Danny Ainge out Brad Stevens in. Brad Stevens Out.
Frankly, I was not totally surprised by this. I never thought Danny would be fired, but the whole vibe around this team in the past several weeks had a calm before the storm kind of feel. Through all the Kyrie bullshit and Danny’s tone deaf comments on the golf course there was no statement from the Celtics or Danny. The way the roster has deteriorated over the last 3 seasons was not something we were used to seeing. I don’t want to say Ainge was completely checked out, but it seemed he lost his fastball. We knew a change was needed. Still, it’s a shock after 18 years to see that seismic of a change and I’m not totally convinced Danny wasn’t asked to resign, aka fired. His reputation across the league with other GM’s has seemed to become poisonous and it seemed like this last year and 1/2 of basketball had really taken a toll on him.
Fast and furious the updates keep coming
Mixed emotions from Celtics fans here. Personally I was not on the Fire Brad chain this season. Recency bias on Stevens has started to piss me off. He is 354 - 282 as a Celtics coach. He took the Isiah Thomas Celtics to the ECF. They over achieved with those teams. He brought the 2018 Celtics to the ECF with Tatum as a rookie while Kyrie and Hayward were out. The last season and change the message has seemed to have worn out and that’s not that uncommon in the NBA after 8 seasons. He’s no Hall of Famer, but he was good for this team. Real good. Was it time to go? Ya, Fine.
The decision to move him to President of Basketball Operations is an interesting one. My first thought went to the reason I didn’t believe they were going to fire Stevens as the coach. They owe him like $36 Million! Reports have him claiming to be “worn out” by coaching through the bubble and as we discussed it seemed like it was time to move on from him as head coach. So whether the decision was mutual like Wyc and Brad and Danny claimed at their press conference, I don’t know. I do know the money is not insignificant.
It will be interesting to see what Brad’s actual duties and powers are. We know Wyc absolutely loves the guy. I mean this presser was a freaking love fest. Part of me thought it was nice. The Celtics hold themselves to a high standard, yadda yadda yadda, but after 30 minutes of the gushing it was a bit much. I guess when you grossly underachieve and barley act like you even want to be there as a team you need to pump the tires a bit. So, with that said even though Brad has zero experience as an NBA executive I lean towards Wyc giving him real decision making power.
Danny out. Brad in. Brad out. Who’s in? This has been defined as the #1 priority for Brad to complete. In my eyes the candidate clearly has to be someone who relates and connects deeply with your two best young players Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Chauncey Billup and Sam Cassell is where I start. I also think Kara Lawson would be fucking awesome. How does this all look and feel in the building?
Sure, there will be new voice on the sidelines, but what’s Brad’s relationship with the Jays? How do they feel about Brad still in the mix? This is all to say did the Celtics need to blow out both Danny and Brad to ensure their young talent re-committed to a team 2 - 3 years away from contending at best? Hard to say. Really it comes down to the roster doesn’t it? Mike Zarren, Austin Ainge, and the existing staff I’m assuming will remain as a key part of the front office. Hell, they may even bring in a legit GM. Stevens could end up being a $36 million dollar paper weight, but I digress. Can Stevens and his team pull a rabbit out of their hat this off season and really shake up the talent or lack their off on the bench? If a new coach, reenergized, and restocked team with Tatum and Brown a year older and a year better you honestly should be competing with the top 3-4 teams in the East. Jesus! You should have been this season if their collective heads did reside in their asses for weeks at a time!
I’ll give Brad a fair shake at. I think his mind for basketball is terrific. He has experience from an evaluators position from Butler. He’s a terribly nice man so I’m sure that will be a breathe of fresh air to GMs across the league when negotiating with the C’s. All of Steven’s trades will be gosh dang, spit shake, hard fought, drag em out tussles, but dang it’ll be respectful and you’ll feel like you put in a hard days work when your head hits the pillow.
At the end of the day this was a master stroke by the Celtics. The day after your train wreck of a season was mercifulness ended by public enemy #1, as an organization you blow up the narratives heading into the off season. Will Danny stick to his own guys? Are they running it back blaming injury? Does Brad Stevens need to be fired? None of that now! And I think it was all for the right reasons at the right time. I was willing to give Danny and Brad one more crack, but a little early is better than a little late. So yea, as a Celtics fan this has jolted some energy into the team looking ahead to the 2021 season. Go find me a coach with juice, Billups, Cassell, Kara Lawson?! I’m for it. Just fuck off with the Jason Kidd talk.
The last point I will make here is a quick ode to Ainge.
Danny was one of the best GM’s in the league over his tenure even with only one championship. He just was. Unfortunately he was neutered by Kyrie Irving and for that the self righteous little puke will remain public enemy #1 in Boston for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for KG Danny! Enjoy the links.
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