The Celtics, under general manager Danny Ainge, had gone from a once-proud NBA powerhouse to a fledgling, lottery-picking bottom-feeder. But apparently, Ainge saw something we didn’t, more than once.
Stockpiling on draft picks, some of which he kept (Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis) and some of which he dealt for for superstar talent (Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett), Ainge built the Celtics back up to where they are now — one of the NBA’s elite.
Of course, Ainge isn’t the only GM in the NBA who excels at what he does. Miami’s Pat Riley is notorious for building teams, and his South Beach experiment involving Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh is a credit to his ability to bring NBA superstars together.
Mitch Kupchak continues to find ways to build around Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti has shown he knows what he’s doing when the NBA draft rolls around, and Utah’s Kevin O’Connor has built a long-standing rapport with head coach Jerry Sloan and is always a candidate to better his team through the draft and free agency.
It’s no surprise that these evaluators of talent always have the most-talented teams when springtime rolls around.
