he have signed in free agency?

Also, which team that is 'parading through the playoffs' has a dominant traditional center? Cleveland doesn't have one. Neither does GS or the Spurs. The Heat had Bosh at center when they won.

It might be best to forget this article and pick up a copy of the current Sports Illustrated.  The March 21 edition has a great article on the Celtics entitled Going Green.  It's a complimentary piece that talks about how The Celtics are proving that it's possible to be competitive while rebuilding.  Much more about Stevens than Ainge, but gives a positive nod to both.

For those wondering about the potential value of Denzel Valentine of MSU in the '16 draft, the same SI has a nice feature about him.  Sheds a light on NBA-worthy aspects of his game you won't see from the so called "mock draft experts."

BaronV wrote:I hate articles like this, where the guy makes a statement like 'Ainge has failed to get a center' and doesn't offer concrete examples of where he could have done better.  So who should Danny have drafted at the positions he had?  Who should he have signed in free agency?

Also, which team that is 'parading through the playoffs' has a dominant traditional center?  Cleveland doesn't have one.  Neither does GS or the Spurs.  The Heat had Bosh at center when they won.  

well I pointed out one FA change this off-season already. for others I would have to have more time to research previous years Free agents and the contracts they signed over who Danny signed.

but drafts are easier.

2008 draft:
Danny took Gidden's a SG at 30

Pekovic went 31
D. Jordan went 32
Asik went 33

2012:
the famous Fab melo pick at 22
with Plumlee and Ezeli on the board

2013:
trading up from #16 for Kelly O.

Dieng and Gobert we picked later in the round


2014:
James Young at #17

Clint Capela at #25


2015:

T. Rozier at #16

B. Portis at 22 (not a center but a big man )


again I am not saying that Ainge is a bad GM at all, but I think we can all agree that everyone has faults. And some feel that one of Dannys is his blind spot for big men. Maybe it's all Tree Rollins fault?

The question was intended to be rhetorical... of course it's possible to review draft choices in retrospect and find better ones, but my point was that the author didn't. He just complained, and didn't offer an alternative case as to what he would have done differently.

Draft is a crap shoot every time some posts how DA whiffed on picks, well so did a lot of other GM's too. At least this year and potentially in the coming years we will have more picks to take a few flyers