Re: [Celtics' Stuff ] RearrAINGEing the Celtics

[Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx]

I don't know who this loser is or who he writes for but he is the latest guy 
to pile on. He leasts he admits he is like the casual fan and only lives in 
the moment. But I have to hand it to him in that he came up with a great and 
funny name in Danny "REAR" Ainge....

DJessen33

<<       Volume CXXXIII, Number 16
       February 27, 2004
 
       
 
 RearrAINGEing the Celtics
 BRANDON CASTEN
 STAFF WRITER
 
 I am the type of sports fan who lives in the moment, so I will wait until 
baseball season to fume about A-rod. My sports frustration will now be directly 
focused on Danny Ainge, the inept-at-best general manager of the Boston 
Celtics. With the Celtics lottery-bound, fans really have to question whether the 
team that now roams the Fleet Center is better than the roster that Danny Ainge 
was handed. 
 
 Maybe I'm missing something here, but replacing names like Antoine Walker 
and Tony Battie for guys like Chucky Atkins and Jiri Welsch doesn't seem to make 
sense. But don't take my word for it; let's review the trades of the man who 
was called upon to save our hallowed franchise. 
 
 Ainge started with the blockbuster (after a draft-day trade), trading 
Antoine Walker and Tony Delk to the Mavericks for Raef LaFrentz and Jiri Welsch. I 
agree that the roster at that point needed to be shaken up, and Antoine was the 
guy who had to go. Matched up against Kenyon Martin of the Nets, his 
performance in the 2003 playoffs displayed that he was a player who had lost his 
athleticism and his understanding of his role on the court. 
 
 But an off-season spent working hard, losing weight, and regaining his form 
put Antoine in a unique situation. His trade value was at an all-time low 
because of his performance in 2002-2003, but he was clearly ready to regain his 
old form. This was where Ainge made his mistake. 
 
 Instead of trading Antoine at his lowest value, Ainge should have let him 
prove that he would be the Antoine of old, and then traded him at the deadline. 
Instead, Ainge chose to trade Walker for a soft, oft-injured big man, and an 
unproven European.
 
 The next deal on Ainge's slate came at the 25-game point of the season. In 
this trade he sent Eric Williams and Tony Battie to the Cavaliers for Ricky 
Davis and Chris Mihm. 
 
 This trade made me throw an empty beer can at my television. Instead of a 
tough shot blocker (Battie) the Celtics get a soft center who can only score on 
Eastern Conference centers. 
 
 Surely Ricky Davis is better than Eric Williams, right? The answer is a 
resounding "hell no!" To summarize Ricky Davis as a player I will use one story. 
In a loss against the Atlanta Hawks last year, Mr. Davis was one rebound away 
from a triple-double. Nearing the end of the game, he stole the ball under his 
basket on defense and when the other players ran off to the other end of the 
court, good old Ricky throws the ball off the backboard to himself to gain his 
tenth rebound and a triple-double. 
 
 Ricky Davis is like a bad disease on a basketball team. Sure he may score a 
decent amount and throw up some flashy dunks, but this man is pure cancer, and 
that is why the Cavs got rid of him. 
 
 In this trade, Ainge ripped the heart and soul out of his team, replacing 
two experienced leaders with a punk and a green center who will never be great. 
In the 33 games since this trade, the Celetics and Celevand have switched 
positions, as the Celtics have only won 11 of those 33, including losses in 12 of 
their last 13, and now have the lowly Magic on their heals. In the meantime, 
Cleveland has won 17 of those 33 and are knocking on the doors of a playoff 
birth. These records display what happens when one team loses its leadership and 
transfers it to another.
 
 The next trade sent Mike James to Detroit and Chris Mills to the Hawks for 
Lindsey Hunter, Chucky Atkins, and a first-round draft pick. This trade wasn't 
that bad, but it was a waste of time and team chemistry when we didn't really 
get anything significant in exchange. Lindsey Hunter is sporting a girl's name 
and hasn't been good since I was wearing a silk shirt to my sixth-grade dance 
and rocking out to "Whoomp, There It Is." Chucky Atkins has never been good, 
and the draft pick that Detroit gave us will be late and insignificant. Mike 
James was a fierce competitor and respected member of the team. This trade hurt 
team chemistry and we got little in exchange.
 
 In all, Ainge started with one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference 
(which isn't saying much in the grand scheme of the NBA) and turned them into 
arguably the biggest joke in the league. Ainge traded all of the Celtics' 
talent, toughness, and experience in exchange for the outside possibility of a 
playoff team in a few years that still might not be better than the one with which 
he started. In the process, Ainge alienated one of the best coaches in 
basketball. I really hope this guy knows something that we all don't. >>