Ainge: Celtics Not A Championship Team, But Won't Rush Into Trade
BOSTON (CBS) -- Celtics president Danny Ainge is a realist, and knows that with their current roster, Boston is not a championship team.
But that doesn't mean he's going to make a big trade just to make a big trade at the deadline.
Ainge joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich for his weekly call into the show on Thursday morning, and discussed the balancing act he's currently performing when it comes to the Celtics. He's armed with several young players and a plethora of future draft picks, but that doesn't mean this is going to be a quick turnaround (as we've seen the last two seasons).
Ainge wouldn't say that not making a move at the February 18 trade deadline would be considered a failure, because he knows just how hard it is to find that franchise-altering deal.
"I can't put myself in that position, because then you do silly things. I would like to do something to put us in that position (to win a championship), of course. Every day I'm thinking and trying to come up with ways to do that. But it's just not that simple," said Ainge. "A lot of the mistakes that are made around our league is people trying to do something too fast; they're impatient and they panic. We're definitely not in a panic mode. We have objectives that we would like to accomplish, but you have to make a good deal. We can't just say we want to win a championship and are going to get so-and-so. It's not that simple."
The Celtics won their fourth straight on Wednesday night with a 111-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets. It's the 10th straight game Boston has scored 100+ points, which Ainge said is the product of their smaller lineup that employs better shooters. That has led to a slight decrease in Boston's defense, thought it didn't show Wednesday as Boston had 15 steals for the fifth time this season.
"We've had ups and downs throughout the year and right now we're on a nice roll, but winning for us is very fragile," said Ainge. "You have to stay humble, keep working and play hard every night. I always worry when we have success that our team will let their guard down, thinking they're a little better than they are, but I'm happy with the way they're playing. It's been fun."
Ainge also touched on the dominance of the Warriors and Spurs this season, the firing of David Blatt and some love for Stan Van Gundy:
