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Ainge: We came close to doing some things…

Chuck - Red's Army February 18, 2016 Celtics News 15 Comments

The trade deadline came and went today with the Celtics making exactly ZERO moves. Al Horford seemed the most realistic option, but the Hawks didn’t move anyone noteworthy.

In the end, Danny Ainge just didn’t see anything he liked:

“I feel like we came close to doing some things, but ultimately we didn’t. There were no deals we felt were good enough to do,” Ainge said Thursday during a conference call after the 3 p.m. deadline passed.

Ainge had also made it known that he would continue to hunt for a superstar, but that he was leery of giving up too much for one who would become a free agent at season’s end.

“We have an opportunity in the spring and during the summer to make our team better, much better than the opportunity we had this time in February. So we’re anxious for this spring and summer and to have another crack at it,” Ainge said.

Ainge added that he was somewhat tempted to make a short-term move (i.e. bring in a guy for the playoff push), but the proposals weren’t attractive enough. I don’t have a problem with standing pat.

I’m standing firmly behind Danny. He fleeced the Nets, hired Brad Stevens and acquired Isaiah Thomas for peanuts. He knows what he’s doing.

But…

Ainge is starting to run out of time. He can’t add 4 rookies to the roster next season. And I’m pretty sure Celtics fans will go ape-shit if he doesn’t use some of that cap space to acquire Horford, Kevin Love or any other big name star this off-season.

UPDATE: Kelly Olynyk’s shoulder injury is semi-serious:

“He [Olynyk] received treatment throughout the All-Star break,” Ainge said. “And he definitely won’t be playing for the next couple of weeks.”

Crap. Let’s hope the injury doesn’t cool off KO’s torrid 3-point shooting.

Redunkulous

Danny, I wish you had taken this approach during the 2011 deadline
- Frank Aziza
  
  Right on brother I think we get to the finals again If he never made that dumb trade
art

Chuck, Danny did not fleece the Nets. The Nets were a strong contender at the time of that deal. There was no way anyone could know that the Nets would suddenly become a bottom tier team. A lot of it the Nets did to themselves. For example, why in the world did they not re-sign Paul Pierce? And the Deron Williams trade along with his injuries. And injuries to Lopez and Kirilenko. There is certainly an element of luck involved as there always is. And remember – the Nets unloaded several players they did not want in their C’s mega-deal including Gerald Wallace.
- Rod Shaftwell
  
  Danny did fleece the Nets. Its what ended up happening.
  
  Although Chuck wrote “He knows what he’s doing” afterward, I don’t think he explicitly meant that Danny knew exactly how it would turn out. It turned out about as good as it could have.
  
  As far as resigning Pierce, we all still love him but we moved on. On top of that Paul signed with teams that were better than the Celtics (at the time of signing) because he wants to have another shot at a championship. Can you blame him?
  - art
    
    fleece: v.t. – to steal from by fraud; swindle.
    I respectfully disagree with you guys. Just because the deal is working out the way it is, you’re calling it a fleece. There was no ill intent by Danny.. The Nets came to Danny and wanted it done by unanimous vote of Brooklyn’s front office. That’s not a fleece.. And the draft range could easlly be much lower if the Nets were smarter about their business.
    You mis-read the re-signing of Pierce. It was the NETS that did not re-sign him. After one single season. Bad decision, very bad.
    - Rod Shaftwell
      
      You’re reading too much into the word fleece here bro. It’s just a bit of hyperbole.
      
      Yeah I definitely read your Pierce comment wrong sorry about that.
      - art
        
        And what would you all be saying if the Nets had won the Eastern Conference (or more) which they may have if LBJ was not in Miami? It was a fair trade that didn’t work out as well as the Nets wanted, but may work out better than expected for the C’s. A lot of that is just plain luck. I understand the hyperbole explanation, but listen, the last thing we need is for Danny to have a reputation for “fleecing” his trade partners, Good deals will become impossible. So be happy that the C’s are in the position they’re in and avoid the negative comments about the Nets.
    - Frank Aziza
      
      You’re reading the definition of the word fleeced. It’s just a term us basketball junkies use when describing bad deals and who got the best of it. Everyone is saying it has a chance of going down as the most lopsided trade in NBA history.
  - Frank Aziza
    
    True but Danny did have to think by 2018 that draft pick would be gold. Maybe he’s a little shocked that this year’s draft pick and next years draft pick are also gold
- Frank Aziza
  
  He fleeced them. That deal goes on till the 2018 draft. How can u not think the nets would bottom out? Joe Johnson, PP and KG will be 50 years old this year.
  - art
    
    fleece: v.t. – to steal from by fraud; swindle.
    I respectfully disagree with you guys. Just because the deal is working out the way it is, you’re calling it a fleece. There was no ill intent by Danny.. The Nets came to Danny and wanted it done by unanimous vote of Brooklyn’s front office. Who knows, if LBJ is not in Miami, maybe the Nets advance which is why they made the trade. If the Nets had won the Eastern Conference or even more, would you still call it a fleece?
    - RedsLoveChild
      
      The key is the Nets came to Ainge hoping to make the deal. Their Russian owner, who knows nothing about the NBA, was desperate to win immediately.
      
      What was Ainge to do, say his two fading stars are “untouchable” trade commodities at age 37 & 36?!?
- swissflix
  
  After the disastrous 2012-13 season and the disappointing playoffs against NY it was pretty obvious Paul and KG would not be able to carry a team anymore. So i think it was a very good deal (imho) and Danny knew what he was doing and what to expect more or less.
art

Thank you. It’s over. No more rumors. No more ridiculous trade stories. And thank you Danny for doing the wisest thing you could possibly do.
grey_skies7

Danny does know what he is doing. There’s no GM I’d rather have. But he should have taken a flier on Markieff. The guy is 26, under contract for $8M per for four years, and was probably a top-50 player last year. The Suns screwed him over – I don’t blame him for being angry. Something like Jerebko, Young, and the celts first for Markieff? That would have been enough to get it done.