Boston Celtics: Examining The Legacies Of Danny Ainge And Brad Stevens

Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens

Do the good times outweigh the bad? It’s a question I ask myself whenever I judge someone’s legacy. I’m confident in saying Danny Ainge is a good executive and Brad Stevens is a good coach. Ainge and Stevens both had success with the Boston Celtics, but after a few disappointing seasons in a row, their legacies ran into some problems.

On Wednesday, the Boston Celtics announced that Ainge is stepping down as President of Basketball Operations. Replacing Ainge is Stevens, who will leave his position as head coach to work in the front office.

A change was coming to Boston in some way, shape, or form. This past season was a disaster. After making the Conference Finals in the Bubble, injuries and Covid plagued the Celtics as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker all missed significant time throughout the year. The lineup of Tatum, Peyton Pritchard, Semi Ojeleye, Jabari Parker, and Grant Williams wasn’t enough (shocker) to defeat the Nets as the Celtics were bounced from the first round of the playoffs.

Theo Epstein, who won championships for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, believes that 10 years is an appropriate amount of time to stay with a team before moving on. Theo’s rationale makes a lot of sense. At some point, the message in year eight or nine doesn’t positively affect the players and organization as it did in year one or two. A new voice for the Celtics is probably a good thing.

Ainge and Stevens have had more highs than lows. Ainge came in guns blazing in 2003 when he traded Antonie Walker, a fan favorite at the time, and essentially made coach Jim O’Brien resign. What happened next? Ainge hired Doc Rivers, and the two began to rebuild. In 2007, “Trader Danny” acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to form the Big Three with Paul Pierce, which resulted in one NBA Championship and two Finals’ appearances in three years.

Ainge also knew when to pull the plug on a team. Ainge committed highway robbery when he traded Garnett and Pierce to the Nets for every draft pick known to man. (Five players, three firsts, and a pick swap, but you get my point.) Trader Danny also acquired Kyrie Irving (more on him later) and drafted Brown and Tatum. Don’t forget that Ainge traded back to take Tatum instead of drafting Fultz.

Here’s what Ainge doesn’t get a lot of credit for, which is surprising. He took hired Stevens! The guy who led Butler to two straight NCAA Championship games became a top 5 NBA coach during the middle of this tenure with the Celtics. Stevens led a team with Isaiah Thomas and Crowder to the Conference Finals in 2017 and followed that up with a Game 7 loss in the same round in 2018.

Overachieving on a team with less talent than the opponent was the theme of Stevens’ tenure. The same underdog mentality he established at Butler translated to the Celtics with three Conference Finals appearances in the last four seasons.

Despite great starts, both Ainge and Stevens start to disappoint in 2019. Kyrie’s tenure in Boston was a disaster. Every GM would have made the Kyrie trade, but it clearly backfired. Stars like Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis would have been perfect to pair with Kyrie, but Ainge didn’t want to take a chance on guys who may not have re-signed long-term with Boston. There is some validity to Ainge’s thought process, but you can’t help but think “what if” they finally pushed their chips in and traded Brown for Kawhi or Tatum for Davis.

That’s one of my biggest gripes with Ainge. He was fearless in the late 2000s, trading fan favorites and draft picks to form a successful Big Three. He won a title because of his boldness. Because the Kyrie trade went sour, the big trades came to a halt. The Cs became the team that “almost” traded for a star. They almost traded for Kawhi and Davis. Almost isn’t good enough to win titles. Even this past year, the Celtics almost traded for Aaron Gordon, who is the third-best player on a Nuggets team with the best record since the All-Star break. Instead, they settled for Evan Fournier. What happened to “Trader Danny” who wasn’t afraid to make the big move?

For as good as Ainge as was drafting stars, he struggled to draft rotation players. Here are Ainge’s last two drafts.

If we’re grading these drafts, 2019 is an F, and 2020 is a D+. That’s not good for an executive that loves to accumulate draft picks. It may be apples and oranges, but the fact remains that the Nets are in a better position to win a championship than the Celtics, which seemed like an impossible task a few years ago.

For Stevens, the “can’t coach superstars” narrative started to form after the Kyrie debacle. In the Bubble, Erik Spoelstra ran circles around Stevens. Spoelstra is an elite coach, but at one point, so was Stevens. Maybe Stevens wasn’t more valuable than a superstar player.

To be fair, if Gordon Hayward doesn’t shatter his foot in Game 1 of the 2017-2018 season, maybe things work out differently for both Ainge and Stevens. However, the Celtics let Hayward walk for nothing this past year in a season where Hayward had the Hornets in the top 6 in the Eastern Conference before his injury.

Now, Stevens will get a chance at redemption when he becomes “the new Ainge.” With no front office experience, finding the right coach and roster to accompany Brown and Tatum will be a tall task for Stevens.

Overall, Ainge and Stevens had moments where they were at the top in their respective positions, but the past few seasons felt like major disappointments. It’s hard to end a relationship on a high note, but Ainge and Stevens’ 2020-2021 season was as sour as it gets. Now, both will look towards new opportunities to rewrite their endings.

What are your predictions for the Celtics’ future? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us, @unafraidshow.

How Kyrie Irving is Learning to Be a Leader: LeBron James Helped

Kyrie Irving boston celtics

“There are leaders, and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a position of power or influence. Those who lead inspire us. We follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves.”

The above statement is from Simon Sinek’s Logistics of Leadership, and the quote could not be more applicable to the situation between Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night, 117-108, in what could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. Irving leads the Celtics with 27 points, but the top story was not found in the box score. In fact, the biggest story involved Irving’s words, not his play on the court. Irving dropped a bombshell when he revealed to reporters that he sought advice from the unlikeliest of sources. Irving asked for guidance from the same teammate he did not want to play with anymore and forced ownership to trade him away. Not only did Irving request direction from said teammate, but he apologized for his actions.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the teammate that gave Irving advice was LeBron James. 

Irving’s comments stem from the tumultuous past couple of days the Celtics have experienced in the media. After losing to the Orlando Magic this past Saturday night, Irving publicly called out his younger teammates, citing that they have no idea what it takes to win a championship. “The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team,” Irving said, via Keith Smith of Real GM. “What it takes every day. And if they think it is hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to the Finals?”

Calling out teammates in front of the media is not a trait of a leader and Irving’s teammate, Jaylen Brown, made sure to reinforce that issue. Brown fired back at Irving, saying “It’s not one guy’s fault, it’s not young guys old guys fault, it’s everybody we all have to be accountable and turn this thing around… We can’t point fingers; we just have to continue to empower each other.”

It seems to me that Irving has not figured out how to be a leader, which is why he sought advice from one of the best leaders in the NBA, LeBron James. It’s ironic because the same issues that Irving brings up (lack of experience from young guys, don’t know what it takes to win, etc.) are the same issues that LeBron had when trying to groom Irving into the league’s next best superstar. It seems as if Irving may have learned his lesson (for now).

“I’ll tell you one thing. Obviously it was something that was a big deal for me because I had to call ’Bron and tell him I apologize for being that young player that wanted everything at his fingertips and I wanted everything to be at my threshold,” said Irving after the victory over the Raptors. “ ’Bron was one of the guys who came to Cleveland and tried to really show us what it’s like to win a championship. It was hard for him. Sometimes getting the most out of the group is not the easiest thing in the world. Like I said, only few are meant for it or chosen for it, and I felt like the best person to call was him because he’s in this situation.”

Because of Irving’s call to James, the sports world is breaking down Irving’s comments like it’s the Zapruder film. Both sides have fair arguments. Irving realized that he was the main issue behind Cleveland’s chemistry problems, not James. Maybe Irving has learned his lesson and his apology is sincere and heartfelt. Athletes are people and just like people tend to do, they mature with age. Irving may have realized that LeBron’s leadership and constant push to be better would only benefit the team in the long run.

However, there is the other side of this debate. Irving once again opened his mouth to the public when he could have remained silent. It’s not like any member of the media had word of this phone call between Irving and James. Irving mentioned it unprovoked. Irving’s message may be heartfelt, but one can translate what he said as “Yes, I play with young and immature players that remind me of myself.” That’s kind of a backhand insult, no? Did he need to share that with the public? Did he need to use LeBron James to support his agenda of growing as a leader? Sometimes, the best way to lead is by saying nothing at all, at least to the media and to his teammates on the court. Behind closed doors is when issues over a lack of leadership should be addressed.

For all we know, Kyrie Irving could have meant every word of that apology and that he’s learned from mistakes. The fact of the matter is that the time to talk about leadership is over. Will Irving be a leader or be someone who leads? The choice is his, and the fate of the season depends on it.