DHL Dan CCXIII - Credit Is Due

Shank thinks (correctly) former Celtics GM Danny Ainge deserves credit for putting this team together:

Danny Ainge isn’t taking credit for Celtics’ title, but he deserves some, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while plucking green and white confetti from my hair …

▪ Danny Ainge hasn’t been taking any victory laps. He was neither seen nor heard from while the Celtics were shredding playoff competitors from Miami, Cleveland, Indiana, and Dallas en route to banner No. 18. Ainge wants the credit to go to the Celtics owners, Brad Stevens, Joe Mazzulla, and the rest of the team’s staff and players.

“I was watching; I just couldn’t be there,” the 65-year-old Ainge said via phone from Utah, where he is an executive with the Jazz. “Justin Zanik, our GM, just went through a kidney transplant and so I’ve taken a little more responsibility here right now.

“It was fun watching. We followed the Celtics’ success all during the playoffs, and it was exciting to see and it’s fun to see everybody shine. There’s so many people there that we’re rooting for.

DHL Dan CLXXI - Danny Ainge On The Celtics

After Shank's rip job on the 2022-2023 Boston Celtics (right below), where he called the team 'posers' and 'front-running frauds', we get a more sober and reasonable analysis of the team from the former Celtics player and general manager:

Danny Ainge, the principal architect of this Celtics team, has some thoughts on their playoff run

Picked-up pieces after six weeks of Celtics playoffs …

▪ I had a couple of conversations with Danny Ainge over the last two weeks. We spoke after the Celtics went down, 0-3, to the Heat and again after Monday’s disastrous Game 7 at the Garden.

Ainge, who has been gone from Boston for two seasons and now is CEO of basketball for the Utah Jazz, was the principal architect of this Celtics team that has underachieved despite getting to five conference finals in seven seasons. Ainge’s son, Austin, is director of player personnel for the Celtics, and Danny still speaks regularly with Green Teamers.

“I work for another company now, but I’m trying to defend my friends,” said Ainge. “I know Joe [Mazzulla]. I hired Joe four or five years ago to work in our G League. I still cheer for my friends.

“I don’t think the team quit on Joe. There was pretty good evidence they did not quit on the coach. I just think they weren’t playing well. The team’s overall confidence struggled after the comeback wins against Philly, which was really the highlight of the season.

“No coach can go through a series and not make mistakes, just like players make mistakes, but we saw some patterns of isolation basketball and going through stretches of not making threes. That’s not just with this group; we’ve seen this throughout the NBA. Teams go on these long 3-point droughts. Their energy level is higher when they make shots, and the Celtics are not unique in that aspect.

“I understand something’s got to change, but knowing every one of the players like I do, it’s hard to identify. They need to do some imaging. You’ve got to find out what went wrong, and nobody is certain if they’re not there every day. If you asked each player and each coach, they would all have a different reason. And it’s Brad [Stevens’s] job to really find out what needs to be changed.

Makes you wonder who the real fraud and poser is, doesn't it? Shank continues with the name calling of the Celtics, using descriptors as chokers and (again) front-runners. Keep it classy!

DHL Dan CLXIII (Part Deux) - Stirring The Pot Again

By most accounts, Danny Ainge resigned from the Celtics as head of basketball operations six months ago on his own accord. This being Boston, arguably the most negative sports media town in the country, Shank questions this premise:

Danny Ainge says he wasn’t pushed out by the Celtics when he ‘retired,’ and other picked-up pieces from the sports world

Picked-up pieces while listening to Mitch Miller and the Gang singing Christmas carols (why do they sound so angry?) . . .

I had an enjoyable “exit interview” with Danny Ainge Thursday, one day after it was announced that he was taking a position in the front office of the Utah Jazz.

Why did he abruptly “retire” from the Celtics in June?

“I just felt like I needed a break, well before the playoffs started,” said Ainge. “And I also felt like the team was in great hands. When I decided to walk, I didn’t think that Brad [Stevens] would take over my spot. I thought that Brad would still be coaching. I just wanted to get away from the game for a while, and I’ve done that for seven months and I feel reenergized and I have a unique opportunity to work with a good friend [Jazz owner Ryan Smith]. This is a much different role [than in Boston]. It’s a much lesser role. It happened quickly, over a period of a couple of days when I finally showed a little interest with Ryan.”

Note the selective use of quotes, all the better to create some doubt.

When Ainge “retired” he was asked about perhaps working in Utah down the road and answered, “Nothing is going on there . . . I honestly haven’t thought about what’s next. I don’t have any urgency or anything planned.”

On Thursday he said, “I honestly didn’t know back then. I was prepared to be done for good and find something else. I’ve had other opportunities. I just really haven’t been willing to listen until just recently.”

At this point in our conversation, I felt a need to address local speculation that Ainge might have been nudged by Celtics ownership when he “retired” after the team was routed by the Nets in the playoffs.

“Just for the record, were you pushed out of Boston?” I asked.

“No,” Ainge said with a laugh. “Are you serious? Do you seriously think that, or is that just like some commentary?”

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Shank, in spite of this conversation, continued to push the notion that the Celtics gave him the bum's rush out the door in some fashion.

DHL Dan CXXXIX - No Longer On The Ortiz Case

Shank updates us on the David ortiz case, which seems like it's going nowhere:

It turns out Ed Davis is no longer on the David Ortiz case, and other picked-up pieces from the sports world

Picked-up pieces while wondering whether Celtics players have chartered a jet so they can fly to Milwaukee to cheer for Kyrie in the next round …

▪ Boston super cop Ed Davis is no longer cracking the case on the two-year-old shooting of David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic. Ortiz hired Davis to get to the bottom of things, but the search proved futile, and according to Davis, the investigation is ongoing in the DR with more than a dozen suspects still in custody.

“I’m just a security guy here, so I don’t want to go off on a tangent,” Davis said Thursday. “The bottom line on it is this: This is a very complicated and still-dangerous situation that we’re looking at. We provided the government down there with important information and there’s still no resolution.

Here's something amusing - Danny Ainge lied to Shank last month:

▪ I had this exchange with Danny Ainge on May 14:

Me: Are you coming back?

Ainge: Of course.

Me: Is [Brad] Stevens coming back?

Ainge: Of course.

After resigning this past Wednesday, Ainge told the Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach that in late March he approached Celtics ownership and told them he did not think he had the energy to continue on the job.

So which is it? Did Ainge know he was leaving back in March, or was this a sudden departure after things fell apart in the first round of the playoffs?

I checked in with Ainge to ask about the timeline discrepancy.

Rest at the link.

Shank On The Celtics' Front Office Changes

I'm kind of impressed that Shank banged this one out in under two hours:

A weird, abrupt ending for Danny Ainge, a daunting new challenge for Brad Stevens with Celtics

It happened overnight.

Literally.

The soft and annoying Boston Celtics of 2020-21 were eliminated from the playoffs Tuesday evening in Brooklyn, a 123-109 noncompetitive whimper at the end of one of the most disappointing local sports seasons of all time.

And then, after a meeting back in Boston Wednesday morning, the team issued a press release at 11:01 a.m. announcing that Danny Ainge was retiring and coach Brad Stevens would be leaving the bench and moving into Ainge’s position as president of basketball operations.

Love the picture - Ainge looks like he's in a hostage video.

DHL Dan CXXXVI - Late Festivus

Shank says he's not too happy with the Boston Celtics, so he takes his concerns to Danny Ainge:

Airing some Celtics grievances to Danny Ainge, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while hoping Ed Davis can crack the case at Churchill Downs …

▪ I had an awkward conversation with Danny Ainge Friday morning. In an effort to represent what I consider a large segment of the Celtics fan base (good luck with that! - ed), I started our interview by telling Ainge that I hate the way his team plays. I can’t stand the way they come out flat, fall behind, rally to make it close, then ultimately capitulate.

I told him I don’t believe his players are doing what Brad Stevens asks them to do. Apologizing for my rudeness, I asked him if he felt we’d been too rough on the underachieving 2020-21 Celtics.

“I wish we competed out of the gate more,” the president of basketball operations acknowledged. “I wish our defensive efforts were more consistent. Absolutely. I understand all of those critiques, absolutely. So I think it’s a fair critique.”

What is his level of disappointment in this .500 team that will now have to participate in the “play-in” round just to get into the NBA playoffs?

I Want It Now!

Since the Celtics traded their first pick to the Philadelphia 76'ers on Friday, there has been a great deal of discussion about what move Danny Ainge is going to make next. Sounding like a theme he stole from local sports talk radio, Shank wants proven NBA talent RIGHT NOW, dammit!

Are you excited about the Celtics bagging that 2019 Sacramento Kings first-round pick?

Please, please, please, tell me the Celtics are not done. Tell me there is more to this than trading the long-coveted No. 1 pick to the Sixers for this year’s No. 3 pick, and another No. 1 from 2018 or 2019. I am not a patient sports enthusiast. I cannot wait for the year 2525.

The NBA Draft carousel is spinning madly, and nobody knows where it stops. The only thing we know for sure is that the Celtics have a great future. They have lots of draft picks. There are dozens of 12-year-old Marcus Smarts and Jaylen Browns out there who will someday patrol the parquet floor for the Green.

Shank doesn't want any of this fancy modern draft crap - he pines for the good 'ol days when Red Auerbach ruled the roost:

I can only imagine what Red Auerbach would say if he were around today to hear what’s going on in these days leading up to the NBA Draft.

The draft was so much more fun when we didn’t know anything. We assumed Red knew what he was doing, and usually Red was right.

In 1956, Red came away with the greatest single haul in draft history — three Hall of Famers in one draft. Red traded his second-best player, Ed Macauley, to get the second pick in the draft, then had his owner (Walter Brown) pledge the Ice Capades to Rochester so they wouldn’t take Bill Russell with the first overall pick.

A not so subtle shot? - 'Top that, Danny Ainge!'

Once In A Blue Moon

The day before the Boston Celtics exercise the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, we witness a very, very unusual event - a decent column by Shank:

At times like this we need Red Auerbach.

Red always knew what to do. Red was thinking at a higher level than the other guys. Red knew how to pick the pockets of the other general managers. Red knew how to get a better player with a lower selection.

As we sit here on the threshold of the 2016 NBA Draft — with the Celtics in need of help and holding the third overall pick — it is comforting that we have Red’s basketball progeny calling the shots.

Danny Ainge is Red Auerbach’s basketball son.

A bit of a stretch, but Shank does a good job explaining why in the rest of the column.

This part stood out for me:

Still, Red was bloodless, a forefather of the Bill Belichick method.

So in Shank's eyes - Red = good; Bill = bad.

The first comment sums up the column nicely:

OK, what have you done with Dan! Who really wrote this...

He Passes on Writing Worthwhile Rondo Column

The CHB's attempt at characterizing Rajon Rondo, who returned to the Boston Garden for the first time since his December trade, is as off the mark as one of his subject's free throws.

Here's the lede: "After all this time, after all these years, we still know almost nothing about Rajon Rondo."

Well, no.

We actually know quite a bit. As The CHB's far superior colleague Gary Washburn writes in a far superior column today, "Rondo ... adores glitches, shakeups, tremors." Clearly, Rondo wasn't excited about playing with the second team, and it showed in the box score.

Comparing Rondo to Paul Pierce, a completely different type of player, Shank writes, "Pierce was different. Pierce fulfilled his potential on the court. When Pierce was traded, we knew we had seen his best. With Rondo, we are not so sure."

Again, no. Rondo's a four-time NBA All-Star who has led the league twice in assists and one in steals. He was occasionally capable of putting the team on his back, but frankly, just because a guy scores 44 points in one game does not mean he's a 44-points-a-game scorer. And if it does, then Eric (Sleepy) Floyd is a Hall of Famer.

Then there's a contrived segue to the trade of now Celtics GM Danny Ainge about a million years ago. In his first game back, Ainge apparently was thrown by the presence of Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach at courtside. To borrow the cliche, Red Auerbach hasn't walked through that door in years, and (much as I like him) Brad Stevens is no Red Auerbach.

Like one of Rondo's errant no-look passes, this column is a total throwaway.

Ryan in the Sun

Here's the title and deck from The CHB's column today: "For Suns GM Ryan McDonough, sports is in his blood" / "The son of sportswriting legend Will McDonough is making a name for himself in the NBA."

Before I click on the link, I'm going to guess what Shank writes. Then let's see how close I came.

1. Retelling of Will McDonough's toughness, including the time Willie punched out  Patriots defensive back Raymond Clayborn, an event that spoke more to how weak the Pats were at the time than it did about McDonough's right fist.
2. Reference to Ryan's brothers Terry and Sean, the latter once a voice of the Red Sox.
3. Mention of Sean calling the 2011 Red Sox-Orioles game which sealed the fate of Terry Francona and countless other "beer and chicken" players.
4. Recounting of history between Suns and Celtics, including name players (Paul Westphal, Dennis Johnson and of course Danny Ainge) who suited up for both teams.
5. Mention of the incredible 3-OT Game 5 between the C's and the Suns in the 1975 NBA Finals.
6. Mention of Ryan's runnerup finish for the NBA Executive of the Year Award.

Here we go!

1. "He studied sports at the right hand of his dad — the toughest, most street-smart and knowledgeable sports reporter of all-time." Point!
2. "I wasn’t nearly as good as Sean [Ryan’s brother is ESPN’s Sean McDonough], but I missed the competition. I wanted to have something to do with winning and losing.’’ 1/2 point!
3. Swing and a miss. 0 points.
4. No game mentions, but Danny Ainge is all over the piece. 1/2 point!
5. No mention. 0 points.
6. It's there. 1 point

Well, three out of six. And the rest of the piece is a montage of Ryan's youth and early days with the Celtics. Utterly predictable.