to truly understand how the 2008 nba champion boston celtics were built ... you have to go back to the beginning ... because in boston, successful sports franchises begin with successful ownership <> and owners who are loyal fans of their sportdecember 31, 2002 <> wycliffe "wyc" grousbeck assumes the role of managing partner and chief executive officer of the boston celtics after leading a local investment group in rescuing a franchise in shambles from absentee owner paul gaston <> for $360 million dollars <> the "local investment group" includes longtime celtics fans wyc grousbeck of highland capital partners, grousbeck's father, irving, founder of continental cablevision, stephen pagluica of bain capital and robert epstein of the abbey group
may 9, 2003 <> boston celtics hire danny ainge as general manager and executive director of basketball operations <> red auerbach's opinion of danny's hiring: "i know that it
will be a great relationship because he is a worker ... he has a great personality, he's smart and bleeds green" <> danny ainge was originally the celtics 2nd round pick (#31 overall) in the 1981 college player draft <> danny's resume includes a 13 year nba playing career, the first 7 with boston, winning 2 nba championships (1984 and 1986) as a celtic and coaching the phoenix suns for 3+ years (with 3 postseason appearances) <> danny's challenges as incoming general manager include healing and rebuilding the once proud, 16 time nba champion boston celtics following rick pitino's reign of error and terror and chris wallace's bumbling incompetence <> ainge inherits paul pierce (f), the celtics #1 draft pick from kansas back in 1988 (a slam dunk pick at #10, even for the arrogant dope pitino) and little more <> little more than major salary cap issues and minor league talentin a post game presser, slick rick pitino once said "larry bird is not walking through that door, fans ... kevin mchale is not walking through that door ... and robert parish is not walking through that door ... and if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to be gray and old" ... rick was right, larry, kevin and robert never walked through that door ... but danny ainge did ... and he doesn't even look old or gray ... note: there have been wispers in some nba cities that kevin mchale did, in fact "walk through that door", or at least the back door, when he delivered kevin garnett to the celtics in june of 2007
from the outset, danny had it both right and wrong ... he said he would rebuild the celtics through the college draft with quickness and athleticism ... and then develop his young celtics into assets ... history will show he did that ... at an nba executive of the year level ... danny said he wanted to build a fast paced, up and down the floor, "run and shoot" type offensive team ... he was obviously brainwashed by his years in the western conference ... history will show the team that won mr ainge and his celtics their 17th nba championship was quite the opposite of what danny envisioned <> it was a shutdown defensive team of historic proportions
over his first 4 years as celtics general manager ... danny ainge brought players into boston and shipped others out of town ... antoine walker, tony delk, eric williams, tony battie, kedrick brown, walter mccarty, mark blount, vin baker, raef lafrentz, chris mihm, jiri welsch, dan dickau, ricky davis, sebastian telfair, wally szczerbiak, the expiring contract of theo ratliff and more ... all in an effort to find some sort of winning combination on the court ... and salary cap relief off the court ... while veteran players were coming and going (at about half the rate as during the years of the impatient pitino) ... danny never wavered from his plan to ultimately rebuild through the college player draft ... don't believe me ... then just follow the celtics 2003-2006 drafts ... and connect the dots between draftees and the players who were the 2008 nba champion boston celtics
2003 <> celtics draft troy bell (g) from boston college at #16, dahntay jones (f/g) from duke at #20 and brandon hunter (f) from ohio university at #56 <> bell and jones are then traded to memphis for the grizzlies #13 pick, marcus banks (g) from unlv and their #27 pick, kendrick perkins (c/f) from clifton j ozen high school (tx)
april 29, 2004 <> boston celtics hire glenn "doc" rivers as the team's 16th head coach <> doc's resume includes a 13 year nba playing career (atlanta, los angeles clippers, new york knicks and san antonio) and 5 years as head coach of the orlando magic <> nba coach of the year in 2000
2004<> celtics draft al jefferson (c/f) from prentiss high school (ms) at #15, delonte west (g) from st joseph's at #24, tony allen (f/g) from oklahoma state at #25 and justin reed (f) from the mississippi at #40
2005 <> celtics draft gerald green (f/g) from gulf shores high school (tx) at #18, ryan gomes (f) from providence at #50 and orien greene (g) from the university of louisana at lafayette at #53
2006 <> celtics draft randy foye (g) villanova at #7 <> foye is then traded along with dan dickau and raef lafrentz to portland for sebastian telfair (g), theo ratliff (expiring contract) (c) and a 2nd round selection in the 2008 draft <> trade cleveland's #1 pick in the 2007 draft (acquired in an 
earlier transaction) and cash to phoenix for brian grant (c/f) and the 21st pick in this draft <> draft rajan rondo (g) from the kentucky with the #21 pick aquired from phoenix <> trade a future 2nd round draft pick to denver for the rights to leon powe (c/f) from cal-berkeley, whom the nuggets had drafted at #49
in the weeks heading up to the 2007 college player draft ... boston was in a great position to be awarded the #1 or #2 pick when the ping pong balls fell (by virtue of finishing the 2006-07 season with the 2nd worst won-lost record in the nba) ... after 4 excellent drafts by the general manager, danny ainge could now be in position to draft his most impactful player ... a college player whose talent could potentially transform the celtics from losers to winners when added to the other young talent the team had accumulated ... and paul pierce, the team's captain, 10 year veteran and 5-time all-star ... but, what's that old adage about "the best laid plans" ... the ping pong balls did not fall well for the celtics ... boston ended up with the #5 pick in the draft ... which meant there would be no greg oden or kevin durant to transform the celtics
so now, in the days leading into the 2007 draft ... danny ainge had reached a crossroads in his master plan ... he could add another very good young player to the existing mix ... and commit to developing the team around pierce and the emerging talents of al jefferson ... or he could trade paul pierce ... who after 10 years of languishing in celtics mediocrity was eager to play for a winner ... and improve the team with what was fetched in return ... or he could begin to use the young and developing assets he had drafted ... and acquire impact veterans to surround paul pierce with ... the celtics believed they had their center of the future in kendrick perkins ... and they were committed to rajan rondo as their point guard ... so if ainge was going the trade kids for veterans route ... he would need a forward to play opposite pierce ... and a shooting guard to play with rondo in the backcourt ... by the end of college draft night 2007, it was clear the road danny had chosen to go down ... what wasn't at all clear at the time was where that road would lead the boston celtics
2007 <> celtics draft jeff green from georgetown at #5 and gabe pruitt from usc at #32 <> green is then traded along with wally szczerbiak (f), delonte west (g) and the #35 pick in the draft to seattle for ray allen (g) (drafted by minnesota 5th in 1996 from uconn) <> drafted glen "big baby" davis (f) from lsu with the #35 pick aquired from seattle
enter 12 year veteran, 7 time all-star shooting guard ray allen ... a classy man, a veteran player, 
a pure shooter and a free throw/3 point shooter extrordinaire ... all that having been said, the bottom line was the acquisition of ray allen might improve the team's won-loss record ... it would not substantially improve boston's chances of playing basketball in may and june ... concerns for the wear and tear on a 12 year veteran's body, recently surgically repaired ankles and lack of commitment to defense were all raised in the aftermath of this trade ... it was clear to celtics nation that there was another shoe to drop down the road ... there just had to be ... ray allen was one more piece in a still incomplete puzzle ... but in the nba, where just 5 players are the biggest puzzle pieces (as opposed to 9 in baseball and 22 in football) ... and nba champions have historically had 2+ all-star puzzle pieces ( bird, mchale & parish -- kareem, magic & james worthy -- michael & scottie -- robinson & duncan -- shaq & kobie -- rip, rasheed & chauncey -- duncan, parker & ginobili) ... boston now had 2 veteran, all-star puzzle pieces to flaunt to a third all-star ... and they had lots of smaller puzzle pieces to deal away in return
august 1, 2007 <> boston celtics aquire kevin "kg" garnett (c/f) (drafted 5th by minnesota in 1995 from farragut academy in chicago) from minnesota in exchange for ryan gomes, gerald 
green, al jefferson, theo ratliff (expiring contract), sebastian telfair, a 2009 1st round draft pick (top three protected) and a return of minnesota's conditional 1st round draft pick obtained in a previous trade (ricky davis-wally szczerbiak)
the other shoe had dropped ... 13 year veteran, 10 time all-star, 9-time all-defensive team and 2004 nba mvp, 6'11" kevin garnett ... the first player ever drafted from a high school by the nba ... and 13 years later "kg" ... "the big ticket" ... would wear a boston celtics uniform ... better yet, kevin garnett, paul pierce and ray allen would all wear celtics uniforms ... together ... 3 veteran all-stars ... where the road would lead was now so much clearer ... winning basketball ... postseason play ... basketball in may, and maybe even in june
within days after acquiring kevin garnett ... danny ainge used the alure of playing with 3 veteran all-stars to sign what would turn out to be two important role players on a championship team
august 10, 2007 <> boston celtics sign free agent eddie house (g) <> a 7 year nba veteran, house was originally drafted by miami in the 2nd round (37th overall) of the 2000 draft from arizona state; and the on
august 25, 2007 <> boston celtics sign free agent james posey (f) <> posey is an 8 year nba veteran who was originally drafted by denver in the 1st round (18th overall) of the 1999 draft from xavier <> james was a member of miami's 2005-06 nba championship team
with house and posey under contract ... boston celtics general manager danny ainge had built the team that would take the court for opening night of the 2007-08 nba regular season ... the pieces were in place ... paul pierce and kevin garnett and ray allen ... kendrick perkins and rajan rondo ... eddie house and james posey ... leon poe and glen davis and tony allen ... scot pollard (c) and brian scalabrini (f) completed the 12 man roster
so ends the story of how the 2008 nba champion boston celtics were built ... how the puzzle was put together, so to speak ... how danny ainge built this team ... how owners wyc grousbeck and steve pagluica supported the building process enthusiastically ... and financially, allowing ainge to venture into luxuary tax territory to sign the right players ... how general manager danny ainge developed and executed a plan ... it was the first "5 year plan" to work out in recent memory ... further, it was probably the first "5 year plan" not to have been committed to as part of the general manager's hiring news conference ... and this "5 year plan" produced the greatest single season turnaround in the history of the nba (from 24-58 to 66-16) ... it produced a team that had the best record in the nba from opening night thru the season's final game ... and it produced a team whose season ended in june, after a record 26 postseason games <> with the larry o'brien trophy returning to boston and the "whatever its name is this year" boston garden for the 17th time in the long, rich history of the nba's boston celtics
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