Ainge on EEI

[Sean Giovanello <sgiovanello@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had to get out of the car during the Ainge call in on EEI, but here is 
what I heard.

John Dennis went right after him.  It was very tough questioning on his 
part.  Callahan was largely quiet during it, letting Dennis go to town 
and a couple times asking Ainge to clarify points he made but that was it.

Ainge said:

1)  He is even more enthused about the Walker deal today than he was at 
the time.  He is not looking at the stats or boxscore like the 
fans/casual observers but looking at the potential of the team down the 
road and that makes him love this deal.

2)  They knew LaFrenz had a sore knee but felt with treatment they could 
wait until the end of the season before he had surgery.  It hasnt 
responded to treatment like they expected and he has really been quite 
gritty out there and its an indication of how good he is that he can 
play this well while dragging a leg around. 

3)  The Walker deal was not a kneejerk reaction.  It was based on 
"thousands of hours of conversations" during Ainge's tenure, the Wallace 
era, and the Pitino days.  It was the culmination of seven years of 
problems with Antoine and the way he plays the game.  He would do it 
again with no hesitation but he wasnt trying to put a stamp on the team 
before the season started.  He believes that he got the best deal 
possible for Walker and was amazed to get it.  He says every NBA type he 
has talked to around the league has congratulated him on the deal and 
knows how lucky the Celtics were on this one. 

4)  Said he was confident in the deal because of his NBA knowledge, time 
as an analyst where he got to watch alot of games, and something else I 
cant remember.  Said fans pay attention to the box score and if John 
Dennis knew what he knew that Dennis would be in favor of the trade.  
Dennis asked him about LaFrenz or Walker?   Ainge replied both.  He went 
on to say he has followed LaFrenz since college and saw him play in 
Denver and Dallas and was thrilled to get him.  Started to say something 
about Walker but then said I cant get into that.

5)  Said the Celtics with Walker were not as good as the Pistons (funny 
we knocked them out of the playoffs) or the Pacers (hmm) or the Nets.  
Definately werent as good as the power teams in the West.  Still thinks 
this team is going to be better than the 44 wins of last year - though 
the injury to LaFrenz poses problems for that if he cant play more than 
15 mins or needs to shut it down for the season.  Surprised at how bad 
the Atlantic division is this year.

Thats about all I heard.  I was struck by how Danny really seemed to 
believe that Antoine was the entire problem here.  It seems to me that 
he listened to guys trying to save their jobs (wallace ob papile) who 
really told him what he wanted to hear.  After all, Walker is gone and 
OB is up to the same old tricks.  He also really seemed to think he was 
smarter than everyone else - came off as pretty arrogant in my view 
(which was a surprise to me) when he kept talking about how the fans 
dont really understand and that they base stuff on box scores and stats 
and its really all about potential (he sounds like the anti Billy 
Beane).  After hearing what I heard, I am getting worried about the 
Ainge era in Boston and am willing to admit I might be wrong about his 
ability and long term success in Boston..