Boston Celtics: 2 Cs who are most at fault for devastating season

Boston Celtics member No. 2) Danny Ainge

While we often see fingers pointed at the head coach when times begin to get tough for a team, we at HH don’t fully believe all that much blame can be placed on Brad Stevens for this underwhelming campaign.

Though one could argue his leadership/ motivation tactics could have been better — I guess –, Stevens was dealing with a new lineup virtually every single night due to injuries. Frankly, how much can we expect the man to do in such a situation?

No, instead we believe that, at least in this instance, fault lies at the top of the food chain within the front office. In other words, if anyone deserves blame for the team’s lackluster season, it’s Danny Ainge.

Now, interestingly enough, it’s not so much of a matter of what he did to get the Cs to this point but, rather, what he didn’t do.

This past offseason, he didn’t trade Kemba Walker, despite the fact that he reportedly ‘tried like hell’ to do so.

He didn’t end up closing the deal on the highly publicized Gordon Hayward sign-and-trade to the Indiana Pacers that, reportedly, would have nabbed the Celtics Myles Turner (a much-needed upgrade at the pivot) and Doug McDermott (a much-needed scoring presence off the pine) — probably his biggest miss if you ask me.

He didn’t wind up utilizing the team’s historic $28.5 million TPE (acquired in the Hayward sign-and-trade with Charlotte) at this year’s deadline on a high-impact player like Aaron Gordon or Nikola Vucevic, as he, instead, ultimately settled on using $17 million of it on Evan Fournier and his expiring contract.

Oh, and don’t get us started on what he didn’t do with the 3 first-round picks that he found himself in possession of last offseason.

In fact, we’ll let Charles Barkley, who recently spoke on the concept of blame in Beantown, break down what the consensus vote is when it comes to Ainge’s handling of the team’s treasure trove of assets, not just from this year, but throughout the past several:

"“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. “Think about it — Boston had a hundred number one draft picks and they haven’t done anything with them.”"

Now, to say Ainge had “a hundred” picks over the last few years is an obvious exaggeration. That said, it truly felt like this was the case, and what did he end up doing with them to help better the Boston Celtics to contend in the now?

NOTHING!

Without a doubt, if we had to cast blame upon one individual for the lowly season that has been 2020-21, without hesitation we’d choose Danny Ainge in a heartbeat.

Do better, Danny!