I said last week I don’t think Danny Ainge realizes how much trouble the Celtics are in. And that was before Saturday’s absolutely appalling, ah, win against the G-League team in Oak City they call the Thunder that came from a fourth-quarter blitz after a total non-effort during the first three quarters, when somehow they let a guy I never heard of go for 17 points and a Wilt Chamberlain-like 19 rebounds by halftime. Throw in their mostly lethargic play since an 8-2 start, best exemplified by their two losses to Brooklyn as they got rolled by Kyrie Irving, and it tells all you need to know. A total lack of fight and pride.
But the bigger problem is the decision-making for personnel by Ainge, which after a long run of terrific moves has been mostly terrible for three years. It’s led to a major talent drain as Irving, Al Horford, Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier have walked while getting only the comparable, but oft injured, Kemba Walker back. This is compounded by an inability to build a stronger bench because of an irrational reluctance to part with his war chest of draft assets in deals. His many major draft misses over the last 10 years have led people to logically ask, if he can’t draft consistently, why not trade the picks for a guy you know can play in the NBA? Instead he keeps them, drafts badly and then is unable to get anything of value for players like Grant Williams and Aaron Nesmith because they are marginal players.
Not all of the decisions and draft picks have been bad, but many have. Here’s a summary.
2011-2012–Drafted: JaJuan Johnson (27th overall). Passed on: Jimmy Butler (29), Chandler Parsons (38). Coming and going: Big Baby Davis traded for Brandon Bass. End game: JaJuan lasted one year in the league, while Butler is a star and the kind of leader the Celtics lack.
2012-2013 –Drafted: Jared Sullinger (21) and Fab Melo (22). Passed on: Jae Crowder (34), Draymond Green (35), Khris Middleton (39). Coming and going: no one of consequence. End game: Sullinger was a serviceable player, while the late (not so) Fab actually outdid JuJuan by playing just six NBA games.
2013-2014 –Drafted: Kelly Olynyk (traded up to 13). Passed on: Giannis Antetokounmpo (15), Rudy Gobert (27). Coming and going: Nothing of any real consequence added or lost. End game: It’s hard to understand how Danny could be so in love with 3-point-shooting bigs, instead of 6’11” athletes who give 100 percent of their effort on every single play. The biggest mistake of the Ainge era.
2014-2015 –Drafted: Marcus Smart (6) and James Young (17). Passed on: Clint Capela (21), Nikola Jokic (41). Coming and going: A tank-athon season began with KG, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry being traded to Brooklyn. Trades of Jeff Green, Rajon Rondo and a draft pick brought back a first-round pick, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas. End game:Thomas trade shockingly turned a team headed nowhere into a playoff team.They wasted the first Brooklyn pick on Young, but the trade eventually delivered Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Irving, so it was a major win. Despite going sixth Smart was the second best guy drafted after Joel Embiid.
2015-2016 – Drafted: Rozier (16) and RJ Hunter (28). Passed on: Montrezl Harrell (32), Norman Powell (46). Coming and going: No major moves. End game: Rozier showed promise, but Hunter wasn’t the knock-down shooter he was billed as, but sadly Powell eventually was/is.
2016-2017 –Drafted: Brown (3), Guerschon Yabusele (16), Ante Zizic (23). Passed on: Pascal Siakam (27), Malcolm Brogdon (36). Coming and/or going: Signed Al Horford as a free agent in a very good move. End game: Brown has been even better than expected. But with Yabusele looking 50 pounds overweight on draft night, it’s mind-boggling Ainge took him at all, let alone in Round 1. His worst pick ever and when you also know he also picked JaJuan, Fab and RJ Jr. that’s saying something.
2017-2018–Drafted: Tatum (3). Passed on: De’Aaron Fox (5), Donovan Mitchell (13), Bam Adebayo (14). Coming and going: Callously dumped Thomas in trade for Irving and with signing Hayward optimism ran amok until six minutes into the season when Hayward suffered a gruesome injury. End game:Came within a half of going to the NBA finals with both Kyrie and Hayward sidelined for the playoffs.
2018-2019–Drafted: Robert Williams (28). Passed on: Devonte Graham (34).Coming and going: No notable transactions.End game: A dumpster fire of a season from start to early finish. Time Lord looks like a gift at 28.
2019-2020 – Drafted: Romeo Langford (14), Grant Williams (22). Passed on: no one notable. Coming and going: Before the year Kyrie and Horford walked for nothing in return and the Rozier now scoring 20 per night went for injury-hampered Kemba Walker. End game: Much better year but should have stuck with Rozier and traded Kyrie a season earlier.
2020-2021 – Drafted: Aaron Nesmith (14), Payton Pritchard (26). Passed on: Saddiq Bey (19), Immanuel Quickley (25). Coming and going: Lost Hayward after passing on a deal for shot-blocking stretch 4 Myles Turner and Doug McDermott. Instead took a $28 million trade exception with 17 just sent for Evan Fournier. End game: Danny blew the deal for Hayward with Indiana. And while Fournier is solid, is using the valuable exception on a two-month rental a smart play by a team going nowhere?
How would the Cs look now if they got one or more of Butler, Green, Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Harrell and Siakam? Or by sending Nesmith, Lankford, Hunter, JuJuan and others away in deals for veterans when their value as draft picks is much higher than after being taken? Bottom line: Danny had better get it together because guys get fired for the kind of streak he’s on.
