The Vintage Danny Ainge Spinzone Is Out In Full Force
Hopefully by now my fellow Celtics fans have calmed down a little bit. Yesterday was emotional, hot takes were given, the people wanted moves and at times rational thought was thrown out the window. Personally my stance has always been that it would have been nice to upgrade if the right situation presented itself, but it was more of a nice to have as opposed to a need. We've been down this road so many times before I approach the trade deadline with way more of a fun mentality because deep down I know nothing will happen. As always there's the buyout market where we've seen this team be more active, so it's mostly whatever for me. Do I know what the plan is with all these goddamn picks that this team will not have roster space for? Nope, sure don't. But we don't have to know the plan. Ainge, Mike Zarren and Brad do. Now there's a good chance the plan is that they have no plan which wouldn't be great, but they can still consolidate shit this summer so let's put that on the back burner for now.
For me, the best part of the trade deadline comes once it's done and Danny Ainge speaks for the first time. I've spent the majority of my life decoding his spin so I always look forward to how he'll frame things. Ainge is someone who doesn't lie, but is careful with his words. Sometimes you have to look at what he isn't saying to figure out what he really means. That's why if you haven't seen his full interview yesterday afternoon, go ahead and watch that video. Add in to what we heard from T&R this morning and it's clear what type of picture Ainge is going to paint.
The one thing I want to focus on is the idea that the Celts didn't "have any good deals". Well what does that mean? You didn't have any deals that you were the clear winner on, or like he said, they didn't have any deals that made them better. OK, I can understand that but at the same time how is that possible? Pick an area that this team has to improve, there are guys that can help that on the market. So did he mean they didn't want to give up shit to get marginally better in an area? That I agree with. If it isn't going to make a real noticeable difference, then fine. The one thing he's been consistent with even before the deadline is that they just want to see what this team looks like healthy. I think that's fair to some degree. We don't know what this ceiling is with everyone 100% because they've played like 8 games together at 100%. Maybe they are closer to contending than we think because when they look good they look reaaaaallly good. The injuries are the only question, can this team stay healthy when it matters most. Some might argue that's a reason to make a move, but I can see the other side as well.
The most important part though is that final tweet. Is it typical Ainge bullshit that he feels like this team can win a championship? Maybe partially. But if he truly feels that way, it's interesting that he didn't do what he had to do to increase their chances even more. Even if he thinks they can get there as long as they are healthy, if you truly believe you can win, doing nothing is a surprise. Granted if they add in the buyout market then it's all gravy and doing nothing yesterday means jack shit.
This is a dance we're going to do every year as long as Ainge is pulling the strings so get ready for it next February. The beauty of all this is we're going to see who was right. All the angry internet GMs who lost their shit that there was no moves, or Ainge. I'm not saying this team has to win a title to justify standing pat, but they certainly can't lose in the second round again that's for damn sure.