No use of exception - Here comes Kenny

[Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx]

Forget Payton, Miller. We're back looking at the bargain rack. Remember, we
are in the new longterm, 10 year plan....

DJessen33

Forget management credentials, Celtics new boss Danny Ainge is ready to . . .
Run the show
>Former Boston Celtics player Danny Ainge, left, stands with team president
Red Auerbach following the news conference where it was announced that Ainge
would be the team's head of basketball operations. (Associated Press)
By MIKE FINE
The Patriot Ledger

Danny Ainge was a successful high school athlete, a star collegian and a
champion with the Boston Celtics. He went on to be a successful coach and
broadcaster, too.

But when it came time to pick a new director of basketball operations, what
were Wyc Grousbeck, Steve Pagliuca and the other Celtics owners thinking when
they went out and hired an inexperienced Ainge to run their basketball
operations?

Well, Ainge would like you to chew on this:

bbLet me ask you a question,'' he said. bbWhat are management
credentials?
I look at every single person that ever started in this job. What did they do?
I mean, what did Carroll Dawson do in Houston? What did Jerry West do? What
did Red Auerbach do? I know his success as a coach, but when I was coaching in
Phoenix I was in the mix. I was with two guys that I think have been very
successful in Brian Colangelo and Jerry Colangelo, and Dick Van Arsdale had
been
in that business for a long time and I was right in there with them and all
the
decision-making process and all the numbers. I learned a lot from those guys.

bbQuite honestly, I don't know what the credentials are. There are some
people who can do it better than others and I don't know what those things are
but, quite honestly, like so many sports fans, I've been a fantasy general
manager from the time I was about 8.''

There you have it. Ainge was a fantasy general manager. Really, though, the
Celtics new director of basketball operations has had a knack for sports since
he was a youngster, and not only because he managed to break in as a Toronto
Blue Jays infielder before moving on to the Celtics. Wherever he's been he's
been absorbing basketball knowledge. He had virtually no experience as a coach
-
eight games as an assistant - before being named head coach of the Phoenix
Suns in 1996. He led the team to a 40-34 record through the end of that season
and finished his coaching career at 136-90 before stepping down on Dec. 13,
1999 to be with his family.

Ainge went into broadcasting, where he also excelled for TNT, and was
intrigued at the thought of joining the Celtics. He really stepped into it,
too,
taking over a team that will be at least $10 million over the salary cap next
season - before signing rookies and free agents - and needs a good revamping
to
achieve its goal of stepping up a level.

bbIn three-and-a-half years of coaching the most enjoyable time for me was
thinking about the roster and trying to put a team together,'' Ainge said.
bbIt's a lot more complicated today than five or six years ago and much
more
complicated than when I was a player in the NBA just because of the luxury tax
and
salary tax restrictions and base-year compensations.

bbI know that the average person has no comprehension of what it entails,
and so many fans still look upon every transaction simply as who got the
better
player (and don't factor in) the financial elements, the business, the future
implications and the future opportunities that may come from a transaction
that might not look very good today. Those kind of things complicate matters
from
what I fantasized about being a general manager, but I think that I'm looking
forward to the challenge.''

Ainge immediately got to work when he accepted the job three weeks ago and
has spent significant time pondering significant changes. No player is immune
from his scrutiny. Not even the coaching staff has escaped.

bbI think we can improve our roster,'' he said. bbWe can improve our
coaching. We can improve our development and improve through the draft with
deals.
So I think we can improve everything.''

But, improve Jim O'Brien and his staff?

bbI mean do things better. Hey, this is not a knock on our coaching. I
think
that's the same thing when I coached every year I could get better the next
year. I thought there were things I could do better. I talked to Jim O'Brien
in
great detail and I think he feels the same way. I think that he feels like
they can do better. The main thing is no matter how well you coach you have to
have talent.''

Which is where Ainge comes in.

bbI would say that it's mine and ownership's job,'' he said. bbYou
can't
have talent with certain restrictions, so you have to pay. Everybody knows the
Clippers have been unwilling to pay in the past and they've had a tough time
accumulating talent, but it's a fine line. It's ownership's money and it's my
job to pick the right guys. Within the budget right now I think we can find
some
guys that can upgrade our talent level through the draft and through free
agency.''

Ainge says he doesn't plan to exercise the team's mid-level exception option,
which would cost $4.5 million at the outset, but because of luxury tax
considerations would actually cost more than four times that amount.

bbIf I use the four-and-a-half million-dollar exception for this year,''
Ainge said, bbthe bottom line is $17 million out-of-pocket money, and so
that's
just irresponsible. I know the fans don't care to hear about things like that,
but even George Steinbrenner wouldn't do it. He wouldn't pay Roger Clemens
$10 million a year if it meant it was going to be $40 million out of pocket.
(NBA commissioner) David Stern did a masterful job of trying to give the
owners
protection against themselves and trying to cut back payroll.''

So he's going to have to be creative, which is why he's been in the office
from eight every morning to 11 every night, at the same time bbtrying to
figure
out who needs what and what they may be drafting and trying to move my family
from Phoenix to Boston and I'm trying to set up a new cell phone and banking
circumstances and sell my car back in Phoenix and buy a car here. That kind of
stuff.''

Trades are a possibility. Free agent pickups are a possibility. And,
certainly, the draft will be critical to his success. Then there's the Vin
Baker
horror show, a thorn in the side of GM Chris Wallace, who with player
personnel
director Leo Papile continues to work with Ainge every day. Baker remains a
member of the team despite leaving the club midway through last season. Ainge
will
have to deal with him.

bbI'm working very well with Chris and Leo right now,'' Ainge said.

bbI don't know which is more important. I think the draft, deals and
development are the three things you have to do to build a team and you can't
just
build a team with two of them and you can't build a team with one of them,''
Ainge said. bbThe team is suffering right now because of bad drafts. We've
let
guys go that could have helped us, so it's important that we draft well.''

It's funny how Ainge seems to have come full circle, back to the town that
made him. Once, when he was traded to Sacramento in 1989, he claimed that he
would always feel like a Celtic. But that feeling quickly left him.

bbWhen I was playing basketball in Portland and Phoenix and when I was
coaching Phoenix I never felt like a Celtic,'' he said. bbI felt like a
Phoenix
Sun and I felt like Portland Trail Blazer, although when I retired, even
though
I lived in Phoenix it was amazing to me as I traveled around the world how
everybody associated me with the Celtics. It's amazing to me how often that
occurred. I still have some of my Celtic memorabilia, but I'm not tied to
logos.

bbThrough my experience of traveling and even playing on different teams
and
playing different sports, as I look back on my career I don't think of the
great Boston Celtics logo. I think of the people. To me, this business and
this
profession is about people and not about logos. That's just my opinion.''

Now that he's the boss, Ainge could even indulge himself. He could, after
all, retire his own number, a prospect that makes him cringe.

bbDefinitely not!'' he said. bbI know I could but I won't. The way I
feel
is if my number deserves to be retired it would have been by now, so that will
not be a consideration as long as I'm in this position.''