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This is your official "Ainge Watch" station. . .

~ WEEI's Glen Ordway takes a shot at Ainge's selection of Marcus Banks
and Brandon Hunter:

Are we any more sure of Marcus Banks now than at the beginning of the 
season? How's that Brandon Hunter doing?  Where's all those people
who were calling in, when Hunter was starting? He can't get off the bench.


~ Danny Ainge is in Oklahoma City scouting the High-Schoolers:

Ian O'Connor: For high school stars, June draft tops March Madness 
Published in the Courier News on March 30, 2004 
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- If the road to the Final Four runs straight from Stillwater, Okla., the road around it starts inside the gym at Oklahoma City (not State) University, where there is no point in being one of Eddie Sutton's Cowboys when you can be one of Eddie Jordan's Wiz. Welcome to the world of the super-sized McDonald's All-American, where you're only a Big Mac if you follow the trail of T-Mac. Welcome to the galaxy of Dwight Howard and friends, where there are plenty of lifelong dreams to realize and no NCAA brackets to bust. 
"I always wanted to be the first pick in the draft," said Howard, the 6-11 senior from Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. "I've worked myself up to where I'm at the 5-yard line, and David Stern is waving his hands saying, 'Come on in for a touchdown.' So I don't want to drop the ball." 
Emeka Okafor, time for that goal-line stand. Howard spoke Monday after completing a McDonald's Game practice that drew more NBA general managers and scouts than you'll ever find breaking down UConn and Duke. John Lucas III might be the best story in the biggest college event, but now he isn't even the big man on campus in a state where the Cowboys are up and the high schoolers are up higher, hanging on the rim and kicking those college boys in the teeth. 
As many as half of the 24 All-Americans gathered here could make for an unprecedented storming of the June draft, with Howard and Josh Smith of Oak Hill Academy leading the frontcourt charge, and Sebastian Telfair of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Shaun Livingston of Peoria, Ill., dribbling up from the rear. So the closest things to a college presence in the Oklahoma City gym were the NAIA banners in the rafters and the NCAA memories in the stands. 
Larry Bird, decision maker for the Indiana Pacers, sat there a quarter century removed from Indiana State's lost title game duel with Magic Johnson's Michigan State. Danny Ainge, decision maker for the Boston Celtics, sat there 23 years removed from Brigham Young and the full-court dash and layup that beat Notre Dame and still defines him like no Celtics championship ever could. 
"The NCAA tournament," Ainge said, "it doesn't get a whole lot better than that." 
But Ainge has three picks in the first round. He would've been a fool had he spent Monday 65 miles to the northeast, with Sutton's juniors and seniors. 
"There's so many cases of successes, and so many cases of failures," Ainge said of the high schoolers who've turned pro. "But there's also a lot of cases where kids would've been significantly better off financially had they come out of high school and not gone to college. So it's hard to blame them. I still feel this is a necessary evil, and I don't feel like it's an enjoyable experience watching high school kids. But I have to be here." 
The college coaches don't. Paul Hewitt and Roy Williams knew they never really had a shot with Howard, and Indiana's Mike Davis can kiss his puncher's chance goodbye after the 6-9 Smith threw down a left-handed alley-oop dunk in practice that froze NBA scouts in mid-scribble. Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino are still in the game, if barely, with the nation's best playmakers, the 6-7 Livingston and the 6-foot Telfair. 
"The NBA is an opportunity of a lifetime, and so is playing for Coach K," Livingston said. "He's a Hall of Famer, and he's still coaching, and that's something unheard of." 
So is the first-round selection of a mighty-mite high school player. 
Telfair is being counseled by an unlikely source and roommate, Orlando star Darius Washington, his most intense rival. Washington actually is bent on attending college; he'll play for John Calipari at Memphis. Sunday night, Washington and Telfair lay in bed talking about the different career paths they're likely to take. 
"I told (Telfair) to block everybody out, block the media out, block out ESPN and the ("Sports Illustrated") covers," Washington said. "I told him he should sit down with his people and really discuss it. This is nothing to rush into, because once you sign ... there's nobody who can get you out of this." 
Washington wasn't working as a Pitino operative, not with Calipari preferring a Graceland-size hole in the Louisville backcourt. Not that it matters. The media guide for Wednesday night's game in the Ford Center is a study in wishful thinking, as bios for the top prospects name the college teams they "will join" next season. 
The fashionable destinations here aren't the ACC and Big East, but the Western Conference and Eastern Conference. For the record, LeBron James is the Moses who parted this Red Sea. "He's paved the foundation," Howard said, "and it's the goal of our class to build onto that foundation." 
In the end, nobody can blame the All-Americans for taking the money and passing on March Madness. When they notice Larry Bird watching them from the stands, they picture David Stern waving them in for a score. 
-Ian O'Connor is a Gannett News Service columnist 

~ Ainge via Miami Herald commentsn on Udonis Haslem:

Said Boston Celtics vice president Danny Ainge: ``I watched Haslem last summer and knew he was a terrific rebounder. But he's making jump shots, and I hadn't seen him do that.''


~ Ainge Says it's Difficult To Evaluate The High-Schoolers (Houston Chronicle)
"I'm not in a frame of mind that it's a good thing," said Danny Ainge, the Boston Celtics executive director of basketball operations. "I guess it's a necessary evil. It's hard to evaluate high school kid vs. high school kid." 


~ Danny Ainge: The Man With The Plan

The Oregonian
And the answer is Ainge 
The man in charge of the Boston Celtics' roster has fans and players questioning his every move 
03/28/04
GEOFFREY C. ARNOLD 
A sk Boston Celtics fans who's to blame for the team's dismal performance this season, and the answer comes quickly: Danny Ainge. 
					
Should the Celtics reach the playoffs, some will view that as an accomplishment in spite of Ainge's personnel decisions. Boston's first-year executive director of basketball operations has engineered a series of moves that have transformed a team that reached the 2003 Eastern Conference semifinals and 2002 conference finals into one that's struggling to reach the postseason. 
The moves have given the impression that Ainge's vision for the club is rebuilding and moving the team toward the lottery. It's a vision that's cloudy for some players. 
"It's kind of hard for me to see it right now because you don't know who's going to be here next year," forward Paul Pierce told the Boston Herald. "I thought there'd probably be some trades. . . . But I didn't expect it to be this dramatic." 
Ainge's first controversial move was trading Antoine Walker. Ainge sent Walker to Dallas to clear salary cap space, but the trade cost the Celtics a complementary scorer for Pierce. The Celtics acquired Raef LaFrentz and Jiri Welsch in the deal, with LaFrentz's remaining salary ringing up at around $50 million over five years. 
Ainge's next move -- trading Eric Williams, Tony Battie and Kedrick Brown to Cleveland for Ricky Davis, Michael Stewart and Chris Mihm on Dec. 15 -- eventually cost him his coach, Jim O'Brien. 
A defense-oriented coach, O'Brien looked at Williams and Battie as two of his favorites. O'Brien saw the move as concession toward more offense while sacrificing defense, something he couldn't stomach. He resigned Jan. 19 and was replaced by John Carroll, who isn't expected to return next season. 
Ainge next acquired overpaid point guard Chucky Atkins from Detroit on Feb. 19, a move that was questioned because it doesn't allow Carroll to develop rookie Marcus Banks, one of two 2003 draft choices (along with high school power forward Kendrick Perkins) who haven't seen much playing time. 
Perhaps Ainge's biggest mistake was overestimating Celtics fans' willingness to accept another rebuilding project for a proud franchise. The team's run to the conference finals surprised and galvanized many fans, who had seen the Celtics go six consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance. 
Ainge said he knows what he's doing. He didn't like Walker's game, attitude or contract, one of many cap-heavy deals on the team's ledger. He also wanted to change the team's style of play to a more uptempo and exciting pace by adding athletic players. 
And, pending an arbitrator's decision, he might be able to dump troubled forward Vin Baker and his $36 million contract. 
"My plan is to be competitive sooner rather than later," Ainge said. "We wanted to become more athletic, change our style of play and get younger, so there's a chance to grow and develop players." 
If the Celtics receive a favorable ruling on the Baker case, Ainge could be working with around $13 million in cap space in the offseason. The Celtics also hold three first-round draft picks, allowing them to use all three this summer, or package one with a current player (Ainge tried to move Davis before the trade deadline) in a trade. 
"I knew going in it was going to be hard. I knew it was going to be a challenge," Ainge said. "The reason I was brought in was to try and make changes, not to come in and keep everything the way it was. 
"I knew there would be ups and downs. There have been more downs than I'd hoped, but I still don't think the plan is frustrated." 
Geoffrey C. Arnold: 503-221-8556; geoffreyarnold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 


~ Paul Westphal Arriving and Blount Leaving

http://www.therussilloreport.com/text/basketballrumors.asp#

March 24, 2004 
A source close with the Boston Celtics told The Russillo Report that Celtic's President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge was recently at Pepperdine University visiting with Head Coach Paul Westphal. It has been speculated for some time that Westphal is the number one choice of Ainge. 
March, 24 2004 
With the upcoming Mark Blount contract situation it seems clear that Blount does not want to return to the Celtics, and the front office feels the same way. A source with the team said that Ainge is happy with the combination of Chris Mihm and a healthy Raef Lafrentz next year. The Celtics would probably have to use the mid-level exception to re-sign Blount, they would rather use that elsewhere. 
March 24, 2004 
The Russillo Report first heard of a Kobe Bryant to the NY Knicks deal over a month ago, the deal didn't seem to make much sense then, but now it is picking up steam. The idea would be to send Stephon Marbury to the Lakers for Bryant. Kobe wants out of LA, so they get a great point guard in Marbury and Isiah Thomas gets one of the top five players in the league.


~ Ainge Trades Are A Conspiracy To Get James In The Playoffs

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/040330