It took a little bit of time but considering what Ainge had to work in his initial season he didn't have many assets to work with. He had role players getting older without much value, too many fringe players, hardly any what you would call good prospects, Antoine Walker whose value was starting to decline, and Pierce. Check out the roster. I loved some of those guys on that team such as Williams, Battie, and McCarty but as far as those guys having trade value it wasn't much.
Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker, Tonk Delk, Eric Williams, Jr Bremer, Shammond Williams, Tony Battie, Walter McCarty, Vin Baker, Mark Blount, Bimbo Coles, Kedrick Brown, Grant Long, Bruno Sundov, Ruben Wolkowyski, Mark Bryant, and Mikki Moore.
He said at the time the team needed to get much younger and find guys with upside. Looking at this roster you knew it was going to take a little bit of time. He is one of the best GMs right now (basketball only) but to be considered the best he will need sustained success. At least he doesn't have one really huge blunder on his resume such as Dumars with drafting Darko and passing on Carmelo or get extremely lucky with the top pick in the draft such as the Spurs with Duncan. I still think it would have been interesting what Ainge would have done if we landed the first or 2nd pick last year. Would he trade Pierce for more young talent and have the eastern conference's version of the up and coming Trailblazers or still roll the dice with the trades he made???