The trade deadline passed and once again, the Boston Celtics were dormant. Despite being actively mentioned in many trade rumors, especially as they pertained to Jimmy Butler and Paul George, the Celtics were not able to put anything together.
The Celtics have endured plenty of criticism for their conservative style. They have been unwilling to give up too many assets in trades for star players, an interesting strategy for a team ready to contend right now.
Regardless, general manager Danny Ainge does not seem phased by the criticism, choosing instead sticking to his guns:
Danny Ainge speaks with the media about the decision to not make any trades at the deadline. pic.twitter.com/lLpXxFqn6y
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 24, 2017
The money quote from this scrum:
“We had a lot of conversations. There [were] things that we could do to improve our team, but nothing that was good enough to do.”
There’s a lot to unpack in there. It’s not a surprise that the Celtics had “a lot of conversations;” that’s to be expected at the deadline. The surprising part is that Ainge believes he could have improved the team but chose not to.
This goes back to the idea of the Celtics keeping future flexibility, which in theory is a good idea. As Ainge mentioned later, the C’s are attempting to balance short-term goals and long-term ones.
That’s a nice idea, but it’s also going to ensure that they don’t get very far as a team in the present. They are not as good as the Cavaliers (and probably wouldn’t be even if they got George or Butler). But Cleveland is beaten up and has had some struggles recently; it was the prime opportunity for Danny Ainge to strike for a win now move and he did not do that.
