Bulpett: Danny Ainge saw Celtics’ end coming

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2016/04/bulpett_danny_ainge_saw_celtics_end_coming



Bulpett: Danny Ainge saw Celtics’ end coming




Steve Bulpett Friday, April 29, 2016





Credit: Matt Stone
R.J. Hunter and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge walk off the court after losing to the Atlanta Hawks 104-92



Danny Ainge isn’t a sentimental man when it comes to the decisions he has to make about his basketball team. In that regard, he wasn’t necessarily in the mood late last evening to appreciate the steps forward taken by the Celtics this season.

“It’s a tough time to ask that right now,” said the president of basketball operations as he walked away from a 104-92 Game 6 elimination loss to Atlanta. “I think that we all expected better and more. I don’t think we played our best. We did have some injuries and we weren’t at our best, but we certainly didn’t play our best during the playoffs.”

The Celts once again crumbled on offense, shooting 36.2 percent in their walkoff game, and this time their defense followed suit as they fell behind by as many as 28 on their own floor while Bill Russell looked on at a performance he had to find hard to understand.

Ainge saw it coming.

“I think that was a weakness that we had going in, and we got taken out of our offense easier than we should,” he said. “Losing Avery (Bradley, hamstring) just magnified that.

“Listen, I’m not trying to disrespect the Hawks in any way. They are a good team, and we knew they were going to be a tough matchup for us. But, again, it’s not so much the result as much as we just … we had some great moments in the series, we just had a lot of droughts. I just thought we didn’t even play up to our capability, that’s all.”

That said, Ainge acknowledged the eight-game improvement from a season ago and the wins over Golden State and Cleveland.

“I really enjoyed this team,” he said. “I really enjoyed watching them play. I loved their fight. I loved their resolve and heart. It was a fun group of guys to be around.

“I just wish for them and for the coaches, they put in so much time and work that I wish it would have ended better. My expectations were not an NBA championship, but I did expect us to play better. I know everybody’s hurting tonight. It’s not what we expected.”

But it couldn’t have been unexpected either when taking into account the absence of Bradley after the first game and the injuries to others.

“Isaiah (Thomas) was playing with a sprained mid-foot, and it was amazing that he played through that and did as well as he did. Jae (Crowder) had a bone bruise with the high ankle sprain, and he’ll probably be healthy in a month from now. And Kelly (Olynyk)’s shoulder is nowhere near 100 percent. He wasn’t able to get up a lot of shots and wasn’t able to practice at all for the last while.”

So the games are over for the players, but, in terms of the franchise’s future, the competition is really just heating up. There is the NBA draft lottery on May 17 to see what gift will be arriving from Brooklyn. The draft itself is June 23 with both pick and trade opportunities, and then free agency follows.

With all the assets at his disposal — including cap space for two maximum salary free agents — this summer has the potential to alter the face of the Celtics for the next decade. At the very least, they would like to take a giant step or two.

“Yeah, I hope so,” said Ainge. “We’ll be working hard to try to improve the team, and we hope that we have some good choices. But we have a lot of guys that we really like and that we want to build around, and we hope that we have a lot of options.

“I hope that we make some changes, sure. Significant? I don’t know what that means, but I hope that we can make some changes to improve our team.”

One shouldn’t be concerned that having guys they “really like” will get in the way of a major move.

“You take everything into account, and you don’t get emotional about now,” Ainge said. “I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of who everybody is. I certainly don’t overreact to a bad couple of games in the playoffs or tough matchups or things like that. I’ve been around a long time in the NBA, and I’ve seen a lot of mistakes made doing that. We’ll evaluate the whole year and the whole two years with most everybody that we’ve had here, and we also have to evaluate the entire league at the same time.”

Ainge also hinted that some of what can help the Celtics may already be here.

“It’s an opportunity league, and there’s a lot of guys that get an opportunity and they shine,” he said. “And we have some guys on our team that really haven’t had an opportunity yet, so we have to evaluate all 15 of our guys and the draft and free agency and the entire league.



bob
MY NOTE: “You take everything into account, and you don’t get emotional about now,”. Man, if that doesn't sum Danny up well. Ol' Softy, that's him...


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