BOSTON (WHDH) - After a hectic trip to Miami that included missed games from half of the Celtics’ top-6 leaders in minutes per game, everyone crucial to the Celtics’ pursuit of an 18th championship will be at TD Garden on Saturday night.
That is, except one.
Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ long-time executive and president of basketball operations, will likely not be in attendance; too busy trying to copy the schematics of this Celtics team and trying to apply them to his new organization.
Now the CEO of the Utah Jazz, Ainge needs no help further cementing his place in the Celtics’ history books. After a playing career that included an All-Star game appearance and two championships as Larry Bird’s running mate, Ainge returned to Boston in 2003 to again help the franchise return to glory.
After a fraught beginning to his tenure that included a public blowup with then-head coach Jim O’Brien and the worst season in franchise history, Ainge executed trades for All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the summer 2007. Boston’s new “Big Three” raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy the following year.
The Celtics never raised another banner during Ainge’s tenure but came close in several seasons, making it to at least the conference finals in 2010, 2012, 2017, 2018 and 2020.
If this year’s iteration does what those teams could not, Ainge will still deserve a massive amount of credit.
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart were all lottery picks brought to Boston by Ainge. Between them, trio has amassed four All-Star Game appearances, a Defensive Player of the Year and are appearing in their 11th combined conference finals. Even for selecting at the top of the draft, it’s a tremendous return on investment.
Boston’s depth is also bolstered by Ainge draftees. Robert Williams, Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard were all selected in the back half of the first round, a usual wasteland of profitable picks, and have played a key role in Boston’s playoff run. Robert Williams was also named to the NBA’s All-Defensive Second Team for his season as Boston”s primary rim protector.
Of Boston’s nine-man playoff rotation, only three players were not originally Celtics draft picks. And two of them were still originally brought to Boston during Ainge’s tenure.
Al Horford, the third overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, spent nine seasons in Atlanta before Ainge signed him to a max contract as a free agent in 2016. At the time, the former Florida Gator’s 4-year, $113 million deal was the richest for a free agent in Boston’s history. Horford eventually departed Boston to sign with the Philadelphia Sixers in 2019 but found his way back to Boston after Ainge’s replacement, Brad Stevens, traded for him this past summer. Stevens previously worked with Horford while he was head coach under Ainge and it’s likely the new Celtics president doesn’t pull the trigger on a Horford reunion if not for that prior experience.
Daniel Theis was also not a Celtics draft pick but came to Boston under very different circumstances than his frontcourt mate. The center was signed as an undrafted rookie free agent from Germany in 2017 after the Celtics scouting department were impressed by the Bundesliga Defensive Player of the Year. Theis had also departed Boston between now and then but was brought back into the fold this year by a trade deadline acquisition.
The Ainge-era ended last year following a first round loss to the Brooklyn Nets. After a few years of playoff shortcomings, it appeared the Celtics had reached an expiration date of sorts. Vets like Kemba Walker, a 2019-Ainge addition, looked too old and broken to be key contributors anymore and young players like Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard had not yet blossomed into the role players they would eventually become.
Now, in the hours before the Celtics’ Game 3 Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Miami Heat, it appears Ainge didn’t leave the organization in as precarious a position as originally thought.
Call it a parting gift.
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