i was absolutely fine with our moves so far....

[sawick48]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.  who cares?  the reason we kept adding pieces between 07-11 is because we were championship contenders.  that's what you do.  if you're anywhere between the 12th and the 24th best team in the league, you are exactly where you never want to be, and you want to do everything in your power to get to one end of the spectrum or the other, quickly.  Ainge, for whatever reason, is simply prolonging our stay in that no man's land area.

if he was insistent on going after the big FA prizes of Love and/or LMA (which he shouldnt have been anyway because there was no way they were agreeing to play here in the first place but that's been beaten to death) then as soon as he was rebuffed he should have been working the phones to find this exact deal.  arguing about whether or not sacto would have pick swapped with us or not means nothing.  the point is there was a deal to be made and philly made it, we didnt. 

if we were a 50 win team in this eastern conference that added Amir Johnson, kept Crowder and Jonas, that's one thing; why not?  we improve slightly enough, and maybe we get a break or two to get to the ECF to get plastered by the Cavs or Bulls.  but we're a 40 win team, and we just made the moves to go from 35-40 wins, to 37-42 wins.  worse, we seem to be the only team actively trying to stay in this purgatory.  terrible.   

[mctyson]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

[littleteapot]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

[sawick48]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

[flybono]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

[sawick48]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

that's not even the point though.  Monroe was never coming here.  the point is as soon as Danny figured that out (and there were many people on here, myself included, who figured that out from the get go) he should have moved on.  instead he panics, wastes money on virtual 1 year deals (be thankful that's all they are) and here we sit

[greece66]

I do not understand why a deal between SAC and Philly should impact on our perception on Danny.

Hinkie has created a tankster out of Philly for the exact purpose of making such deals. I've always been a fan of his high risk/high reward approach, but it is good to bear in mind it comes at a very high cost.

A similar strategy would not have worked for the C's. To begin with, we are not us desperate as Philly was after Bynum's injury.

[BDeCosta26]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

Maybe Monroe didn't wanna come here? Ever think of that one genius? Just because a "report" says "The Celtics are the front-runners" doesn't make it true. And even if he did wanna come here, maybe Ainge and Stevens didn't wanna add a C who can't play defense AT ALL?. We have a couple of those already. A case can easily be made that Monroe IS NOT a 16mil a year player. It's just funny, you say "WHY WASNT MONROE SIGNED" like all Ainge had to do was wave his magic wand and poof, Greg Monroe.

BTW, when it comes to guys like Love, LMA, Jordan and the like, rest assured that the C's certainly let their people know that they wanted them and were willing to offer the max. It's been reported that Love had legit interest in taking that max if Cleveland didn't offer the deal they did. Just the fact that you think Ainge didn't let those guys know he was willing to give them the max makes me question how much you really know about how NBA basketball works. Every team with cap-space let those guys know they were willing to give them the max.

Matter of fact, as it seems you've forgotten, the Nets weren't even a .500 team last season where that "core" you speak of ( a core with a 38 year old ISO Joe, and a shell of his former self D-Will, both of whom the Nets are desperate to get rid of) was as healthy as they'll ever be with Brook Lopez playing the best basketball of his life. Your gonna bet on that "core" doing that again for the next 3 years (we also own a pick swap from them in 2017) with them all another year or two older? Haha, right.

And you know what else? Every single one of those four Nets picks could be in the 14-17 range and that's STILL one of the most grossly lopsided trades in recent NBA history. KG was cooked at that point, Pierce was on his last legs. Those guys weren't worth 1/5 of the stuff the Nets have up for them. In case you've also forgotten, that trade wasn't just responsible for the picks, but also for Tyler Zeller and Isaiah Thomas. People like your boy Sawicki made this huge stink about how Ainge "didn't get in on that Sacto deal Hinkie just made" when Hinkie took on like 26 million in dead salary over multiple seasons for a former "NBA-ready" #10 pick who absolutely sucked in his first year, a top 10 protected 1st, and a pick swap they'll probably never use. The Brooklyn deal makes that trade look like pittance, even if the picks are all Mid-1sts.

FWIW, Charlotte was absolutely ridiculed for not taking that deal just to take Frank Kaminsky, and they were the only realistic trade partner left on draft night. You can keep thinking that makes our picks worthless all you want, but it doesn't make it true. The Nets are one Brook Lopez injury (A pretty probable occurrence, given his history) away from a bottom 5 finish. We own their picks for the next 3 seasons, so the chances are pretty [dang] high that at least one or two of those picks ends up in the top 10.

Look, I get it. To some of you who don't really understand how this league works, this off-season was a major disappointment. He'll, it was even a disappointment to me and I'm an optimist. But as it sits right now we have a better team than Brooklyn with a MUCH better long term outlook. If the people around here are gonna say "this Celtics team is a lottery team" or "the East has gotten so much better we won't reach 40 wins" then Brooklyn sure isn't making the playoffs either. But that's okay, keep buying into this whole "stuck in perpetual mediocrity" nonsense that has absolutely no basis in fact. No one is gonna get through to you guys anyway. Just be sure that this team is assuredly NOT tanking this year so if it really bothers you that much, I'd suggest sitting this season out.

[Ogaju]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

I agree with you that the Brooklyn deal was not the steal that people like to think. Especially since we had to take Wallace's contract, but also for the reasons you have stated here.

The other post I made is that you cannot underestimate the CBS factor as a very real one dictating Danny's moves.

[Ilikesports17]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

Maybe Monroe didn't wanna come here? Ever think of that one genius? Just because a "report" says "The Celtics are the front-runners" doesn't make it true. And even if he did wanna come here, maybe Ainge and Stevens didn't wanna add a C who can't play defense AT ALL?. We have a couple of those already. A case can easily be made that Monroe IS NOT a 16mil a year player. It's just funny, you say "WHY WASNT MONROE SIGNED" like all Ainge had to do was wave his magic wand and poof, Greg Monroe.

BTW, when it comes to guys like Love, LMA, Jordan and the like, rest assured that the C's certainly let their people know that they wanted them and were willing to offer the max. It's been reported that Love had legit interest in taking that max if Cleveland didn't offer the deal they did. Just the fact that you think Ainge didn't let those guys know he was willing to give them the max makes me question how much you really know about how NBA basketball works. Every team with cap-space let those guys know they were willing to give them the max.

Matter of fact, as it seems you've forgotten, the Nets weren't even a .500 team last season where that "core" you speak of ( a core with a 38 year old ISO Joe, and a shell of his former self D-Will, both of whom the Nets are desperate to get rid of) was as healthy as they'll ever be with Brook Lopez playing the best basketball of his life. Your gonna bet on that "core" doing that again for the next 3 years (we also own a pick swap from them in 2017) with them all another year or two older? Haha, right.

And you know what else? Every single one of those four Nets picks could be in the 14-17 range and that's STILL one of the most grossly lopsided trades in recent NBA history. KG was cooked at that point, Pierce was on his last legs. Those guys weren't worth 1/5 of the stuff the Nets have up for them. In case you've also forgotten, that trade wasn't just responsible for the picks, but also for Tyler Zeller and Isaiah Thomas. People like your boy Sawicki made this huge stink about how Ainge "didn't get in on that Sacto deal Hinkie just made" when Hinkie took on like 26 million in dead salary over multiple seasons for a former "NBA-ready" #10 pick who absolutely sucked in his first year, a top 10 protected 1st, and a pick swap they'll probably never use. The Brooklyn deal makes that trade look like pittance, even if the picks are all Mid-1sts.

FWIW, Charlotte was absolutely ridiculed for not taking that deal just to take Frank Kaminsky, and they were the only realistic trade partner left on draft night. You can keep thinking that makes our picks worthless all you want, but it doesn't make it true. The Nets are one Brook Lopez injury (A pretty probable occurrence, given his history) away from a bottom 5 finish. We own their picks for the next 3 seasons, so the chances are pretty [dang] high that at least one or two of those picks ends up in the top 10.

Look, I get it. To some of you who don't really understand how this league works, this off-season was a major disappointment. He'll, it was even a disappointment to me and I'm an optimist. But as it sits right now we have a better team than Brooklyn with a MUCH better long term outlook. If the people around here are gonna say "this Celtics team is a lottery team" or "the East has gotten so much better we won't reach 40 wins" then Brooklyn sure isn't making the playoffs either. But that's okay, keep buying into this whole "stuck in perpetual mediocrity" nonsense that has absolutely no basis in fact. No one is gonna get through to you guys anyway. Just be sure that this team is assuredly NOT tanking this year so if it really bothers you that much, I'd suggest sitting this season out.

preech

[sawick48]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

Maybe Monroe didn't wanna come here? Ever think of that one genius? Just because a "report" says "The Celtics are the front-runners" doesn't make it true. And even if he did wanna come here, maybe Ainge and Stevens didn't wanna add a C who can't play defense AT ALL?. We have a couple of those already. A case can easily be made that Monroe IS NOT a 16mil a year player. It's just funny, you say "WHY WASNT MONROE SIGNED" like all Ainge had to do was wave his magic wand and poof, Greg Monroe.

BTW, when it comes to guys like Love, LMA, Jordan and the like, rest assured that the C's certainly let their people know that they wanted them and were willing to offer the max. It's been reported that Love had legit interest in taking that max if Cleveland didn't offer the deal they did. Just the fact that you think Ainge didn't let those guys know he was willing to give them the max makes me question how much you really know about how NBA basketball works. Every team with cap-space let those guys know they were willing to give them the max.

Matter of fact, as it seems you've forgotten, the Nets weren't even a .500 team last season where that "core" you speak of ( a core with a 38 year old ISO Joe, and a shell of his former self D-Will, both of whom the Nets are desperate to get rid of) was as healthy as they'll ever be with Brook Lopez playing the best basketball of his life. Your gonna bet on that "core" doing that again for the next 3 years (we also own a pick swap from them in 2017) with them all another year or two older? Haha, right.

And you know what else? Every single one of those four Nets picks could be in the 14-17 range and that's STILL one of the most grossly lopsided trades in recent NBA history. KG was cooked at that point, Pierce was on his last legs. Those guys weren't worth 1/5 of the stuff the Nets have up for them. In case you've also forgotten, that trade wasn't just responsible for the picks, but also for Tyler Zeller and Isaiah Thomas. People like your boy Sawicki made this huge stink about how Ainge "didn't get in on that Sacto deal Hinkie just made" when Hinkie took on like 26 million in dead salary over multiple seasons for a former "NBA-ready" #10 pick who absolutely sucked in his first year, a top 10 protected 1st, and a pick swap they'll probably never use. The Brooklyn deal makes that trade look like pittance, even if the picks are all Mid-1sts.

FWIW, Charlotte was absolutely ridiculed for not taking that deal just to take Frank Kaminsky, and they were the only realistic trade partner left on draft night. You can keep thinking that makes our picks worthless all you want, but it doesn't make it true. The Nets are one Brook Lopez injury (A pretty probable occurrence, given his history) away from a bottom 5 finish. We own their picks for the next 3 seasons, so the chances are pretty [dang] high that at least one or two of those picks ends up in the top 10.

Look, I get it. To some of you who don't really understand how this league works, this off-season was a major disappointment. He'll, it was even a disappointment to me and I'm an optimist. But as it sits right now we have a better team than Brooklyn with a MUCH better long term outlook. If the people around here are gonna say "this Celtics team is a lottery team" or "the East has gotten so much better we won't reach 40 wins" then Brooklyn sure isn't making the playoffs either. But that's okay, keep buying into this whole "stuck in perpetual mediocrity" nonsense that has absolutely no basis in fact. No one is gonna get through to you guys anyway. Just be sure that this team is assuredly NOT tanking this year so if it really bothers you that much, I'd suggest sitting this season out.

for starters i agree with your point about Monroe and the top level guys, all I'd add is that we should never get our hopes up as fans anyway, of landing the elite FAs in any given year.  They'd never come here, certainly not until we have at least one established superstar already in place.

Secondly, before you go accusing people of not understanding how the league works, you need to think about re-reading what you write.  you just said we aren't going to be stuck in mediocrity long term, and then go on to say we have a better long term outlook than Brooklyn (which isn't saying much anyway, but...) huh?  so we aren't going to be in purgatory long term, but you already say we have a much better long term outlook than a team that's probably going to be in the hunt for the 6-9 seed for the next 2-3 years.  so what exactly is the point you are trying to make?  if anything you just reiterated and confirmed the outlook alot of us around here have of this being a 37-43 win team for a while.

oh, and the only multiple year salary that's worthless which Philly added in that deal, is a single year of Carl Landry, for $6M.  what a burden.  otherwise they landed pick swaps and another 1st outright from a team that literally cannot give their money away to any FAs, much less decide on who the in house decision maker is.  not to mention Stauskus could be an asset, could be nothing, but has an option after this season if it turns out he's the latter. 

so instead of trying to go through your thesaurus for sarcastic names to call people, maybe you should sit back and really analyze what's been going on this offseason.  did we take a step forward?  i personally beg to differ but i can understand why people think we did.  but we certainly didn't create a top 3 team in the East by just re-signing our guys and adding Amir Johnson.  we went from 38 wins last year (where, again, we had A LOT of stuff go right for us all year) to a team that AT BEST looks like a 44-46 win on paper.  at best.

i understand why people so vehemently defend Danny's actions.  and i understand any rebuild requires fans to be patient.  I'm not throwing in the towel on the team and saying they're beyond help.  but there absolutely is a chance that the game has passed Danny by.  he's overvalued our picks and players (2 points to be made there: 1 - i'm on record with saying it's a [dang] good thing Cha turned down our trade on draft night, but what in the hell was DA doing offering all that up for a guy who has the ceiling of a poor man's Luol Deng anyway?!  if anything all that did was prove that Danny is more out of touch with reality than it does show that he's the trader Danny of old.  2 - Rozier wasn't even a terrible pick by any means, and i think he's going to be a solid pro at worst, but honestly, he may even have a higher upside than Smart/Bradley anyway.  so why the hell did we take a tweener guard last season when the draft was chock full of athletic big men that have just as good a chance to develop into something special in Randle, Vonleh, etc.  everyone knows big men, especially those that can stretch the floor, are the most unique asset that you need in today's nba to have success. obviously i'm not saying Vonleh should have been our pick at 6 last year because DA should have seen that Rozier would be our pick last year, but again, it's just an example of what could be considered short sightedness by our gm).

You have your opinion on the moves, i have mine.  obviously neither of us are going to change the other's mind, no matter how hurtful the creative insults like 'genius' are.  i want to be wrong, i'd love us to turn around and be an ECF contender and have the guys we have develop into some sort of championship core to build around, i just don't see it, at all.  but if you think this is a team that's headed for great things in the next year or two, you may want to heed your own advice at the end of your masterpiece there and sit this season out.  because i have a feeling that you aren't going to like the road Ainge has put us on.

[BDeCosta26]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

Maybe Monroe didn't wanna come here? Ever think of that one genius? Just because a "report" says "The Celtics are the front-runners" doesn't make it true. And even if he did wanna come here, maybe Ainge and Stevens didn't wanna add a C who can't play defense AT ALL?. We have a couple of those already. A case can easily be made that Monroe IS NOT a 16mil a year player. It's just funny, you say "WHY WASNT MONROE SIGNED" like all Ainge had to do was wave his magic wand and poof, Greg Monroe.

BTW, when it comes to guys like Love, LMA, Jordan and the like, rest assured that the C's certainly let their people know that they wanted them and were willing to offer the max. It's been reported that Love had legit interest in taking that max if Cleveland didn't offer the deal they did. Just the fact that you think Ainge didn't let those guys know he was willing to give them the max makes me question how much you really know about how NBA basketball works. Every team with cap-space let those guys know they were willing to give them the max.

Matter of fact, as it seems you've forgotten, the Nets weren't even a .500 team last season where that "core" you speak of ( a core with a 38 year old ISO Joe, and a shell of his former self D-Will, both of whom the Nets are desperate to get rid of) was as healthy as they'll ever be with Brook Lopez playing the best basketball of his life. Your gonna bet on that "core" doing that again for the next 3 years (we also own a pick swap from them in 2017) with them all another year or two older? Haha, right.

And you know what else? Every single one of those four Nets picks could be in the 14-17 range and that's STILL one of the most grossly lopsided trades in recent NBA history. KG was cooked at that point, Pierce was on his last legs. Those guys weren't worth 1/5 of the stuff the Nets have up for them. In case you've also forgotten, that trade wasn't just responsible for the picks, but also for Tyler Zeller and Isaiah Thomas. People like your boy Sawicki made this huge stink about how Ainge "didn't get in on that Sacto deal Hinkie just made" when Hinkie took on like 26 million in dead salary over multiple seasons for a former "NBA-ready" #10 pick who absolutely sucked in his first year, a top 10 protected 1st, and a pick swap they'll probably never use. The Brooklyn deal makes that trade look like pittance, even if the picks are all Mid-1sts.

FWIW, Charlotte was absolutely ridiculed for not taking that deal just to take Frank Kaminsky, and they were the only realistic trade partner left on draft night. You can keep thinking that makes our picks worthless all you want, but it doesn't make it true. The Nets are one Brook Lopez injury (A pretty probable occurrence, given his history) away from a bottom 5 finish. We own their picks for the next 3 seasons, so the chances are pretty [dang] high that at least one or two of those picks ends up in the top 10.

Look, I get it. To some of you who don't really understand how this league works, this off-season was a major disappointment. He'll, it was even a disappointment to me and I'm an optimist. But as it sits right now we have a better team than Brooklyn with a MUCH better long term outlook. If the people around here are gonna say "this Celtics team is a lottery team" or "the East has gotten so much better we won't reach 40 wins" then Brooklyn sure isn't making the playoffs either. But that's okay, keep buying into this whole "stuck in perpetual mediocrity" nonsense that has absolutely no basis in fact. No one is gonna get through to you guys anyway. Just be sure that this team is assuredly NOT tanking this year so if it really bothers you that much, I'd suggest sitting this season out.

for starters i agree with your point about Monroe and the top level guys, all I'd add is that we should never get our hopes up as fans anyway, of landing the elite FAs in any given year.  They'd never come here, certainly not until we have at least one established superstar already in place.

Secondly, before you go accusing people of not understanding how the league works, you need to think about re-reading what you write.  you just said we aren't going to be stuck in mediocrity long term, and then go on to say we have a better long term outlook than Brooklyn (which isn't saying much anyway, but...) huh?  so we aren't going to be in purgatory long term, but you already say we have a much better long term outlook than a team that's probably going to be in the hunt for the 6-9 seed for the next 2-3 years.  so what exactly is the point you are trying to make?  if anything you just reiterated and confirmed the outlook alot of us around here have of this being a 37-43 win team for a while.

oh, and the only multiple year salary that's worthless which Philly added in that deal, is a single year of Carl Landry, for $6M.  what a burden.  otherwise they landed pick swaps and another 1st outright from a team that literally cannot give their money away to any FAs, much less decide on who the in house decision maker is.  not to mention Stauskus could be an asset, could be nothing, but has an option after this season if it turns out he's the latter. 

so instead of trying to go through your thesaurus for sarcastic names to call people, maybe you should sit back and really analyze what's been going on this offseason.  did we take a step forward?  i personally beg to differ but i can understand why people think we did.  but we certainly didn't create a top 3 team in the East by just re-signing our guys and adding Amir Johnson.  we went from 38 wins last year (where, again, we had A LOT of stuff go right for us all year) to a team that AT BEST looks like a 44-46 win on paper.  at best.

i understand why people so vehemently defend Danny's actions.  and i understand any rebuild requires fans to be patient.  I'm not throwing in the towel on the team and saying they're beyond help.  but there absolutely is a chance that the game has passed Danny by.  he's overvalued our picks and players (2 points to be made there: 1 - i'm on record with saying it's a [dang] good thing Cha turned down our trade on draft night, but what in the hell was DA doing offering all that up for a guy who has the ceiling of a poor man's Luol Deng anyway?!  if anything all that did was prove that Danny is more out of touch with reality than it does show that he's the trader Danny of old.  2 - Rozier wasn't even a terrible pick by any means, and i think he's going to be a solid pro at worst, but honestly, he may even have a higher upside than Smart/Bradley anyway.  so why the hell did we take a tweener guard last season when the draft was chock full of athletic big men that have just as good a chance to develop into something special in Randle, Vonleh, etc.  everyone knows big men, especially those that can stretch the floor, are the most unique asset that you need in today's nba to have success. obviously i'm not saying Vonleh should have been our pick at 6 last year because DA should have seen that Rozier would be our pick last year, but again, it's just an example of what could be considered short sightedness by our gm).

You have your opinion on the moves, i have mine.  obviously neither of us are going to change the other's mind, no matter how hurtful the creative insults like 'genius' are.  i want to be wrong, i'd love us to turn around and be an ECF contender and have the guys we have develop into some sort of championship core to build around, i just don't see it, at all.  but if you think this is a team that's headed for great things in the next year or two, you may want to heed your own advice at the end of your masterpiece there and sit this season out.  because i have a feeling that you aren't going to like the road Ainge has put us on.

If that's the kind of name you would consider hurtful, I just don't know man.

We do have a much better long term outlook than Brooklyn. By that I mean We have a hoard of draft picks, major financial flexibility, and a good young team that is improving. Brooklyn has none of that at the moment. They have to pray to the gods that Lopez stays healthy enough over the next two or three years to keep them in the hunt for the eighth seed as the entire conference, including us, gets better around them. That's a very bad place to be. I never wish injury on guys (Save once or twice on Kobe and Wade on an honest day), but the chances are pretty high Lopez goes down for a significant stretch and there a bottom 5 team. We, on the other hand, are trending up, regardless of what some of the pessimist around here might say. We have a legit chance of getting much better over the next few years, be it through trade, the draft or internal improvement. The Nets will need everything to fall their way just to not get much, much worse.

That's the difference. They'll be lucky to be stuck in mediocrity. We haven't even begun to get stuck in such a place. We went from 3rd worst record in the league to a.500 playoff team in ONE season. We finished the season on a tear, regardless of how out matched we were against a fully loaded Cleveland team. I'm not saying it's impossible that we could be a few years from now, but get back to me when we have 3 or 4 straight 1st round exits. And btw, we won 40 games last year. And up until the IT trade 2/3 of the way through the year, we had a whole lotta stuff go wrong.

I think most people who find themselves defending Ainge all the time do so because they feel like the overall Boston sports fan base is spoiled, and they've forgotten what it's like to be a team like the Kings. We were seriously mismanaged for well over a decade. Some of the folks here have really pessimistic view of this club, almost to the point of the extreme. And while others have far too optimistic views, they're certainly not the majority. Ainge could be making Dolanesque moves that ruin any hope we ever have at a championship and that's not at all the case. I guess my thing is, if your gonna follow a club to closely that you lurch around a blog forum, why be so negative where there really isn't all that much negative going on?

For example, when you were talking about the draft you said you mentioned that last draft was full of athletic bigs, but they weren't the kind we were looking for. Bigs who can stretch the floor are a unique asset. We have a couple of those already and Randle is certainly not that. He's an undersized PF with hardly any offensive game outside of 5 feet and who can't play defense. Judging by their first seasons (which to he fair you can't judge all too heavily) Smart was the right pick there. It's not like Ainge could see into the future and knew he would take Rozier at 16. He probably figured we'd have another top 10 pick.

Believe me, I'm under no illusions that this team as currently constructed is making a championship run in the immediate future. But considering how we JUST finished tearing down the remnants of our old foundation last season, I'm not so impatient that I expect them too either. I think this club made great strides at the end of last season, Ainge has set us up as well as anyone for the future and I really enjoy watching our team of tough, young well-coached players be greater than the sum of their parts. Were establishing an excellent culture here of talented young guys who play the right way. More moves are too come, that much is certain. But we have a great foundation to build on. There's a lot to be excited about. I'll join you guys when we've fought our way to four straight 7th and 8th seed but until then, there's no reason to be so pessimistic. Don't enough things in life already suck? Why take the joy of watching your favorite team away?

[chambers]

Ainge has put us in the middle excatly the worst position you can be, can't understand the enthusiasm for mediocrity

the cap is going up by 40 to 50 million the next two years, this year was our opportunity to sign some guys with upside and he layed an egg

this, exactly.  anyone defending our offseason is running around saying look how much better we are going to be due to players progressing and another season of chemistry and blah blah blah.

You are assuming that there is some player that was available, who wanted to sign here, that Danny turned down.  Please, gives us all your evidence that this happened then criticize him.  Either that or stop.

Well the "middle" criticism is that if you can't sign elite talent, then there's no point signing middling talent when you could be improving your draft pick.

thank you.  and no, i'm not saying Danny turned anyone down.  my position is, and has always been, that us trying to chase elite FA is foolish, because none would sign here.  further, i'm not even sure how you come to that conclusion based on what i did actually say, but regardless, i'll reiterate:

if Danny wanted to chase the big top FAs (and there's plenty of evidence he tried to do this, even though i personally think it's a foolish endeavor to begin with, as a combination of Boston being an unattractive city to big time players and our team not having any marketable stars to begin with does not bode well for adding elite level talent) as soon as he was rebuffed by them (again, there's evidence this happened as well, as there were reports Butler postponed a meeting with us and Love refused to even take our calls) he should have explored deals like the one Philly completed with Sacto.

but instead, he insisted on using the cap space we had, not to get infinitely better, or infinitely worse which is what you need to do in today's nba, but rather he used it to stay the course.  he took us from a team with the potential for 35-40 wins, to a team with the potential for likely 37-42 wins. what. the hell. good. is that? 

we are prolonging our residence in the only area you do not want to be in the NBA (that #12-#24 team range), and recent history suggests and agrees with that assessment.  and worst of all, we're actively doing so.

so, assuming that's enough evidence and clarification for you, i'm going to keep going ahead and criticizing the way in which Danny has BADLY played his hand this offseason up to this point, as is my right to do on these boards.  you can cover your ears and stomp your feet and tell me i'm being mean, but you can't say i'm wrong.  truth hurts sometimes, as does being a fan of this team currently.

Im with you brother! I have lost confidence in the GM.
I ask one ? to Danny. Please explain why at least 1 top tier FA was not offered the Max. Why wasn't there a push to sign LMA, Monroe, Love or Millsap. The Lakers had lunch with everybody for ****.

#1. Everybody agreed and says Ainge took the Nets to the woodshed. In reality he didn't. Nets might be fools but they were not born yesterday. Lopez Young JJ and Deron is a .500 or better Team no matter what Conference there playing in. King saw a chance to win now with KG and Paul, he gambled, he lost. That is why they call it gambling Danny.

#2. In reality the Nets traded a 2016 and 18 #1 pick for a chance at a Title. Do you actually think the Nets organization gives a f##k about those picks. They have a core group. They will never be a Lottery Team and if they are, its like OKC was this year #13 or 14 which gets you a legit player if your lucky!

Moral to my story is. The KG deal sounds great on paper, in reality it sucks dogsh!t! Your not going to get a top 3 lottery pick with a Nets pick, long as they have the core group above playing in the NBA.
Why do you think Ainge was offering 12 picks to get Winslow? Nets picks are worthless.

Today's news. Im not a talent evaluator and nor is anyone else on this board. Far as the draft, who knows what the first 2 picks will do. But what I do know is, Cavs exploited every weakness Boston had. The experts on this Blog say we had 23 mill in Cap money.
WHY WASN"T MONROE SIGNED?

that's not even the point though.  Monroe was never coming here.  the point is as soon as Danny figured that out (and there were many people on here, myself included, who figured that out from the get go) he should have moved on.  instead he panics, wastes money on virtual 1 year deals (be thankful that's all they are) and here we sit

Those deals were made for future flexibility. We've now got 30 million in expiring contracts and a very good defensive big man to give some of our major trade chips (Sully, Olynyk, Zeller) some help on the defensive end.
that's why they were one year deals, so we could move them easily if needed if a star comes along like Cousins, Love or Harden.
There's also a huge free agent class coming in 2016 and a rising cap to 108 million.
Rather than have 30 million of that tied up with some solid role players,the idea is to use it on a top 20 player with room left over for two more top 20 players.

[mmmmm]

I don't know if this exact deal would have been on the table, but conceptually, this is what I was advocating for Danny to do with our cap space.

Why sign guys on two year (second year non-guaranteed) deals, when trades of this nature are still out there?

This was my last post before going to bed:

I'm relieved that the deals are only for one year, but I'm a bit puzzled by Danny electing to waste a year basically running the team back, wasting our cap space in the process.

If we were going to punt a year, wouldn't it have made more sense to stay under the cap or retain the trade exception, using our flexibility to pick up more assets like we did last year?  This could be the last season in awhile that teams are looking to dump salary to get under the cap.  Why not take advantage of that, if we're not signing an impact player?

I wake up to this, which only confirms the loss of opportunity going forward.

I haven't read through the whole thread yet, but the obvious purpose to me of what Danny is doing is to create a tradable contract that can match 17M of incoming salary, plus is combinable with other contracts (such as the 5M Jerebko contract).

If he adds a third (also non-guaranteed) year to the Amir contract, then the it could be potentially executed as a sign & trade, absorbed into the Rondo TPE.  This would effectively convert (upgrade) the TPE, from a fixed 12.9M trade tool into a much more powerful one.

There are a lot of reasons to try to do the Amir signing as a s&t.  Doing that, he can stay over the salary cap and not have to renounce his other TPEs and his Bird Rights on Bass -- who potentially could be used to create another TPE ala Humphreys last year.   JJ & JC can be signed using Bird Rights.

To me, so far, all signs point to Danny not giving a wit about preserving cap space but instead rather creating means for a large trade (or sign & trade) next season.

[PhoSita]

I don't know if this exact deal would have been on the table, but conceptually, this is what I was advocating for Danny to do with our cap space.

Why sign guys on two year (second year non-guaranteed) deals, when trades of this nature are still out there?

This was my last post before going to bed:

I'm relieved that the deals are only for one year, but I'm a bit puzzled by Danny electing to waste a year basically running the team back, wasting our cap space in the process.

If we were going to punt a year, wouldn't it have made more sense to stay under the cap or retain the trade exception, using our flexibility to pick up more assets like we did last year?  This could be the last season in awhile that teams are looking to dump salary to get under the cap.  Why not take advantage of that, if we're not signing an impact player?

I wake up to this, which only confirms the loss of opportunity going forward.

I haven't read through the whole thread yet, but the obvious purpose to me of what Danny is doing is to create a tradable contract that can match 17M of incoming salary, plus is combinable with other contracts (such as the 5M Jerebko contract).

If he adds a third (also non-guaranteed) year to the Amir contract, then the it could be potentially executed as a sign & trade, absorbed into the Rondo TPE.  This would effectively convert (upgrade) the TPE, from a fixed 12.9M trade tool into a much more powerful one.

There are a lot of reasons to try to do the Amir signing as a s&t.  Doing that, he can stay over the salary cap and not have to renounce his other TPEs and his Bird Rights on Bass -- who potentially could be used to create another TPE ala Humphreys last year.   JJ & JC can be signed using Bird Rights.

To me, so far, all signs point to Danny not giving a wit about preserving cap space but instead rather creating means for a large trade (or sign & trade) next season.

Indeed.  What Danny has done this off-season is completely consistent with this MO so far in the rebuild, and makes clear that he is putting everything on making a major trade (or trades) in order to acquire the talent this team needs. 

Danny has supreme confidence -- arrogance, perhaps -- in his ability to make blockbuster trades that will turn all of these assets and contracts into pieces around which he will eventually build an actual team. 


I guess Danny is planning on doing the summer of 2007 all over again, somehow.  Yet whenever I think that, I am always reminded that the summer of 2007 required two tank jobs a decade apart and a superstar in his prime already on the roster.