There’s really no way to know if he earned his stripes. I’ve seen a lot of people say his experience disproves the nepo claims, but that doesn’t really address the nepo concern. If you believe he’s a nepo baby, you’re also likely to think his experience came from nepotism and those stripes were given to him. If he hadn’t been hired by his dad, we wouldn’t have to ask these extra questions what was earned and what was given. If he had been hired by a different franchise or we hired someone else's son you'd at least have a little more comfort. But on the other hand, you also don't have to worry that he's just some random child of important person like Vivek did with his daughter.
I'm mostly neutral, but those questions are valid. Like you said, you just have to see what happens from here. One concern I had about Danny Ainge is that he's getting older and might want to pull the trigger quickly and rebuild impatiently. So in that sense I'm happy we have a succession plan in place. If I were a MIA fan, for example, I'd be more at peace if I knew that Pat Reilly wasn't making calls based on his own timeline. Extending Hardy + Hiring Austin Ainge signals we're in this thing for the long haul.
