Scott Martin Can't Stand Danny Ainge

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hey, it's Danny Ainge not John Kerry. Get your priorities straight....

Scott Martin
Maine Today.com

 Speaking of people who don't get it, maybe in five years, if the Celtics win an NBA title, I'll love Danny Ainge, but right now, I can't stand the guy. 
Ainge took over as executive director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics during the playoffs last season and since has done absolutely nothing to help the Celtics become a better team. In fact, he has turned a playoff team into a lottery team. He traded away their second best player (Antoine Walker), the heart of the team (Eric Williams) and one of their best defensive players (Tony Battie), among others, and in return got Ricky Davis (overrated), Chris Mihm (OK on the glass), Jiri Welsch (a decent shooting guard) and Raef LaFrentz (injured). Paul Pierce and Walter McCarty are the only holdovers from last year. 
That's unacceptable. 
Then Ainge had the nerve to say "I think the playoffs are great for the players, coaches and fans, but I'm not going to lie about it. For the long term part of this, it's obviously better for us to get a higher draft pick. That's the truth." 
Wasn't Antoine Walker a high draft pick? Weren't Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer high draft picks? What good are they to the Celtics right now? None. They were all traded away. 
Ainge didn't want just any good team, he wants the Celtics to be his team. He wanted to be the man to build the Celtics back into winners. The team that former coach Jim O'Brien and former GM Chris Wallace built wasn't good enough, because it wasn't Ainge's. Apparently winning, something the Celtics used to be known for, is second behind Ainge's ego. 
 It's funny how people's perceptions about a player change when he no longer plays for their favorite team.