Does Danny Ainge make bad trades? Lets evaluate!
I've seen plenty of people talk about Danny as being a guy who is unable to make a good trade and incompetent in that department. I think those opinions are wrong so I've done my research and found out every trade he's made since taking over the Celtics, and will evaluate each one. They will be all given a verdict; win, lose, or even depending on if Danny got better value, fair value, or worse value. Hopefully this will help take some heat off Danny's bad rep for trades, and give people some hope of what he may be doing this offseason. Or maybe I'm wrong? Lets find out!
TRADE 1) Darius Songaila to Sacramento Kings for two 2nd Round Picks (Brandon Hunter, and Orien Greene)
Songaila ended up being a decent enough player. Hunter gave us a half season of great play before the rest of the league figured him out and shut him down. Orien Greene got fans excited during the preseason and showed glimpses, but eventually came back to earth and didn't do much for us. Have to say this one was a wash.
VERDICT: Even
TRADE 2) Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones to Memphis Grizzlies for Marcus Banks, Kendrick Perkins
Neither Troy Bell or Dahntay Jones are in the league right now. Kendrick Perkins has proven to be a serviceable center in this league, and a locker room leader. Whether he's a career backup center or starting center is still yet to be determined. Gotta rank this one an easy win for the Celtics.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 3) J.R. Bremer and Bruno Sundov to Cleveland Cavaliers for Jumaine Jones and a 2nd Round Pick
None of the 3 players listed here were exactly lighting the league on fire. Jumaine Jones did decent enough for us before being traded to the Lakers as part of the Payton trade, and the second round pick ended up coming back to us in another trade which eventually got us Ryan Gomes. Call this one even.
VERDICT: Even
TRADE 4) Antoine Walker and Tony Delk to Dallas Mavericks for Raef Lafrentz, Jiri Welsh, Chris Mills, and a 1st round draft pick (Delonte West)
This one is a lot tougher. You've got to consider that Jiri Welsh, while being a solid player for the Celtics was eventually flipped to Cleveland for a first round pick. Cleveland traded Jiri shortly after for a second round pick, so thats gotta give Danny some points. Also consider the fact that Danny used that first round pick for Cleveland to aquire Rajon Rondo, a Boston favorite and most likely to finally be our point guard of the future after years of searching. Lets also add in that Chris Mills was an expiring contract we used later on to get another 1st round pick, which turned out to be Tony Allen. Raef Lafrentz down the line though got us Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair (who was a lottery pick as well), but we gave the #7 pick which hurts.
So through this trade we aquired Tony Allen, Delonte West, Rajon Rondo, and Sebastian Telfair. All promising young talents, and with the exception of Telfair, all seemed to have worked out for us. Not only that, but Theo Ratliff's contract could aquire a great addition for this team. So while this trade is a little bit tougher to analyze, and much more complicated, I'm actually gonna have to go with win here. Though I'm sure this will be the most argued pick.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 5) Mike James, Chris Mills to Detroit Pistons for Lindsay Hunter, Chucky Atkins, 1st Round Pick (Tony Allen)
Danny got a ton of crap for this deal, essentially helping the Pistons get Rasheed Wallace and giving them the championship for that year. But really, why do we care? Were we realistically in the running for the championship that year? Absolutely not. We basically jumped into a deal, gave up nothing, and got a 1st round pick out of it for our help. Tony Allen has shown brilliance in the past season and even before as a potential defensive stopper, and he's no slouch on offense either. Rasheed is most likely gone from Detroit in this upcoming offseason, and Detroit could potentially blow it up, so its a realistic possibility that when we're ready to make our run, Detroit will be rebuilding, or at the very least on the decline.
Gotta call this another win.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 6) Eric Williams, Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown to Cleveland Cavaliers for Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm, and Michael Stewart and a 2nd Round Pick (Ryan Gomes)
This trade is a slam dunk for us. Chris Mihm ended up being part of a sign and trade that got us Gary Payton. Ricky Davis played very well for us, was loved in Boston, and in his last full season, was 2nd place in the running for Sixth Man of the Year. Kedrick Brown was a bust, Eric Williams was getting old, and Tony Battie while a serviceable player wasn't exactly lighting Boston on fire with his play. Easy win, not even bringing up the fact that the second round pick ended up getting us Ryan Gomes.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 7) Walter McCarty to Phoenix Suns for 2nd Round Pick
While Waltah did have his group of fans in Boston, including Tommy Heinsohn, he wasn't part of the plans for us. Any Celtic fan in the know can tell that Walter wasn't playing great defense, wasn't grabbing rebounds, and for all the 3s he did hit, there were a ton of misses and bad shots. He was an alright shooter, but the rest of his game was severely lacking. Getting anything for him should be considered an accomplishment. The second round pick ended up getting us Leon Powe.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 8) Jiri Welsh to Cleveland Cavaliers for 1st Round Pick
Jiri was another that had a core of fans in Boston, but never seemed to be able to consistently put it together. He showed flashes of brilliance, had a nice stroke, but for every good game he would have, he'd follow it up with a bad game. Add in the fact that the 1st round pick we got here eventually turned into Rajon Rondo, and that Cleveland traded Jiri shortly after for a second round pick and this is another win for Danny.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 9) Chris Mihms (via sign and trade), Chucky Atkins, and Jumaine Jones to Los Angeles Lakers for Gary Payton, Rick Fox, and a 1st Round Selection
Originally Marcus Banks was included in this deal, (along with us giving a second round pick to LA) and it wasn't quite as likeable as people hadn't given up on Marcus at that point. Once Gary Payton caught wind of this deal, and made it clear he wouldn't report to Boston, the trade was rescinded, and we got our second round pick back, and got to take back Marcus Banks and give them Jumaine Jones instead. Considering Gary Payton played well, said all the right things in Boston, and provided leadership and teaching to our young players, and helped us win the Atlantic Divison that year, its a win based on that alone.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 10) Gary Payton, Michael Stewart, Tom Gugliotta and Los Angeles Lakers' 1st Round Pick to Atlanta Hawks for Antoine Walker
This is one trade that isn't as it appears. Gary Payton WAS indeed sent to Atlanta, but was bought out, and immediatly came back to Boston. So in reality, this is Stewart and Gugliotta's expiring deals along with an extra first rounder that nets us Antoine Walker for half a second which turned into some filler, 2nd round picks, and a nice new watch for Al Jefferson in exchange for giving up the number 8. Did I lose you there? Its always tough to give up a 1st round pick, especially considering how well Danny Ainge has drafted, but considering this deal brought Toine and the big wiggle back, got Boston excited about basketball again, won us the divison makes this another win.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 11) Antoine Walker to Miami Heat for draft rights to Albert Miralles, Curtis Borchardt, Qyntel Woods, 2006 2nd Round Pick, and future 2nd Round Pick
What can you say about this? Antoine wanted a ton of money, and we had a young guy named Al Jefferson who was on the verge of breaking through and deserved the playing time instead. We basically took what we could get for Antoine, and although it wasn't much, at least it was something considering we didn't want to give Toine a long term deal. This is a little tougher, but we're gonna call it another win.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 12) 2006 second round pick to New Orleans Hornets for Dan Dickau
Danny was constantly searching for our "point guard of the future" and Dan Dickau was another shot at it. Dickau had previously averaged 13 ppg and 5 assists which looked good on paper, but you have to take into account that he was playing on a really bad New Orleans team. I almost want to give this a win because it was only a second round pick and Danny rolled the dice, but considering Dickau played his way out of the rotation before the season even started, and then proceeded to get injured for the entire year when he finally got played time, we'll call this one even.
VERDICT: Even
TRADE 13) Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks, Justin Reed and two conditional 2nd round picks to Minnesota Timberwolves for Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Olowakandi, Dwayne Jones and a future 1st Round Pick
This is right up there with the first Antoine trade as the hardest to evaluate. Ricky Davis was a huge favorite in Boston, and is in my opinion, a better talent than Wally. Mark Blount, while not knowing how to play much defense, or rebound, was a pretty reliable scorer and had some serious range for a big man. Justin Reed was another favorite, who played great defense, but was clearly rotting away on the bench. Marcus Banks had been given chance after chance, and has shown he can't make an impact in this league.
Wally has played great for us, said all the right things, and been a great chemistry guy. Unfortunately, he's constantly hurt, and has an awful contract. Olowakandi and Dwayne Jones were basically filler, and who knows if we'll ever even get the first round pick. So we gave up 3 guys who can produce in the NBA for Wally's bad contract, and constant injuries?
Why?
I'm by no means going to try to defend this trade, and I'm going to call this a loss, but here were the reasons. Marcus Banks and Mark Blount were bad people. Blount had a very passive nonchalant attitude, and didn't play a lick of defense, nor did he care to. Banks was constantly speaking out against the team, and was known as a cancer in the locker room. Ricky Davis, while being liked, was a heavy partier, and a bad influence on the rest of the team.
Ricky was actually my favorite Celtic at the time, and of all days for this trade to happen, it happened on my birthday. I remember seeing the trade on the bottom of ESPNews during my party and it was definitly a buzzkill on my mood that night.
Maybe Wally's contract will eventually get us some talent this season or next when its close to running out. Maybe it won't. Either way, this trade is a loss.
VERDICT: Loss
TRADE 14) Raef Lafrentz, Dan Dickau, and the #7 Pick to Portland Trailblazers for Theo Ratliff, and Sebastian Telfair
This is more than likely the deal that hurt Danny's rep. Telfair was an exciting prospect when he came into the league, but after 2 subpar years in Portland, didn't have much value or hope in Portland. Raef and Theo was an exchange of contracts, with Boston being able to get Theo's deal which was a year short. Dickau was a bad experiment gone wrong in Boston and his days were done here. But the #7 pick? Thats the part that stings the most, especially considering we gave up a shot at Brandon Roy, who ended up being the rookie of the year.
Now there are some arguments to validate this trade for Danny, none of which I really like. Number one is financial reasons. I guess thats not a terrible reason for ownership, but it really doesn't do anything for us fans. Of course, there's a chance we could move Theo's contract as part of a deal for an all star type player, and even then, I'm not sure I'd change this to a win but it'd definitly make me feel a little better about this deal.
The number two argument is that Brandon Roy, while being a solid player, wasn't a franchise type player, but was good enough to push us into mediocrity. Danny may have felt like we'd be better off taking our chances with the current squad, and if things went bad, we could take for a chance at a much better prospect in the next years' draft.
Maybe the fact that Danny was targeting Rondo at #7 anyways and got him later on at #21 will make you feel a little bit better, but if thats the case, we could have gotten Brandon Roy and still done the Rondo trade at #21.
Either way, this is a terrible trade, and thinking about it, still makes me upset. Its a loss for Danny.
VERDICT: Loss
TRADE 15) Cleveland's 1st round pick to Phoenix Suns for Brian Grant and 2006 first round pick (Rajon Rondo)
Obviously giving up a 1st round pick always hurts, but considering we got Rajon Rondo out of the deal (who Danny was actually targeting at #7 anyways) you gotta be happy about it. Plus instead of waiting for a pick in the late 20's this year, which surely would have gotten us a quality player, we've got our "point guard of the future" in Rondo who already has a year under his belt now. Brian Grant came to us, and his salary was actually still paid by Phoenix, so thats not too bad either. This is a win.
VERDICT: Win
TRADE 16) Golden State's 2007 2nd Round pick to Denver Nuggets for 2006 Second Round Pick (Leon Powe)
Just a simple swap of second round picks, Leon Powe was undersized and had knee issues, so he slipped more than he probably would have. He ended up being a quality player for us, and has had some good games. Who knows if he'll have a career in the NBA or end up in Europe, but either way, we're giving up the #49th pick this year, so its not like we gave up a lot. I'll call this one even.
VERDICT: Even
TRADE 17) Dwayne Jones for Luke Jackson
We swapped an NBDL prospect given to us in the Minnesota deal for a former top 10 pick gone bad. Neither worked out for their respective team and both were waived by the time the regular season started. We'll call this one even as well.
VERDICT: Even
So whats the score?
10 were wins, 4 were even, and 2 were losses. Unfortunately, the 2 losses were 2 of the 3 biggest trades listed here (and the 3rd one, the first Antoine deal isn't a complete winner) either and thats probably why Danny's garnered a bad reputation for trades. You've got to consider that out of 16 trades, Danny has gotten fair value, or better value in 14 of those deals in my opinion and 14 out of 16 ain't all that bad.
There is a bright future on the horizon, and something tells me we may see Danny's biggest deal yet this offseason!
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