Ainge's blueprint not yet in focus

HoopsHype.com Columns Ainge's blueprint not yet in focus by Chris Ekstrand / November 9, 2004 Today marks 18 months since Danny Ainge took over as Executive Director of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics. In that time, he traded away Antoine Walker for brittle Raef LaFrentz, unspectacular Jiri Welsch and unproven Delonte West, cleared the roster of useful mid-career veterans like Eric Williams and Tony Battie in obtaining head case Ricky Davis and forced the resignation of head coach Jim O’Brien. It’s clear by now that Ainge has been a busy man since returning to the city where he helped the Celtics win NBA titles in 1984 and 1986. What’s less clear is whether Ainge has the Celtics headed towards contention or combustion. Immediately after accepting the offer of the Celtics’ new ownership group on May 9, 2003, Ainge promised he would remake Boston into a high-scoring, fast-running and entertaining team. He clearly had a distaste for the team he inherited, dependent as it was on the three-point prowess (or lack thereof) of Paul Pierce and Walker. Ainge envisioned a team that would have far less reliance on the three-pointer, would score easy baskets on the fast break and would generally roll against the tide in the physical, slug-it-out Eastern Conference. Ainge’s moves have been bold, but so far it’s unclear if they have furthered any of the goals he set. While giving up Walker, who averaged 20.8 ppg over his seven seasons in Boston, Ainge acquired the gimpy LaFrentz, who appeared in only 17 games last season due to injuries; Welsch, who is probably best cast as a sixth man and first guard off the bench; and West, who opened the season on the injured list and is trying to make a difficult transition from college shooting guard to NBA point guard. While all three are still young players (LaFrentz is only 28), when you trade a 20-point-per-game scorer in this league, you better bring back more than Ainge did. Walker – warts and all (yes, he shot the ball too much) – was a marquee player, someone other teams had to worry about defensively and was also a factor on the boards. Nobody worries about containing the offensive talents of LaFrentz, Welsch or West. Before sustaining two major injuries in his six-year career, LaFrentz perhaps had a chance to be a star, but it’s obvious now his best career outcome would be as a solid role player. Welsch and West have yet to define who they will be as NBA players, but none of the talent eval‎uators around the league expect either player to emerge as more than a solid contributor at best. All of which brings us to the December 15 trade that brought Ricky Davis to Boston and cost the Celtics Williams, Battie, and ultimately O’Brien, who saw his two main defensive stalwarts dismissed in one trade. Boston was the fourth team Davis had played for by his 24th birthday, which tells you something about this mercurial talent. Ainge had no choice but to bring in another scorer after trading Walker and getting so little scoring punch in return. The first trade forced the second trade to be made. Davis, who flopped in a short trial as second banana to LeBron James in Cleveland will get the chance to see if he can do better as the second option behind Pierce in Boston. Since this Celtics team has even less offensive firepower than last year’s Cavaliers team (which featured low-post threats Carlos Boozer and Zydrunas Ilgauskas), Davis will get his shots and his chance to fit in. To be fair to Ainge, it is true the Celtics had no accomplished point guard when he took over. A combination of Tony Delk and JR Bremer was unlikely to take Boston to the Promised Land. But what has transpired since at the crucial point position leads one to question Ainge’s judgment. The Celtics meandered through last season with journeymen Chucky Atkins and Mike James and rookie Marcus Banks manning the point. When that proved insufficient, Ainge packaged Chris Mihm (a throw-in from Cleveland in the Davis deal), Atkins and little-used Jumaine Jones to the Lakers for aging former point guard icon Gary Payton. It was one of the more inscrutable trades of the NBA offseason, and might be the most puzzling of Ainge’s three major trades, which is saying something. At first Payton said he had no intention of reporting to the Celtics, which must have made Ainge and new coach Doc Rivers feel warm all over. When Payton realized his chances of collecting his last big NBA payday rested on his showing up for more than a fortnight in New England, he relented and reported. Now the reins of Ainge’s rebuilding project have been handed over to Payton, moody and often petulant in his best years and sure to be a laugh riot now in his decline. It’s highly questionable where many of the veterans Ainge has brought in (LaFrentz, Payton, Tom Gugliotta) fit into Boston’s future, but one thing’s certain: the draft picks of the last two seasons are hardly sure things, either. So far, Ainge has brought in Banks (miscast as a point guard as a rookie), high school big men Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson, West and another rookie guard, Tony Allen. While some NBA scouts are high on some of these players, taking up five roster spots with players who might not be contributing much this season is an iffy proposition. Will Boston’s owners and – perhaps more important – its fans have the patience to wait several more years for these players to produce? Not every draft choice pays quick dividends like James or Carmelo Anthony. Take one look at Chicago’s predicament for what unrealized potential can do to a franchise. Not all is lost for Boston. The Atlantic Division, which Boston shares with New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Toronto, is not exactly peopled with the league’s heavyweights. Even before divisional realignment this year, Boston was able to qualify for the playoffs last year with a 36-46 record. The same could happen again. But Ainge came in and blew up a team which had won three playoff series in the final two seasons of the Pierce/Walker amalgamation. So far, it’s hard to tell whether the Celtics are better off heading into the second season of the Ainge Era in the land where leprechauns (and championships) used to reside. Chris Ekstrand, former editor of the NBA Draft Guide, is a freelance writer based in Ohio and a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com Tell us what you think about this column. 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