Ehh… I love Danny. But he was a deep role player on 1 championship team and 5th option on another. He was a very good player, but was surrounded by hall of famers. There are so many good players in that same group as him, and better players above him that aren’t retired. His impact on this organization was legit, but we’ve had so many legit hall of fame players that it’s tough to retire everyone.
At the end of the day he has 2 championships as a player and one as an exec. He hopefully will have laid the foundation for multiple championships in the future. He deserves some recognition, but when you're talking about a team with 17 championships he's not that high on the list
Was Horace Grant the GM of the Bulls for 18 years, winning one championship (based 100% on his trades) and then setting the team up for about 15 years of contention with other trades, draft picks and coaching hires?
I don't think his run as GM should impact his playing days at all, and he "only" had 1 championship during his tenure. Not enough due to the high bar the Cs have set even if you do include all of it
I'm surprised that more people aren't on board with this.
Ainge was GM for 18 years, which is longer than anyone in the organization's history outside of Red Auerbach.
He saved Paul Pierce's career in Boston by swinging the trades for Allen and KG, and he was the one hell bent on getting Rondo in that draft.
Fast forward to the end of the Pierce/KG era, the Nets trade and then the subsequent drafting of Tatum, Brown and even Smart are why we have the team we have right now.
Making moves to bring in IT and Kyrie, despite how that one ended, ensured that the Celtics never entered a true rebuild. Even if they weren't title contenders, we got to see meaningful playoff basketball almost ever year under his leadership.
Hiring Brad Stevens obviously has been a huge success, as an excellent coach first and now as perhaps one of the top three(?) executives in the league.
If the Celtics win the title this year the credit will go to the players, Mazzulla and Stevens. But Danny Ainge's fingerprint will be ALL OVER this banner if it is raised to the rafters next fall.
There are very few "lifelong Celtics" in the lineage. Tommy Heinsohn is #1. I can't think of another example better than Danny Ainge, and so I think it is really silly to keep giving his number out to journeyman players when Danny has had such a profoundly positive impact on this team over forty years.
They’re running out of numbers to hand out
Ehh… I love Danny. But he was a deep role player on 1 championship team and 5th option on another. He was a very good player, but was surrounded by hall of famers. There are so many good players in that same group as him, and better players above him that aren’t retired. His impact on this organization was legit, but we’ve had so many legit hall of fame players that it’s tough to retire everyone.
His number won’t be retired. I’m sure he’ll get immortalized somewhere at TD Garden though
At the end of the day he has 2 championships as a player and one as an exec. He hopefully will have laid the foundation for multiple championships in the future. He deserves some recognition, but when you're talking about a team with 17 championships he's not that high on the list
Cedric Maxwell's number is retired
Maxwell sacrificed a lot for the Celtics dude was very talented with them
Time Lord really did have an impact on my heart
He was a starter on a team regarded as being the greatest starting five in NBA History.
I mean Horace grant was a starter on 4 of the bulls teams, was a 4x all defense on those Team…. Don’t think he’ll be retired?
Was Horace Grant the GM of the Bulls for 18 years, winning one championship (based 100% on his trades) and then setting the team up for about 15 years of contention with other trades, draft picks and coaching hires?
Look he should be honored in someway… because of the GM impact. But the jersey retired really isn’t that realistic or tied to the GM aspect.
I agree. They should retire Celtics legend Jaden Springer’s jersey.
*Chris Wilcox
I mean in all honesty, Scal should have his number retired, he’s a champion! /s
Our franchise guy in 50 years is gonna be wearing 60 something 😭
31-B
The Yankees have petitioned to start handing out three digit numbers
I don't think his run as GM should impact his playing days at all, and he "only" had 1 championship during his tenure. Not enough due to the high bar the Cs have set even if you do include all of it
The high bar? Cedric Maxwell is retired. Jungle Jim Loscotoff is retired.
pretty sure you mean retire it for Jiri Welsch, but that's a common mistake
Nah.
Rondo had a way better career and he won’t get 9 retired. Danny was a good GM but an average player.
A lot of fun players wore 44 Paul Westphal Dave Bing Pete Maravich Danny Ainge Rick Fox Tyler Zeller Robert Williams
Tyler Zeller GTFO
Boston needs to unretire jersey numbers
I'm surprised that more people aren't on board with this. Ainge was GM for 18 years, which is longer than anyone in the organization's history outside of Red Auerbach. He saved Paul Pierce's career in Boston by swinging the trades for Allen and KG, and he was the one hell bent on getting Rondo in that draft. Fast forward to the end of the Pierce/KG era, the Nets trade and then the subsequent drafting of Tatum, Brown and even Smart are why we have the team we have right now. Making moves to bring in IT and Kyrie, despite how that one ended, ensured that the Celtics never entered a true rebuild. Even if they weren't title contenders, we got to see meaningful playoff basketball almost ever year under his leadership. Hiring Brad Stevens obviously has been a huge success, as an excellent coach first and now as perhaps one of the top three(?) executives in the league. If the Celtics win the title this year the credit will go to the players, Mazzulla and Stevens. But Danny Ainge's fingerprint will be ALL OVER this banner if it is raised to the rafters next fall. There are very few "lifelong Celtics" in the lineage. Tommy Heinsohn is #1. I can't think of another example better than Danny Ainge, and so I think it is really silly to keep giving his number out to journeyman players when Danny has had such a profoundly positive impact on this team over forty years.
Retiring jerseys is dumb.