National Basketball Association

The Boston Celtics should be title contenders, but Danny Ainge blew their chances

Published Apr. 5, 2017 8:54 a.m. ET

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Andrew Lynch

The Cleveland Cavaliers are vulnerable, despite what a 20-point win over the likes of the Orlando Magic otherwise indicates.

We all know the flaws in this supposed superteam headed into the postseason. No second-half beatdown of a lottery team is going to change that, cathartic though it might be.

The only catch: There's no team in the Eastern Conference in position to take advantage of the Cavs' struggles.

Were this a different universe, that team would be the Boston Celtics -- a team just good enough to push Cleveland to the brink without getting the job done in its current iteration and a team the Cavs face Wednesday night. Unfortunately for Boston, Danny Ainge ruined the Celtics' title chances when he refused to package Boston's assets for Paul George at the trade deadline.

 

You can understand why Ainge hesitated. He had the choice between setting Boston up with a long window of title contention or trying to go up against LeBron James with The King still in his prime.

In a vacuum, that's no choice at all. You stockpile players and picks, then you wait.

Of course, we don't live in a vacuum.

The writing was on the wall that the Cavs could have problems way back in February. Ainge and the Celtics knew this was a possibility. Rather than try to scoop a massive pot at the trade deadline, though, Ainge folded. He was happy to count the chips he already had.

 

They're great chips, sure. Marcus Smart is a potential star in the making, Jae Crowder is one of the best two-way players in the game, and the future Nets picks have quite a bit of value. I realized the error of my previous ways, Celtics fans.

But Ainge didn't need to give up every asset he has to pry George from the Pacers. A player or two and a Brooklyn pick could have gotten the job done, especially with PG-13 none too pleased with his franchise. Better for Larry Bird to trade George for a few future pieces than lose him for nothing next offseason.

Instead of going out and getting a superstar, Ainge played the long game -- and played himself.

There was the chance George would choose not to remain in Boston beyond next season, sure, a risk that reportedly caused many teams to reconsider trading for the Pacers star. It's hard to imagine such concerns were valid for the Celtics.

The opportunity to win a title doesn't come around very often, for a player or a team, and George wants to win more than anything. He likely would have stayed, given that the other option is rolling the dice with the young Lakers.

For Boston, trying to build a dynasty from the ground up is overrated. We saw how quickly that can fall apart with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kevin Durant were primed to rule the Western Conference for years ... until they weren't.

As good as the Celtics' assets are, they aren't in the same league as that All-Star trio. Expecting things to work out any differently in Boston is optimistic at best, but a Celtics team with Paul George is a title contender, through and through.

 

He would have given Boston a star-level secondary playmaker alongside Isaiah Thomas -- a guy who can create his own shot, knock down wide-open looks or make plays for others. As one of the best two-way players in the Association, the Pacers forward would have fit right in with Brad Stevens' defensive scheme. George also would have shored up the Celtics' sometimes shaky rebounding, one of their biggest weaknesses in a potential playoff series against the Cavs.

And there are those Cavaliers. LeBron's team came away with that aforementioned 20-point win against the Magic on Tuesday night, yet it looked out of sorts for the first half. A three-game win streak can't cover up all of the flaws in Cleveland. The Cavs are waiting to shock the world by coming up short in the postseason, if only someone would do them the honor of knocking them off.

George would have made the Celtics that team. Now, Ainge has to be kicking himself for not making the deal.

If he's not, then Boston has far bigger problems than not trading for Paul George.

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