Choose Your Own Adventure: Danny Ainge Edition

Posted by Hayes Davenport on Feb 13, 2012 2689069 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2012%2F02%2F13%2Fchoose-your-own-adventure-danny-ainge-edition%2FChoose+Your+Own+Adventure%3A+Danny+Ainge+Edition2012-02-13+17%3A10%3A18Hayes+Davenporthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D26890

Below are four potential roster management strategies Danny Ainge could pursue over the next three years. Thought it might be fun to get a sense of which one commenters prefer, because each of these has been supported in different parts of the Internet.

Don’t get too hung up in the specific players or deals; these are just four different paths to relevancy Danny could take. Pay attention to the paths, not the pebbles (good phrase I made up). The options are organized from “Win Nowest” to “Win Laterest.”

1. Boston trades to win now, dealing Rajon Rondo and Jermaine O’Neal for Steve Nash and Marcin Gortat. The addition of a powerful center and a point guard who can shoot improves the team, gives them a 50% chance against both the Bulls and the Heat in the playoffs, and makes them a favorite against any Western team. This team makes an extended playoff run.

In the offseason, Boston fails to make a big free-agent signing but keeps most of their core in place for two more seasons. The team steadily declines until Nash, Garnett, Allen, and Pierce by 2014. At that point, the Celtics begin attempting to rebuild through the draft.

2. Boston maintains its current roster except for some tweaks to the bench. The team continues to perform at its current pace, and finishes no lower than sixth but no higher than third in the Eastern Conference this season. They have a 5% chance of making it to the Finals.

The following offseason, the Celtics resign Garnett and Allen to two-year contracts and end up with a third-tier star in free agency (OJ Mayo, for example). For the next two seasons, the Big Three decline steadily, and Boston never gets past the second round of the playoffs.

In 2014, the Big Three retire as a unit, all as Celtics. Rajon Rondo reaches his contract year and resigns with Boston, who are now at the bottom of the East and rebuilding around Rondo as their star.

3. The Celtics start building around Rondo by trading between one and three members of the Big Three this season to contenders. In return, they end up with a package of a second-tier star (Rudy Gay or Josh Smith, for example) and some middling draft picks or low-end starters. They still  make the playoffs this year, but don’t get past the second round.

Boston compiles assets around Rajon Rondo and their new star, guaranteeing themselves a playoff spot for the next three years, but never cracking the top three spots in the East.

4. Boston completely blows it up, trading Rajon Rondo to New Orleans for the Hornets’ 2012 first-round pick, then dealing whichever members of the Big Three request to play for a contender. They miss the playoffs this year but end up with two top-ten picks and another first-rounder in the loaded 2012 draft, then win an average of fifteen games the following two seasons and end up with top-five picks in each of those drafts, as well.

One of the players drafted by Boston in those three years develops into one of the NBA’s top five players by 2015-2016.

That’s it! To recap, Danny could:

1) trade to win now
2) keep the roster intact
3) trade Big Three, add pieces around Rondo
4) go full rebuild

Pick one of these numbers! Specify how you’d go about it differently, if you want. I will send the results to Danny Ainge by writing the winning number down on a sheet of paper, attaching it to a hairless doll, and hanging the doll from his office doorknob.