Danny Ainge’s patience is a virtue for Celtics
COMMENTARY
Imagine Danny Ainge on the 18th green at some swanky New England country club, staring down a 20-foot putt to set a new course record. Wearing khakis, a green polo and a Celtics visor, he’s studying this double break with every ounce of brain power–on all fours with his chin scraping the ground. Finally, he gets up and approaches the ball. He lines up his putter, takes a deep breath, when out of nowhere there’s a powerful gust of wind.
It smacks Danny across the face and ruins his concentration, so he steps back and starts over. After all, everything is on the line here. This is a crazy putt. He needs the perfect read. And now he has it–again. He steps up to the ball–again. He readies his putter, takes another deep breath–and then an ambulance drives by with its siren blasting.
It’s so loud that Danny steps back, a little flustered, and walks over to his bag for some water. He carries the bottle with him on another lap around the green, calculating slopes and conversing with his caddie. He wants everything in order, and finally, once again, it is. He takes one last look, visualizes the ball finding the bottom of the cup, squares his shoulders and keeps his head steady. But now there’s a little condensation still lingering on his hands from that water bottle. It’s not a big deal, but it’s on his mind. He should dry off.
He steps back again to the collective groans of a gallery that has formed at the hole. All the members heard about the putt and his potential record. They came to witness history and celebrate the fun, but now they’re a little annoyed. It’s enough already. They’re sick of watching Ainge approach the brink of something special only to find some other reason not to follow through. They want action. They want a little payoff for their patience. They’re Celtics fans, and they’re frustrated, and on one hand it’s understandable.
After the insanity at last year’s NBA draft, followed by the free-agency scene at Kevin Durant’s rental palace in the Hamptons, followed by all the trade deadline rumors that flew around the last few weeks, the Celtics have spent almost a year now teetering on that next level of basketball relevancy–poised to make the leap from “ooh that team is fun and tries hard” to “ooh LeBron better hope he’s ready.” Every time they get close, close feels a little closer. Regardless of reality, rumors feel more real. Every new deadline or draft day feels like the moment Boston’s been waiting for–until it’s not. Until Danny needs to back away, and survey the scene for another few months until the next time he can maybe make a deal and then probably not make a deal. That’s how it feels. That’s where it gets frustrating.
But at the end of the day, when you sort through the frustration, you can understand why Ainge hasn’t made a deal–or should we say THE deal–quite yet.
First, because that deal doesn’t exist. We’re talking about the right deal, that doesn’t include giving up the glut of their top future draft picks and a large chunk of their current player assets for a star that might not be enough to beat LeBron, never mind Golden State. Could Boston have broken the bank for Jimmy Butler or Paul George? Sure. They have enough to make the Bulls or Pacers an offer they can’t refuse. But why? Or, why now?
That’s the other reason we haven’t seen a deal.
Danny doesn’t have to make one yet.
There’s no one behind him on the course. There’s no starter hucking up phlegm and screaming about pace of play. From where Danny stands, his only time restraint is sundown. That’s 18 months from now when Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley are unrestricted free agents, Marcus Smart is a restricted free agent and the core of this current team either stays together or breaks into pieces. But even then, it doesn’t mean the Celtics have to break. On one side of the spectrum, they could still have Al Horford and Jae Crowder and other veterans ready and willing to step up on a different kind of contender. On the other side, they could still have Jaylen Brown, Smart, Markelle Fultz, and the top pick in the 2018 draft, all a little closer to reaching their own star potential. Right in the middle, they could have a bona fide star like Gordon Hayward, signed this summer in free agency. They could have acquired more talent in every which way, which is still Boston’s most powerful weapon in all this.
Versatility.
Options.
As of right now, they can still trade for a star, or sign a star, or draft a star. Conceivably, there are ways they can do all three.
Or they can overreact and overpay for one star, lose all their cap flexibility, at least one of their two best draft picks, and at least two of your best young players–and still very likely fall short in the Eastern Conference Finals.
But that’s not Danny Ainge hitting the putt.
That’s a misread.
It’s a shot that could very well leave him closer to the pin, but he’s not simply aiming for closer. He wants that course record.
