Boston Celtics: Charles Barkley puts blame on Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens

It’s no secret that the consensus vote is the 2020-21 season has been a complete and utter disappointment for the Boston Celtics and their fanbase.

After making it to within just two games of their first NBA Finals appearance in over a decade just a season ago, through 68 games played during this current campaign the shamrocks find themselves just a mere two games over .500 at 35-33 and reside in the seventh seed out in the standings.

Underwhelming production and upsetting losses have become somewhat of the norm for this ball club on the year and, while there are some who believe a few specific individuals should hold the majority of the blame, NBA legend and current analyst, Charles Barkley, believes fault should not fall on anyone in specific but, rather, the organization as a whole.

When guest appearing on ESPN Radio’s Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin Tuesday morning, the Hall of Famer was asked who he believes people should be ‘pointing the finger at up in Boston’ when it comes to their lackluster season thus far, to which he simply answered “all of them.”

"“Danny Ainge is a good friend of mine, but he’s not done a good job with all those draft picks he had,” Barkley said. “He hasn’t done a good job because he made a mistake with Kyrie Irving, I think he made a mistake with Kemba Walker, and, um, that team is not very good at all.”“Think about it — Boston had a hundred number one draft picks and they haven’t done anything with them. Now they’re irrelevant because there’s nobody in their right mind thinking, like, Boston is even close to being a contender so, like I say, you have to blame the guys. Brad Stevens got to get some blame for it too because when they were winning we were patting him on the back, now we got to kick him in the ass. That’s not personal, that’s just how this business works now."

While it’s popular to cast blame for the poor season onto players such as Kemba Walker — which, frankly, is a bit unfair –, ultimately it comes down to the decisions made by the higher ups.

In this case, according to Charles Barkley, these individuals on the Boston Celtics are Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens.

The Houdini tends to agree.