WTF Danny Ainge?

While I don't wish ill-health on any man, I honestly hope Danny Ainge has had a stroke that impaired his judgment. What else could explain trading away two of the greatest Celtics of all time for the likes of Kris Humphries and 3 years of Gerald Wallace for $30 million? Even though I generally defend Ainge's moves such as the Perk-Green trade and Sullinger pick, I have to say that this deal is atrocious.

First of all, Boston isn't saving that much money. If they didn't want to pay Paul Pierce, they could have paid $5 million to buy him out instead of paying $12 million for Kris the Stiff Humphries. Garnett is signed for 2 more seasons of about $12 million a year and he's still an excellent, durable big man. Wallace, on the other hand, is often injured and averaged 8 points a game last season including 64% free throw shooting. The Celtics do shed 2 years of The Jet for $5 million, but as disappointing as he was this year, he still played better than Wallace. Furthermore, The Celtics will lose a shit-ton of money in jersey and ticket sales as well as losing several appearances on national TV.

Most C's fans agreed that Deandre Jordan was overpaid and not a worthy centerpiece to a KG deal, but I'd much rather have him over these Brooklyn scrubs (not to mention Wallace is a dirty player who had one of the worst dunk contest performances ever.) We even ended up with the two biggest Brooklyn offenders from this season's fight at the Garden.

The 3 draft picks are obviously nice but only to a point. Brooklyn should be a top 5 team next season and we'll be seeing them in the playoffs for years to come. These probably won't be lower than 20th picks, so the odds of really changing the franchise with them are slim. Also, the Celtics still aren't bad enough to tank - if Rondo comes back healthy, we've still got an All-Star point guard and good forward in Jeff Green, plus Sully and Bradley have pretty good potential and Bass and Lee are solid. These won't be The Charlotte Bobcats, Orlando Magic, or Phoenix Suns, so I don't see us getting a number one pick like Andrew Wiggins in future drafts. And if Ainge is so determined to stockpiled draft picks, why would he throw away two second rounders to move up a measly 3 spots to draft Kelly Olynyk?

Let's not forget that Ainge made this happen: neither Doc, Paul, or Kevin were in positions to force trades. Ainge always said he didn't want his Big 3 to fade away like Bird, McHale, and Parish did, but the only time he actually had a good trade for one of his stars, when the Grizzlies nearly swapped OJ Mayo for Ray Allen, he couldn't get it done. Ray's championship with the Heat made Ainge look weak for letting him go, so he overcompensates by trading 2 better players for even less.

If Ainge had just kept Pierce and KG, the Celtics would still be a decent playoff team and maybe even have another exciting run. The owners would still be making money since Pierce and Garnett are 2 of the more marketable guys in the league and fans would be proud of the team. People always say the worst thing to be in the NBA is too bad to win titles but too good to get lottery picks, but that just isn't true. The Brooklyn Nets were in said position this morning and now they're legit contenders. Unfortunately, Ainge was so determined to blow it up that he crippled the team and gut-punched the fanbase, somehow making the future look dimmer than it already did.


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