Kevin Durant to Golden State, You Can’t Blame Ainge
By Jeremy Karll
Kevin Durant opted to join the Golden State Warriors, but you can’t blame Danny Ainge for his decision
After making the basketball world wait another day, Kevin Durant finally announced where he was going to play, and it didn’t make anyone happy. Well, maybe if you’re a Golden State Warriors fan. Yes, via The Players Tribune, Durant announced that he’d be joining the already loaded Warriors next season, choosing them over the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder.
This decision comes just days after Al Horford decided to join the Celtics, easily the biggest free agent signing by Danny Ainge. The move definitely made Durant think about his decision a little harder. Although, in the end, he chose to go where he has the best chance to win multiple titles, even if it’s not the place everyone wanted him to go.
Despite signing Horford, there still has been tension between Ainge and fans. Following a disappointing draft in which they failed to trade for a star, and came away with Jaylen Brown, who many considered a reach with the third pick, Ainge has been under fire by fans.
Considering the hype the Celtics off-season received, more fireworks were suppose to happen. No blockbuster trades took place, and now with Durant not choosing Boston, Ainge is surely going to catch more heat.
Some media members believe just getting a meeting with Durant and being one of his finalists was an accomplishment for a historically poor free agency team. Even though I don’t believe that to be true, especially for a team who wants to compete for the Eastern Conference title, this wasn’t Ainge’s fault. In fact, Ainge deserves a lot of credit.
He knew that landing Durant was a long shot, therefore he had to put together an amazing presentation, and he did. Not only did he have the team’s best players, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder, join them, but he also had help from other Boston athletes. I have never seen a city as a whole recruit one player as hard as the city of Boston did, and the credit should go to Ainge.
He was the one who convinced Tom Brady to come to the meeting in the Hamptons with them. One of the best quarterbacks in NFL history definitely was able to give Durant a good player perspective of what it’s like being a star in Boston. It’s also always nice to have a player with the track record Brady has backing you up.
Along with Brady, Ainge also tried to convince Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz to come to the Hamptons. Sadly, Ortiz had a game on July 2, however he would have been better off going to the Hamptons with the Celtics. The Red Sox ended up losing 21-2, one of their worst losses in franchise history.
Still, Ortiz tweeted after the game to Durant, telling him that Boston is the city of champions. Having two Boston legends backing up the city of Boston can’t hurt your chances. Neither can Julian Edelman tweeting out a picture of himself in a Celtics’ Durant jersey yesterday. Even though Ainge didn’t recruit Edelman to the meeting with Durant, or tell him to tweet out a picture, it shows that everyone was on board and really excited about the possibility of Durant playing for the Celtics next season.
Yo @KDTrey5 sorry I couldn't make the meeting today but Brady will tell u they don't call Boston the City of Champions for nothing 🏆🏆🏆
— David Ortiz (@davidortiz) July 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/749683022484635648
It really showed how Ainge didn’t just convince Celtics’ fans to get on board, but also the entire Boston sports community. Like previously noted, it’s very impressive that an entire city backed up their run at getting Durant.
Then, last night, the Celtics made a final call to Durant’s camp trying to get a final word in to convince him to come to Boston. That could be the reason they were all of a sudden back in the running last night after multiple reports said it was solely between the Warriors and Thunder. That’s strictly my speculation, however I don’t think making one last call could have hurt their chances.
It also proves how hard Ainge and the Celtics organization was working to convince Durant.
When it comes down to it, it might be frustrating and easy to use Danny Ainge as a scapegoat following a somewhat disappointing off-season thus far, but for this specific event Ainge deserves all the credit and none of the blame.
Next: Five Reasons to Love the Al Horford Signing
He made Boston look more desirable to Durant than anyone could have expected. In the end, Durant chose not to come, but Ainge did everything in his power to sway him. And you can’t blame him for Durant simply not wanting to come.