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Jazz hire Celtics Assistant GM Austin Ainge as new President of Basketball Operations

KqWIN said:
TJ’s article echoes what we’ve all been saying. You have to pick a direction. It just so happens to be the case that one of the directions is a horrific option. The nepotism we have to worry about is not DA and AA, it’s Ryan hiring his buddy to do potentially stupid things.

I can choose to believe we’re not actually this stupid.
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that's not nepotism... that's homietism
 
infection said:
Anyway, I think the nepotism angle here is a real red herring. Imagine if it was announced that we hired some random guy from a front office who hadn't been a GM yet and all of the sudden he was supposed to be our decision maker. Would we not be asking WTF is going on? But now instead we're arguing whether AA is or isn't qualified for this position. The former situation would be a huge shock having us all wonder what any of this means but now it's swallowed up in the squirrel of "it's Ainge's son." Perhaps he's good. I have no idea. I've always argued that Ainge appears to be operating in a fashion where something falls out of the sky and works for your good, which may happen in Boston but doesn't happen here. I doubt the younger Ainge has that type of experiential bias to believe that, so for all we know this is a good thing. But bigger than this, we just took a team that's the closest we've been to a title in almost 30 years and cashed it in on Ainge-centered plans. If we needed to go in a different (assuming it is different) AA direction, then that time was two years ago. Not now.

But yes, KqWIN has a bit of a point about buddies, at least the way I interpret it. Ryan's connection to Ainge kind of reminds me of The Dude and Walter, where Walter gets him all riled up about a fake kidnapping and then screws everything up, but at the end doesn't have any skin in the game so tells the Dude to not worry about it when it burns to hell.

Spoiler for swears:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDVrrZkUFeE


I don't know. This seems like we're distracted from the reality of what's happened to this franchise under Ryan's tenure. And all these players have no long-term skin in the game, so they'll all be able to walk away like Walter and tell us not to worry about it.
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Everything reminds you of The Big Lebowski lol.

We will see if this is a good thing or bad thing. Locke was talking about how baby Ainge will likely be willing to stop requesting extreme value for our vets (something you don't need another GM to do... you could just... not do it). So I think everything points to an ethical tank imo but the message in the press conference almost has to be the thought that you will try to add and won't be sketchy. Its the Almost Ainge being passed down.... We couldn't get Giannis... so we traded all teh vets.
 
The other thing that drives me nuts is that we're continually being asked to take everything on faith and not on substance. Is AA good? Don't know. I may even be at the point where I'm past caring. But it's not substance. It's more "trust the plan" or "Ainge won a ring" type stuff. We're in a precarious position with a tenuous path forward and we're being told to trust the process because Ainge knows how to build champions but also... Ainge is stepping out and now there's a new guy who's calling the shots who has a different direction?

Okay.

When I worked for IHC, they were going to merge with this health company out of South Dakota. But then they sent out this big, long email about how "this isn't a merger" and how "nobody is acquiring each other" and they put some spin on it how it was a combining of resources and definitely not a merger. A couple months later another email went out from the same person who wrote the original one, stating that "the merger with [South Dakota company] has been cancelled."

Man, everything we're doing as a franchise is the same type of ****. Trust the process, I guess. Intermountain Healthcare then spent who-knows-how-many millions of dollars to rebranding from Intermountain Healthcare to just Intermountain Health, so I guess we have those kinds of things to look forward to.
 
You guys think a first time POBO walks in front of media and makes a mic drop comment and then proceeds to do the opposite?

Yeah media will surely fotget that and definitely wont point that **** out or anything..

People need to exit denial and embrace the change. Next season wont be the same. I bet he will be aggressive this offseason... likely by subtracting. He has no allegiances to Lauri or any other players here.
 
There is a chance Ryan actually hired him because he wants to win. I dont know how last year impacted the business side and **** like that can really trump the value of a single draft pick in the eyes of the owner.
 
Just not sure this team is ready to play as hard as they can to barely miss the playoffs and give their 9th pick in the draft to OKC .
 
We can start to compete again in 2027. No one would have any prob with that.

Just not next season when we still owe our FRP to OKC.

Also not when we have multiple LT-paying teams trying to compete but still miss the playoffs.
 
HermanG said:
There is a chance Ryan actually hired him because he wants to win. I dont know how last year impacted the business side and **** like that can really trump the value of a single draft pick in the eyes of the owner.
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Also could be Ryan not knowing we still owe a top 8 protected pick to OKC. Call it the DL legacy.
 
infection said:
But bigger than this, we just took a team that's the closest we've been to a title in almost 30 years and cashed it in on Ainge-centered plans.
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I heard this statement several times, but is it true. If we look at the actual playoff record the Deron-Boozer Jazz had three deep playoff runs ( advanced to the second round two times, and went to the Conference Finals once), while the Mitchell-Gobert Jazz had just two deep runs (both ended in the second round). I think it is pretty fair to say that the Deron-Boozer Jazz achieved more.
 
wasn't there also a comment in Locke's podcast around the mood of the players and all the losing really pulling them down?
i thought that was a good comment around the players actually wanted to play to try and win. i can imagine that playing to lose would take it's toll...
 
idiot said:
All the speculation here is good and all, but it's probably worth listening to AA himself explain his answer to the press conference tanking question (start at about 4:30 mark):

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Pretty much exactly what I thought. It was premeditated and his philosophy is to have the team play at its maximum capacity... but it remains to be seen what that maximum capacity is.
 
idiot said:
All the speculation here is good and all, but it's probably worth listening to AA himself explain his answer to the press conference tanking question (start at about 4:30 mark):

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After listening to this interview, I wonder if Ryan told Austin (maybe when he called him about hiring him) that he wouldn’t want us to tank another season the same way we did this season (via lineup manipulation, sitting players, etc.), and Austin then said he'd do what Ryan wanted. But this could be a problem for the Jazz if they’re tanking again next season, because other tanking teams will be using every possible tanking trick. Idk, maybe Austin has already decided that he’ll move (or try to move) Collins, Sexton, and Clarkson (and possibly even Lauri) if the Jazz want to tank for the loaded 2026 draft.
 
underdog said:
After listening to this interview, I wonder if Ryan told Austin (maybe when he called him about hiring him) that he wouldn’t want us to tank another season the same way we did this season (via lineup manipulation, sitting players, etc.), and Austin then said he'd do what Ryan wanted. But this could be a problem for the Jazz if they’re tanking again next season, because other tanking teams will be using every possible tanking trick. Idk, maybe Austin has already decided that he’ll move (or try to move) Collins, Sexton, and Clarkson (and possibly even Lauri) if the Jazz want to tank for the loaded 2026 draft.
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The "customer" reaction to the last few years is getting progressively worse and it has to be obvious to Ryan that he has lost a lot of viewership - particularly now that banking on luck didnt work. I will be very surprised if we sit our best players or pull them in the 4th during close games going forward. The real question is whether we trade our best players. Either way I think going forward we try and win games with whatever talent level we have. A welcome change in my opinion and one that will re-engage many fans.
 
gomretat said:
The "customer" reaction to the last few years is getting progressively worse and it has to be obvious to Ryan that he has lost a lot of viewership - particularly now that banking on luck didnt work. I will be very surprised if we sit our best players or pull them in the 4th during close games going forward. The real question is whether we trade our best players. Either way I think going forward we try and win games with whatever talent level we have. A welcome change in my opinion and one that will re-engage many fans.
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It's also ****ing unbelievable.

Literally back where we started from after the Gobert/Mitchell trades. No, scratch that – we're much worse off. That team was a legit playoff contender (with one or two reinforcements, easily acquired with Danny's treasure chest of assets) and had a younger, cheaper Lauri playing with a chip on his shoulder. Team wide passing mindset, steady vets, no egos…

The current team has lots of youth and little promise, plus a jaded, overpaid Lauri on a downhill trajectory.

Great job by Ainge. Really something that had to be rewarded by hiring his nepo baby.
 
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