Mark down this day folks. April 29th is officially the last day of Danny Ainge?s honeymoon. Sure he was booed early in the season and criticized throughout the year. But nothing compared to what will befall him if he doesn?t produce now. He?s had scapegoats all along, and he?s systematically eliminated each of them from the organization. The last of the old guard were Carroll, Blount, and McCarty. With the slightly possible exception of McCarty, none will be back next year. Pierce is a made-man so he doesn?t count. I don?t pretend that he?s untouchable, but I put the odds of him not being back somewhere between slim and none. So this is it. His vision is coming into focus. He has ?his? guys in place. He has all his knights, bishops, rooks, and pawns set up. Now that the pesky season and playoffs are over, he can start the GM?s version of the playoffs, the offseason. While his legacy has already been defined by this last year of roster overhaul, what he does in the next few months will determine his fate. Hiring Doc Rivers is a bold move. Doc is every sportswriter?s best buddy. You can almost make a case that this hire was in part, a publicity move. Celtics fans are already rinsing the bad taste of the playoff sweep out of their mouth with this fresh new face that was once voted Coach of the Year. From what I hear, Doc and Ainge are close friends and share an offensive gameplan vision. Doc took this job knowing full well what kind of meddlesome GM Ainge has been thus far. Perhaps he knows that if he?s on Ainge?s good side, he?ll get anything and everything he wants. Perhaps he got a promise from Danny that he would back off since Doc is ?his? guy and he trusts him to an extent that he didn?t trust the Pitino-clones. Who knows? Here?s hoping it works one way or another. But Danny can?t blame the coach anymore. This is his hire and Danny will have to answer to the public if Doc fails. The honeymoon is over Danny. If you thought they booed you before, just wait and see what happens if you don?t hit for the cycle this offseason (coach, draft, expansion draft, free agents, trades).
:thumbsup: YEAH! You made it! Ladies and Gents of the Celtic Nation (and Justball, in general)Please welcome, The man, the living legend: ranter. Not to mention, a good freind of mine. Great poster, whom I'm sure you'll enjoy trading posts with.
Very nice, I'm glad to see you here, if you're a friend of hagrid's you must be quite the poster. Great post, this offseason will most definetly determine Ainge's fate. I'm wondering though, what do you think Ainge should do in the draft and expansion draft?
I gotta think that priority #1 is to package the picks and a contract like Yogi to get a talented Power Forward. I am in favor of shopping Ricky too, provided we get some quality in return. You gotta give up something to get something and I tend to believe that Ricky's value is at its peak now. by the way, thanks for the welcome
In all honesty, I get the feeling that Ricky's stock was at an alltime high at the end of last season, and at the moment it has taken a slow downward curve ever since then. I am not sure what you could get for him at the moment, but he might net you some veteran help in the frontcourt or the backcourt. Raw talent doesn't always mean success, it seems, and if I were Danny I wouldn't be expecting too much for him.
by the way, you guys should know I'm a prima donna. I demand my own dressing room, with the green and white M&M's separated in their own bowls, and someone to make crank calls to Bill Laimbeer. or I might settle for one of those fancy signature pictures
ranter: http://www.justbball.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=184 I created my own (as you can probaly tell by the different feel and lower quality ) However, Just put in a request to someone there and they'll take care of it for you, or you always have the option of doing one yourself.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting hagrid:</div><div class="quote_post">ranter: http://www.justbball.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=184 I created my own (as you can probaly tell by the different feel and lower quality ) However, Just put in a request to someone there and they'll take care of it for you, or you always have the option of doing one yourself.</div> Good point, I think I'll try my hand at one first. If I fail, I can come back and make a request.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ranter:</div><div class="quote_post">While his legacy has already been defined by this last year of roster overhaul, what he does in the next few months will determine his fate.</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quoting BC:</div><div class="quote_post">Great post, this offseason will most definetly determine Ainge's fate.</div> I wouldn't necessarily agree with either of your comments. Danny Ainge took over Boston last year with the intention of rebuilding, both on the court and in the office. I personally have never heard of any rebuilding process that took only one season to complete. This summer is entirely too early to be judging his success or failure. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting ranter:</div><div class="quote_post">I gotta think that priority #1 is to package the picks and a contract like Yogi to get a talented Power Forward. I am in favor of shopping Ricky too, provided we get some quality in return.</div> Exactly, Getting rid of some dead weight type contracts would be ideal. Although I think Ricky Davis has played well in Boston and fits into the style perfectly, I wouldn't be opposed to shipping him off to aquire a low post presense. If Danny and Doc could possibly move Davis, Yogi or Raef, and some draft picks to aquire a talented low post presense they could benefited greatly. A solid power foward or center could pay dividends in the eastern conference, obtaining one should rank as the highest of priorities. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">In all honesty, I get the feeling that Ricky's stock was at an alltime high at the end of last season, and at the moment it has taken a slow downward curve ever since then.</div> I disagree. Ricky Davis was dubbed as a trouble maker in Cleveland, although the numbers were the best in his career. Teams were afraid to aquire Ricky because of his attitude, his selfishness, and his character in general. All of that has certainly been erased in Boston. Ricky has proven he is willing to adapt to new roles to benefit the team, and he's shown success in doing so. His character has also improved tremendously since joining Boston, besides a few minor incidents, I think he's shown GM's around the league that he can be a professional. The difference now is Ricky's character has improved, he's become more team oriented and has shown he can coincide with teammates and coaches. Looking back to his days in Cleveland, the numbers were there but the aforementioned qualities were not. That's why his stock is indeed at an alltime high and with a very favorable contract, he certainly wouldn't be a hard player to move at face value.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Danny Ainge took over Boston last year with the intention of rebuilding, both on the court and in the office. I personally have never heard of any rebuilding process that took only one season to complete. This summer is entirely too early to be judging his success or failure.</div> Then don't think of it as rebuilding. Think of it as RELOADING. He's taking the blanks out of the gun and inserting live ammo. Very true thta no rebuilding ever takes place in such a short time (usually) but the Summer moves are looked at as the benchmark for really getting a feel for where Dannyboy's going and will be figured in as a big peice of gaining the confidence and support of a large number of the Celtic Nation whom are giving him some leadway to see where it's all going. We're Boston fans, of course, so that means we expect results on a shorter time table and Dannyboy knows that. That's why the summer is key, because it will set the tone for support for the rest of the upcoming season.
all solid points to clarify a bit, I am not looking for a 6 month fix where we are all of a sudden championship contenders - I don't think anyone is what I want to see by the time the dust settles on the trading deadline next season is this: 1. young players with real talent and future in place and getting a feel for the game with significant playing time 2. any/all dead weight contracts off the books, replaced by productive, value-players 3. any/all players with larger deals still on the books, PERFORMING to a level that justifies their salary - I believe that Raef does have the potential to earn his huge paycheck, I just want to see it a lot of this depends on the players, but to me its also Danny's responsibility to evaluate those players and make sure the ones that can get it done are in Celtic green and the ones that cannot are wearing our opponents colors.
