by Bosox1 » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:42 pm
I wouldn't say top 10 ever but he did a very good job over the past few years stockpiling young talent and expiring contracts. Because of that he was able to put a nice package together for Ray Allen and then got Kevin McHale to overvalue Al Jefferson and give the Celtics a great deal for KG. After that, veterans were lining up to play with Allen, Pierce and Garnett so it wasn't hard to pick up Posey and House for one year deals (same with Cassell and PJ Brown at midseason).
Like Dan said, the Celtics didn't buy a champioship, they drafted and traded for like 8 solid young players and then traded them and some draft picks for Allen and Garnett. Rondo, Perkins and Powe were all already on the team. This isn't that hard to do. All it takes is being bad for a few years so you gt top draft picks and then being able to properly evaluate the talent. Ainge has done very well at that. Most of the guys he's picked up were part of the trades in the offseason or still on the Celtics. The only reason teams stay bad is they can't draft good players and/or won't pay them after their contracts are up.
"No, 'The stripper's bouncer beat the shit out of me' is not an acceptable answer"