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[BudweiserCeltic]

i have just a small, non-kg related question.

phosita mentioned in his post that..

"- Fab Melo was originally in the Wizards deal, but the Wizards preferred a cheaper veteran expiring contract as filler to a 1st round pick big man with a few years left on a rookie contract."

i have not been able to find anything to back up this point on the wizards not wanting melo's contract. all i have seen is a rumor that first included him, then later replaced him with collins.

does anyone have a solid statement that the wizards said "no melo, give us the contract we can dump immediately"? or was it a case of the wizards asking for melo and then ainge saying no?

just curious.

Admittedly, there was some amount of speculation here on my part.

But from what I read it sounded pretty clear that Danny put Melo in the deal.  Melo was on the table.  I believe the Wizards could have had Melo if they wanted him.  But they chose the cap savings over the rookie deal project.

Michael Lee of the Washington Post reported that the Wizards rejected Lee, and wanted the cost savings:

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/2/21/4014942/jordan-crawford-trade-wizards-rejected-fab-melo-offer-preferred

Melo you mean. I would've knocked Ainge's teeth off if he had traded Lee for this

[BballTim]

i have just a small, non-kg related question.

phosita mentioned in his post that..

"- Fab Melo was originally in the Wizards deal, but the Wizards preferred a cheaper veteran expiring contract as filler to a 1st round pick big man with a few years left on a rookie contract."

i have not been able to find anything to back up this point on the wizards not wanting melo's contract. all i have seen is a rumor that first included him, then later replaced him with collins.

does anyone have a solid statement that the wizards said "no melo, give us the contract we can dump immediately"? or was it a case of the wizards asking for melo and then ainge saying no?

just curious.

Admittedly, there was some amount of speculation here on my part.

But from what I read it sounded pretty clear that Danny put Melo in the deal.  Melo was on the table.  I believe the Wizards could have had Melo if they wanted him.  But they chose the cap savings over the rookie deal project.

Michael Lee of the Washington Post reported that the Wizards rejected Lee, and wanted the cost savings:

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/2/21/4014942/jordan-crawford-trade-wizards-rejected-fab-melo-offer-preferred

Melo you mean. I would've knocked Ainge's teeth off if he had traded Lee for this

  I was a little confused as well until I saw the writer's name was Lee and figured out what happened.

[gar]

Danny has brought in some guys that can flat out play for the rest of the season. Chemistry went out the window with so many guys down so you need players.

Interesting that he did not bring J Juan Johnson back and opted for DJ white. Again not going for style but in your face results.

He has been burned with Pruitt, Jjuan, Bass and to an extent Jeff Green. Good guys very smooth; but no killer instinct.

I like this new approach. To replace PP and KG you need people who are going to play with fire every night.

[LooseCannon]

It's the Wizards, so "they are morons" is as reasonable of a hypothesis as "Fab Melo is worthless" if Washington preferred expiring contracts to a rookie big man project.

[celtics2]

of course it's not Danny's record. It's our fault. We won't blame anyone for our managerial ineptness through the years. Yet the same puppeteers keep showing up. Luckily he tripped over KG and Allen huh? Otherwise he'd be a disaster. In somewhat Danny's defense it's not his fault free agents are not knocking at Boston's door.

[Roy H.]

It's the Wizards, so "they are morons" is as reasonable of a hypothesis as "Fab Melo is worthless" if Washington preferred expiring contracts to a rookie big man project.

Well, Danny's first choice seemed to be to give up Fab Melo over those expiring contracts, as well.

[LooseCannon]

It's the Wizards, so "they are morons" is as reasonable of a hypothesis as "Fab Melo is worthless" if Washington preferred expiring contracts to a rookie big man project.

Well, Danny's first choice seemed to be to give up Fab Melo over those expiring contracts, as well.

I could spin that as Ainge possibly thinking that if he offered Barbosa/Collins, then he would get laughed at. 

I think Ainge went into the deadline with a smart plan of not trading any draft picks and not trading any rotation players unless he gets two rotation players back, unless he could create an unlikely package that would land a star.

[BballTim]

of course it's not Danny's record. It's our fault. We won't blame anyone for our managerial ineptness through the years. Yet the same puppeteers keep showing up. Luckily he tripped over KG and Allen huh? Otherwise he'd be a disaster. In somewhat Danny's defense it's not his fault free agents are not knocking at Boston's door.

  No more a disaster than the Spurs would be if they hadn't tripped over Robinson and Duncan or the Heat would be if they hadn't lucked into Shaq and LeBron or the Mavs would be if Dirk hadn't slipped or the Bulls would have been if Portland had taken MJ over Bowie. Should I go on?

[KJR]

Ainge has done a spectacular job over the past 6 years.

He's put us in position to contend every year.

08 - Championship
09 - 60+ wins, KG, Powe, TA hurt - second round up 3-2; 2 young bigs; great 1st rnd
10 - magnificent run, 2 possessions short of a championship, KG (one leg), no Perk
11 - best team through mid-year; just Shaq short (and Rondo's arm) of challenging Dallas
12 - could've/should've beaten eventual champion (against all odds) - no Bradley, Green/Wilcox out; 6 guys - absolutely no bench: fantastic result

I'm excited to see how this team develops.  Imagine this group with Sullinger, Rondo and another contributing big.

Solid second round team with upside potential.

Better to keep Garnett Pierce always.  It's a franchise legacy thing.  That's why we're not Atlanta.  We're Russell, Havlicek, Bird et. al.  Garnett and Pierce need to train the next group -- for that alone, they should retire here.

Who are the great GMs in the league (besides Ainge)?  Spurs?  OKC?  right?

We've outperformed the Spurs through the playoffs every year (in spite of them having their championship core).  If you're going to measure by Championships and Finals, they've come up shorter than we have the past 6 years.  OKC?  They got Perk to challenge LA and the league completely shifted on them.  They were a better team last year.  (Imagine a small lineup with Ibaka, Durant, Green, Westbrook and Harden.)  They overthought and overtraded.

I think Ainge has done nearly everything in his power the last six years to give Doc a team that could contend.  Perk wasn't coming back.  He got Perk a lifetime deal in OKC -- very, very humane.  This was an act of extreme generosity and shows how much they cared about him as a person.  Perk (that year) wouldn't have gotten us any farther.  Only a healthy Shaq would have gotten us a 50-50 shot at Dallas (see 1st 25 games of that season).  TA wanted a bigger role.  I don't think they could have retained him.  That oversight of attention is possibly the only error I see.

Draft picks?  That's like choosing 2 stocks from 100 and later finding that one of the 98 you didn't pick actually performed a little better.  You make a thorough and rational choice based on the info (and needs) you have and live with the consequences.  It isn't possible (or even necessary) to make a perfect decision in such situations (and failing to do so doesn't diminish a person's accomplishments).

So now Doc is learning the Innovator's Dilemma.  Success becomes the trap that prevents constructive change.  We're moving from a scripted half-court team and strict man-to-man D to something else.  The personnel have changed.  The old lions are only part of the whole.

The questions for me are: who starts?  where?  what's the rotation?  what are the roles?  and how good can this team be?

Ainge is right.  This is an interesting team.  Thank goodness we're not Miami or OKC.

We are and always will be Celtics.  So stand up straight, clean yourselves up, and make sure in your daily lives you live up to the same high standards you expect from this great group of warriors.

Thanks.