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Danny Ainge hired as CEO of basketball operations

I don't know if this is a great move or not, but the hand wringing over it somewhere between out of control and comical.
 
gomretat said:
Unless JZ was part of this conversation starting months ago he is gone. This is a kick in the gut to a guy who has been loyal and done good work. I hope he was involved but Smith doesnt seem like the type who cares what others think.
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Per Tony Jones... he wanted to be the guy... so this is a demotion of sorts. Its in his athletic article... not much more detail was added than what I stated.
 
infection said:
Some valid points in here. A lot of deals get done on relationship, and a lot of deals don't happen based on relationship. Even DL hinted at this that he makes moves with people he's familiar with (more on this later). But everyone knows who Ainge is. He's not the quiet guy in the group, whether you like him or not. And a lot of people may hate that loud obnoxious guy who is a narcissist and has some level of popularity, but they will still interact with him, still invite him to the parties, and still be there to slap his hand when he's giving high fives. You'll definitely know what that guy wants, and at times you may desire what he has to offer, and it won't be hard to get that conversation initiated if you've got something he wants. DL, on the other hand, was more the quiet guy that doesn't carry a strong presence but that, way after the fact, people will tell you how much they respect him, but not that many people are talking to him. Back to us making repeated Cleveland trades... the Cleveland GM was a guy who was like 30. DL isn't fitting in the all the hot shots at the party so he goes and finds the other quiet nerd who will give him attention. It's kind of a Michael Scott move where he is ignored and on the outside with the heavy hitters, but uses Dwight as his backup to pump himself up. That's the vibe I got from all those repeat Cleveland deals.
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Everyone does know Danny Ainge, but based on recent reports on how people have interacted with him that seems like a bad thing. The players don't like Ainge because of what he did to IT and how he feels about their efforts off the court. Other GM's don't like him because they know he's just trying to rip them off and doesn't negotiate in good faith. I think everyone dislikes him and makes fun of him for his habit of almost making moves that would have been good. That's really why people know Danny Ainge. It's because he played in this league and also made a fool of himself with his "war chest". Maybe people liked him before, but they don't like him now and that is not a good thing.

I don't know why we're typecasting DL as a quiet guy either. As far as we know, he is out of a job because of how opinionated he was. He had the power to make the Dok pick even when he was on his way out. I'd bet that very few GMs are quiet people in the first place, whether you know their name or not.

I've said this many times before, but as bad as some of DL's moves were, he is a huge reason why we're where we are. He had a good run.
 
Tony Jones says that Ainge has always had a good relationship with Wade.
 
Found this really interesting from Tony Jones latest article. Sounds like no one is completely safe but Donovan, not even Rudy.

"The Jazz currently resemble a much more robust version of those Celtics, with veteran depth players who know their roles and how to fit together. It seems the bigger questions are whether they can keep the other key scorers around Donovan Mitchell healthy in the spring and if they can find a way to keep Rudy Gobert in the driver’s seat against playoff scheming. If the Jazz fall short of the conference finals for the sixth year of legitimate contention in a row, Ainge won’t be afraid to finally move Gobert or consolidate Utah’s depth for a more potent three-level playmaker."
 
Jingled said:
Found this really interesting from Tony Jones latest article. Sounds like no one is completely safe but Donovan, not even Rudy.

"The Jazz currently resemble a much more robust version of those Celtics, with veteran depth players who know their roles and how to fit together. It seems the bigger questions are whether they can keep the other key scorers around Donovan Mitchell healthy in the spring and if they can find a way to keep Rudy Gobert in the driver’s seat against playoff scheming. If the Jazz fall short of the conference finals for the sixth year of legitimate contention in a row, Ainge won’t be afraid to finally move Gobert or consolidate Utah’s depth for a more potent three-level playmaker."
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That would be incredibly stupid, considering that Gobert isn't the one getting exposed when he gets pulled out of the paint - everybody else is.

We are basically last year's Trailblazers without Gobert.
 
Gameface said:
No, what the Jazz need to do is avoid people who say and do stupid things that make it clear that they are idiots and ***holes. Should be easy.
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If you think that Danny Ainge's social stances are canceling level problematic, you are going to face a lot of disappointment in the coming years. He's not any more stupid that anyone else.
 
MT Steve said:
That would be incredibly stupid, considering that Gobert isn't the one getting exposed when he gets pulled out of the paint - everybody else is.

We are basically last year's Trailblazers without Gobert.
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I've said that someone with an outside perspective like Ainge is good to not hang on to guys that the rest of the league wouldn't value (not that DL's shadow hangs over that much for guys like Oni or Udoka, but they're still here). But this is obviously the downside to that, in that we who have been following the team from this inside track have a certain (correct) narrative on Gobert that the rest of the league doesn't recognize. However, one would have to assume that Smith thinks more like us regarding Rudy (could be wrong) and that he'd at least have some awareness on Ainge's thinking regarding that issue.
 
Jingled said:
Found this really interesting from Tony Jones latest article. Sounds like no one is completely safe but Donovan, not even Rudy.

"The Jazz currently resemble a much more robust version of those Celtics, with veteran depth players who know their roles and how to fit together. It seems the bigger questions are whether they can keep the other key scorers around Donovan Mitchell healthy in the spring and if they can find a way to keep Rudy Gobert in the driver’s seat against playoff scheming. If the Jazz fall short of the conference finals for the sixth year of legitimate contention in a row, Ainge won’t be afraid to finally move Gobert or consolidate Utah’s depth for a more potent three-level playmaker."
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This does feel like maybe he was brought in to do the thing we may need to do in 7-8 months. Well according to some people this is what we would "need" to do.
 
The Negatives: I'm now super nervous some of my favorites in the locker room may be going - including Quin Snyder. Danny is the guy got Doc Rivers to be a championship coach - and Doc has proven since that he can't do much without a Super Team.

The Positives: I can only assume that this deal is happening at this time, because ownership wants to make sure that we make the right deal or deals before the deadline - and get the assets that are going to put us over the top. They don't want to pay this deep into the luxury tax with no rings to show for it. That's the other positive it brings - the next time the Jazz have a free agent to recruit if DWade and DAinge are at the table - that's 6 championship rings on those fingers - that's something Utah has never had before.
 
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