Tag: Danny Ainge

The golf outing was mentioned during …

The golf outing was mentioned during Sunday’s broadcast of “The Last Dance,” ESPN’s 10-part documentary on Jordan’s Bulls. The golfing was mostly notable because Jordan followed it up by scoring 63 points in Chicago’s double-overtime Game 2 loss to the Celtics. In a phone interview Monday, Ainge recounted those secretive 36 holes at Framingham Country Club. “Michael was like me in that he didn’t want to really do other stuff that a lot of players did in those days,” Ainge said. “He just wanted to play golf. And you had so much time on your hands.”

Ainge said they played each hole for …

Ainge said they played each hole for money, and that he won more than he lost. It was clear that Jordan, ever the competitor, was not thrilled about it. When the rounds ended, Ainge said, Jordan made it clear that he wanted to play again for a chance at redemption. He might even have wanted to keep playing that day. “I did beat him, and I did talk a little trash,” Ainge said. “I just remember it was a good time. He did say when I got dropped off, ‘Tell your boy D.J. I’ve got something for him tomorrow.’ Michael was so competitive. He really, really wanted to win.”

“I played 36 holes that day with …

“I played 36 holes that day with Michael and it was a hot, sunny day,” Ainge said. “I dropped him off at the hotel and then I went home, showered, got dressed and went to this game. And I couldn’t believe how much energy he had after 36 holes in the hot sun. He was full-court pressuring and just dogging everybody. It was really impressive. His competitive drive is well documented, but his stamina was just insane.”

Ainge recently was interviewed on …

Ainge recently was interviewed on ESPN’s “Hoop Streams” about acquiring Garnett and building that championship squad, and the Celtics president of basketball operations discussed what exactly led to KG joining Boston. “Well, KG was very polite letting me in his home,” Ainge said. “We talked about the possibility. I got permission from Minnesota to go talk to KG and see if we could talk him into doing the trade. He was very respectful and I think he was very interested. He had some friends that he counted on. Chauncey (Billups) and (Tyronn Lue) I think were two of those friends that he relied heavily on at that time. At first, before we made the trade for KG or before Ray, KG wasn’t sure we were good enough to win.

“And so I think he was waffling between …

“And so I think he was waffling between us and I think the (Los Angeles) Lakers might’ve been involved and tried to get KG. So it wasn’t until we made that draft-day trade (for Allen). We actually made a trade for KG before, but because KG would not sign a contract extension, I wasn’t going to give up a lot of our young assets just to have KG for one year. So we went on and made a trade for Ray, and then we went back to Minnesota and back to KG, and we were able to work something out. And as the say, the rest is history.”

Danny Ainge, Kendrick Perkins talk 2008 title team genesis, chemistry

Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge and former Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins recently spoke on the 2008 title team’s early days and chemistry.

Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge recently appeared on ESPN’s Hoop Streams — hosted by Cassidy Hubbarth and joined by former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins and Amin Elhassan — to talk on Boston’s 2008 NBA Championship among several topics.

Spurred by Garnett’s recent Hall of Fame election, Hubbarth soon arrived at the foundation story of the “new Big Three”, as KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have been called in deference to the 1980s frontcourt trio of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.

Asked about the conversation in which the BYU product convinced the Big Ticket to accept a trade to Boston, Ainge replied at length.

“KG was very polite, letting me in his home,” began the Celtics president.

“We talked about the possibility. I’d gotten permission from Minnesota to go talk to KG and see if we could talk him into doing a trade, and he was very respectful. And I think that he was very interested … At first, before we had made the trade … before Ray [Allen], KG wasn’t sure we were good enough to win.”

“And so he was waffling between us and and I think the [Los Angeles] Lakers might have been involved to try to get KG,” he added.

Ainge narrowly beat out a competing offer or offers from the Los Angeles Lakers to land Garnett once he managed to leverage draft assets in a deal to bring former UConn standout Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce and the rest of the team on draft night in 2007.

“We’d actually made a trade for KG before, but because [he] would not sign a contract extension, I wasn’t going to give up a lot of our young assets just to have [him] for one year,” explained the Celtics’ head honcho.

Once together, the team quickly clicked, and forged an incredible chemistry had coach Doc Rivers famously referred to as “Ubuntu”, after a Nguni Bantu term that means, roughly translated, “I am because we are,” an embodiment of the sacrifices all three stars were making to win together.

“There was so much hope in the face of Doc, in the face of Paul and Ray and KG,” said Ainge, referring to the anticipation and esprit de corp that emerged almost immediately with the group of new teammates.

“All of them, and all of our other players, there was so much hope in what had happened that offseason, that there was just an incredible enthusiasm when training camp started.”

Former Celtic big man Kendrick Perkins weighed in, agreeing.

“Our practices were so crazy that Doc used to have to call [Garnett] out … it almost gets a fist blows and this is not a real practice unless some people [are] about the fight. And … every practice it was like — seriously — what Doc was like [was], ‘Alright, that’s it. That’s it. That’s enough. That’s enough.”

While that may not sound like chemistry to a casual observer, the intense competitive fire all three of the new Big Three brought to the team was not only laser-focused desire to do what none of the trio was able to on their own, it also became infectious — to the point of boiling over at times.

But that fire fueled an epic title run ending in Banner 17 and a spot in Celtics lore only smaller than some others because of bad luck and injuries.

As much as they went at each other in practice, they also deferred to the hot hand in games, and built a chemistry bigger than a team or the word used to convey it as a concept.

The whole interview is a gem, and worth a listen if you haven’t heard it already — just play the video above.

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On this day: Ainge hits 1000th 3-pointer, Parish plays 1561st game

On this day, former Boston Celtics shooting guard Danny Ainge hit his 1,000th career 3-pointer, and ex-Celtic big man Robert Parish played his 1,561st game, an NBA record.

On this day in, former Boston Celtic shooting guard and current team president Danny Ainge became the third NBA player in league history to reach 1,000 made 3-point shots in 1995.

He was no longer with Boston at the time, having been traded to the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers before landing with the Phoenix Suns, the team with whom he was playing when he passed that lofty record.

Only Dale Ellis and Reggie Miller had shot as many 3-pointers at that time in NBA history, the dynamics of the game still focused on near-basket makes with shots from the midrange being taken in abundance still being the norm.

It is also the date that former Boston Celtic big man Robert Parish became the NBA’s all-time leader for games played, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 1,560 games while with the Charlotte Hornets.

The former Boston big man would finish his career with 1,611 games played while with the Chicago Bulls in 1996-97, with whom he won his fourth and final championship.

 

Today is also the anniversary of two wins since the season the Celtics hung their last banner in 2007-08.

The first was a 104-97 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in 2016 that saw point guard Isaiah Thomas score 32 points and 8 assists to seal the victory.

Shooting guard Avery Bradley added 13 points and 6 boards, and reserve guard Marcus Smart added 11 points off the bench.

“The West Coast trip was tough for us,” said Thomas at the time via the Associated Press. “Get back here and little jetlagged still. Time is still a little messed up for us. But as long as we got the win, that’s all that matters.”

It is also the day in 2018 that Boston defeated the Chicago Bulls 111-104 behind a rare triple-double for big man Greg Monroe.

With point guard Kyrie Irving out for the year, the Celtics needed some help, and they got it that night from Moose, who logged 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for just the second triple-double of his NBA career.

Shooting guard Jaylen Brown also had a then-career high 32 points in the victory, and both forward Al Horford and swingman Jayson Tatum had the night off to rest for the postseason.

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Boston’s Danny Ainge calm and keeping busy amid the pandemic

Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge is keeping calm and busy as the coronavirus shutdown interrupts the NBA status quo.

There may be no Boston Celtics games to speak of at the moment, but team president Danny Ainge is keeping busy just the same, reports the Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett.

As the team and the NBA wait out the coronavirus shutdown until it is again safe to hold even limited games with no audiences, the Celtics head honcho has been the sole Boston employee heading into the office, where he gets a little exercise in as well as work.

“I try to get outside … The weather’s been pretty good. But I’ve been going into the office, offered Ainge in an interview by phone.

“I’ve been the only one that’s at the facility, and mostly just watching film and walking inclines on the treadmill and walking the back stairway and doing some exercise. And then I come home and I have my two boys and their wives here with [my wife] Michelle and I, which makes it fun.”

The Celtics president has yet to be tested for the virus causing so much chaos, though the team’s players and a handful of support staff have.

“I feel fine,” offered Ainge. “There’s been no symptoms at all, so that’s good. And I haven’t had contact with anybody from our team since, like, March 1st or 2nd.”

The Oregon native was out west scouting players in various college tournaments at the time of the league shutdown on March 11, which has hopefully minimized his exposure to the coronavirus.

At 61 with a history of mild heart attacks, Ainge is likely at somewhat greater risk than most of the younger players he works with on a day-to-day basis, but he’s surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal.

“I know that it feels really scary, and I know that it is scary for some, but I don’t feel really scared,” he offered.

“I feel more concerned, I guess, with all of the people whose livelihoods are being taken away from them, and I think that that is scary. I’ve seen that happen to people in my life in times before … I can just imagine all the millions of people that have lost their jobs.”

“That worries me as much as all of our people that are getting sick, because it seems like most people are recovering,” Ainge added.

As for the pandemic itself, the Boston executive was hopeful some sort of solution wouldn’t be too long in the making, noting the intense strain it has been putting on the nation’s healthcare infrastructure.

“Hopefully we can figure out a cure for this disease quick, and … our hospitals don’t get too overrun too fast, so we can catch up with the amount of people that are sick and we can make sure that people are being cared for properly and that our healthcare workers have a chance for success.”

Ainge has been using the time off from NBA action to work with players and coaching staff remotely. He’s helped to coordinate training with them for when the season re-starts (if it restarts), and he tries to help maintain morale.

“I’m in communication with people in the organization, including players, every day,” he explained.

“I think they’re doing really well … They’ve requested stationary bikes and weight and weight vests and bands so they can do all sorts of their workouts that our trainers are giving them.”

He hasn’t had any issues to date of players resisting quarantine, either, thankfully; “I think everybody’s following all of the rules, staying quarantined, and just keeping to themselves.”

NBC Sports Boston relates how the team had a conference via Zoom, the increasingly popular conferencing application, yesterday. Evidently Marcus Smart kicked the executives and coaching staff out of the meeting playfully so players could talk alone.

Ainge believes his usual role of tackling whatever comes up for the organization has put him in a better position than the coaching staff, for example, for dealing with the unpredictability of the shutdown.

“You just have to adapt to what is needed at that moment, whereas as coaches are going crazy, because they’re used to having and following a schedule,” he offered.

In the meantime, everyone — from Ainge to the coaching staff, players and even fans — wait for the return of the NBA schedule, hopefully in mid- to late June if not July.

There’s still plenty for the Celtics president and the franchise to be working on together.

So long as they do it apart.

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Ainge and the Celts have no choice but …

Ainge and the Celts have no choice but to put one foot in front of the other and move forward. “I try to get outside,” he said over the phone as he took in the fresh air. “The weather’s been pretty good. But I’ve been going into the office. I’ve been the only one that’s at the facility, and mostly just watching film and walking inclines on the treadmill and walking the back stairway and doing some exercise.”