Boston Celtics: Danny Ainge’s last run isn’t how he should be remembered

Danny Ainge finally stepped down from leadership with the Boston Celtics this week, after being the lead man in charge since 2003. As the era came to an end, many of the more vocal members of NBA Twitter got off all of their jokes at his expense, some even going so far as to call into question whether he was even a good executive.

This level of short-sighted reaction necessitated a look back at the many trades that Ainge did in fact make. It became commonplace by the end of this tenure to mock him for all the deals that were rumored to be close to complete that never crossed the finish line. Despite that, Ainge was an overly active leader, making 66 trades over his 18 years.

Danny Ainge became known as the most active man at the trade deadline for the Boston Celtics, but fans lost sight of that over the years.

Not all of these trades worked out the best for Boston and some of them are mostly forgettable over the course of time. For this review, we will look back at the highest of the highs, the lowest of the lows and the two trades that defined his tenure with the Boston Celtics. Hopefully looking back at nearly 20 years.

Remembering the good from Danny Ainge’s run with the Boston Celtics

In just his first draft with Boston, Ainge traded the draft rights to two players (Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones) to bring in Kendrick Perkins. Perkins has become a meme in his retirement, but he was the starter for a championship and was mined with a late-round pick early in Ainge’s.

Ainge was never afraid to spin veterans to add picks, eventually building a potential war chest of assets to make moves for the future. After moving on from Antoine Walker (more on that later) he would eventually spin the returned players into additional future first-round selections. He traded a conditional second-round pick in exchange for Leon Powe, who would pay dividends on the run to the 2008 NBA Championship. In the same draft, he sent a conditional first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns to bring in Rajon Rondo.

In 2010 Ainge sent Henry Walker, Eddie House, JR Giddens and a conditional second pick to the New York Knicks for Marcus Landry and Nate Robinson. Robinson paired well with Glen Davis off the bench and helped push the Celtics back to the NBA Finals. Over 26 games, Robinson shot a career-high 41.4 percent from distance.

Along the way, Ainge showed he was willing to cut bait when the time was right. He sent Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks (along with Dwight Powell) in exchange for Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, Brandon Wright, a first-round pick and a second round pick. He swapped Avery Bradley for Marcus Morris at the right time to put the right veterans around his young players.

Later, Ainge stole Isaiah Thomas from the Phoenix Suns at the trade deadline when they decided to move on from the blossoming point guard. At the cost of just Marcus Thornton and a first-round pick the Celtics added a player who would make two All-Star appearances and an All-NBA team.