FanHouse Danny Ainge

Rajon Rondo's name has been appearing in some trade rumors recently, which, on the surface, seems somewhat odd. After all, he had somewhat of a coming out party in this year's playoffs, especially during the Celtics' epic series with the Bulls when he averaged close to a triple-double for the entire series.

Danny Ainge has gone back and forth on Rondo -- first denying the rumors completely, then letting some details about Rondo's attitude and behavior slip out, while suggesting that right now, his starting point guard isn't worthy of receiving a max contract.

Rondo's agent, as you might imagine, was not pleased with Ainge's comments, and he gave a response to The Boston Globe that was critical of the way Ainge has handled the entire situation.

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Hard to believe that several NBA general managers can have regrets after two years, but it's true. The results of the 2007 NBA Draft are slowly reaping, which should teach a lesson to their 2009 brethren on Thursday about taking chances on raw college players, international prospects and even those who are allegedly "proven."

The biggest debate two years ago was whether the Portland Trail Blazers should take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant first overall. Oden was a franchise center out of Ohio State while Durant was the smooth scoring swingman from Texas. Durant had the better workout with the Blazers, apparently blowing the mind of coach Nate McMillan. Yet, the Blazers stuck with conventional thinking and took the big man.

There's a little NBA trading spice coming out of Woj's internet-making machine recently, in the form of (another?) rumor involving Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. This time, they were reportedly offered to Detroit in a deal that would have sent Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey to Beantown.

(Quick aside: Is it just me or is the NBA offseason easily the most fun of any sport?) Anyway, it appears, based on Woj's sources, that this rumor is likely to gain very little steam, primarily because Danny Ainge is dealing with "Bring in Rasheed Wallace to win a championship" Joe Dumars, as opposed to "Draft Darko, Trade Chauncey for Iverson" Joe Dumars.

Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's NBA playoff action.

My colleague Matt Steinmetz made a compelling case over the weekend that the Lakers are at a crossroads. If this team falls short of reaching the NBA Finals, should Mitch Kupchak do everything in his power to bring back the current core? Will retaining free agents like Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown result in a roster with a championship ceiling? It's too early to say, especially after the Lakers averted disaster with a Game 7 win over the Rockets.

But after watching the Celtics fall to the Magic in Game 7 at home, I can't help but think Boston's GM Danny Ainge now faces the same dilemma. Did the Celtics lose because they were unlucky victims of the injury bug, or did they lose because the roster is inherently flawed?

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After likely losing their emotional leader on the court for the duration of the playoffs, the Celtics will start their postseason without their field general in the front office. Celtics president and GM Danny Ainge is "resting comfortably" in a hospital today after suffering a heart attack earlier this morning, according to WCVB TV in Boston.

Ainge woke up this morning with chest pains, and upon arriving to the hospital doctors inserted a stent to clear an artery that was 100% clogged. Fortunately it appears that he's avoided any serious problems, but he likely won't be able to attend the first game of Boston's playoff series with the Bulls on Saturday.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Brian Scalabrine: "It's not going to be a difficult negotiation,'' he said. "I'll just go to Danny and say, 'I don't want to go anywhere else. Please re-sign me.' If he says yes, that'd be great. If he says no, that's when I'll probably have to start begging." -- HoopsHype

* Kevin McHale on Al Jefferson: "He'll make a lot of them," McHale said. "You miss a couple early in your career when you should have gotten them, and you make some later in your career when you have no business making it and your reputation gets you there. It'll all equal out for him." -- Star-Tribune

The Boston Celtics signed Darius Miles to a non-guaranteed contract today, a mere 860 days since he last appeared in an NBA game. Does this make him officially relevant again? Not yet -- he still has to survive training camp cuts. From the Boston Globe:

"He's coming to training camp and he's going to try to prove that he can make the team," said Celtics general manager Danny Ainge. "He has come in for a couple of workouts. He'll try to make the team somehow."

That's hardly a ringing endorsement, but as Henry Abbott notes, the fact that they gave him a non-guaranteed contract rather than a simple training camp invitation suggests Miles can still play. We'll have to wait and see in the exhibition season if that's really the case.

Even if he makes the team, though, he'll have to sit out the first 10 games for apparently testing positive for Phentermine, an appettite suppressant, at some point over the last two years. Phentermine is a controlled substance, which makes it illegal to possess without a prescription, and is banned by the NBA's drug policy, which Lindsey Hunter found out the hard way in May 2007.

The NBA named their Executive of the Year today, and not surprisingly, the prize went to the Celtics' Danny Ainge. The Celtics were able to go from one of the worst teams in the league a season ago to the team with the most regular season wins this year, a feat that's worth recognizing to some extent. But as our headline states (sentiment courtesy of Matt Moore), Ainge was really more lucky in getting Garnett (by way of his relationship with Kevin McHale) than he was skillful in pulling off any amazing deal.

The alternatives to Ainge though aren't really that exciting either. The Lakers' Mitch Kupchak finished second, largely because he didn't acquiesce to Kobe's off-season trade demands, and because he was able to get Pau Gasol from Memphis for Kwame Brown. As great as that deal was though, Mitch wouldn't have even pursued it had Andrew Bynum not gone down with a knee injury. Still, Kupchak is the one who put together this Laker roster over several seasons, and now that it's all come together, he seems like the logical choice.

One final note on this award, and that's the fact that inexplicably, third place went to Hornets' GM Jeff Bower. Now, either the people who vote for this award are completely lazy, or they simply don't know what they're talking about. The only difference between this year's Hornets roster and the one from last season is the addition of Morris Peterson and Melvin Ely. So those guys are the reason NOLA has the Spurs down 3-2? I don't think so. Plus, Bower didn't even draft Chris Paul or Davd West, so how he can receive so much credit for the team's success this season is beyond me.

As reported yesterday, Paul Pierce was fined $25,000 for making a "menacing gesture" at the end of the Sunday's Game 3 loss. It was unclear at the time what the gesture meant, but it certainly resembled some kind of gang-sign, which is probably why the NBA decided to crack down. (Decide for yourself: it's around the 30 second mark of this video.)

After hearing about the fine, though, the Celtics are upset, claiming that hand gesture is something Pierce has been doing all season long. From the Boston Herald:

"Watch what Paul does when he's introduced. He's done it for every game," said Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge. "That's not anything related to" gangs.

Before last night's game, Ainge sought out commissioner David Stern in the press room and the two engaged in an animated discussion. Ainge was clearly seen trying to demonstrate the blood, sweat and tears sign that Pierce makes when he is introduced before games.

Apparently the Celtics are also a bit miffed of the timing of the fine -- instead of happening in the morning, when it could make it's way through the news cycle and be old news come tip-off, it wasn't announced until 6pm, right when Pierce is supposed to be busy preparing for the game and getting into his game face. Also, I can't imagine Ainge is happy about Al Horford escaping Stern's attention -- after all, no matter what signs Pierce may or may not have been flashing, he was reacting to Horford's taunts in the first place.

I can't figure out what's my favorite part: John Salley's story about Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas, Danny Ainge talking about Xavier McDaniel's "little one" or me laughing at Reggie Miller's awesomely 80's haircut.

(hat-tip: MC Bias)