Danny Ainge shoulders blame for state of the Celtics
The Celtics somehow continue to reach new lows every game. The latest letdown was a 15-point loss to the Hawks in which they allowed the most three-pointers in a game in team history.
At some point, you have to look to the person who put the roster together when a team struggles like the Celtics have recently. Celtics president of basketball ops Danny Ainge took it upon himself to do that when he spoke to Toucher and Rich on Thursday. Though some of the blame can be directed toward the performance of their two star players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Ainge argues that they are still learning what it takes to be winning players in the NBA.
Ainge already knows a lot about that, so he’s putting it on himself to take some of the blame and look toward improving his roster.
“This is a me problem,” Ainge said. “I’m saying that I love my two young guys, they’re not perfect, and they’re learning, and this adversity is part of their growth and development – not intentionally, it’s just the nature of the beast.”
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Ainge pointed to “strange” occurrences in the NBA this season, like the Lakers losing to the Pistons by 15 or the Bucks’ recent five-game losing streak. But at the same time, he doesn’t want to explain away the Celtics’ problems.
“These are not excuses for our play,” Ainge said. “We’re playing terribly. We don’t have a good enough team, in my opinion. I’m trying to deflect some of the attention that the stars get, although that is part of it. They have to learn to do that. Winning is what we are expected to do in Boston. We are expected to win, to put up championships, win playoff games, and that’s what were hoping to be able to do, still, this year.
“We’ll see if we can make any changes. I’m not looking to just do something for the sake of doing something, but I am looking to do something that can make a difference on our team.”
Listen below for the full interview.
Listen above for the full Danny Ainge interview on Toucher and Rich. T&R airs every weekday from 6-10 a.m. on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Listen to full-hour podcasts here at 985TheSportsHub.com.
Takeaways: Celtics fall to Hawks 127-112
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