Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Workouts have done nothing to change Ainge's mind

Sometimes an answer is put right in front of us and we don't even notice. For example, Scott Souza had a very good article in yesterday's paper: http://www.dailynewstribune.com/sports/x237163644


Particularly interesting was this short paragraph:

"Furthermore, Wallace indicated that he couldn't "steal'' Ainge's pick even if he wanted to because he doesn't know who it might be. While Ainge repeated following a draft workout yesterday that he has a list in his mind and could have done the draft the day after the Final Four ended, Wallace said he has no preconceived notions on the No. 4 selection."

And out of that, please READ THIS PHRASE CAREFULLY: "...Ainge repeated following a draft workout yesterday that he has a list in his mind and could have done the draft the day after the Final Four ended..."

There it is... Danny Ainge has just told you that NOTHING he has seen in any workout has changed his mind about the draft since very early April. Not one iota. He would have done the draft then EXACTLY the same as now.


I find this very interesting. So I went back to see what I thought BEFORE my mind got polluted by all these workout reports, BEFORE the Lottery-Of-Doom.2, BEFORE the Celtics fell to the 5th pick; when we were all young and naive and carefree (oh what simple happy days those were!):

Me on April 2nd, 2007: "OK, so if it's 1 or 2, you definitely keep the pick and get Oden or Durant. Either way is sensational. You drop to 3 or 4, you might keep the pick, but you do explore the market.

I got a feeling Danny Ainge likes someone else out there besides the big two. Not as much, but like Rondo last year there's a player he wouldn't mind at all having on the roster. Yi and B. Wright are the best bets..."


Wow, I didn't even acknowledge the 5th position as a viable possibility.

What I did think was, if the Celtics kept the pick they'd end up with Brandan Wright or Yi. I still do.

Danny Ainge is definitely more of a long term thinker than the majority of fans, and virtually all Boston sportswriters. Otherwise he would not have set the now unbreakable all time record for acquiring high school players. If he keeps the pick and feels the best guy in the draft lacks experience (like maybe Yi) he'll still take him.

He won't take what he feels is a lesser guy just to help right now. At least he never has before.


---6/21/07 (one day later): A lot has happened in 24 hours! Rumors are flying everywhere from Steve Bulpett in the Herald, to WEEI, and many other places that this Minnesota deal for Garnett might be for real. Wow! This is going to be a wild week.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I just wanted to tell you that you have a reader (at least one) in Spain. I love your pieces. Keep them coming!!!

Gant said...

Woohoo! Hola amigo! Great to have you here! I plan to keep putting up one or two columns a week.