The only thing I think Ainge messed up was the Kendrick Perkins trade. They had the best record in the NBA then when the trade happened. Then the team went spiraling downwards. But if the starting point would be after that horrific trade, rebuilding was the only option. Yun sa draft tsambahan talaga. But to get a marquee free agent, it has to be a mutual arrangement as well. No free agent seems to want to come to Boston. They went after Kevin Love hard. But Saunders did not oblige. So what other option is there but to collect draft picks?
As for holding onto Pierce and KG...both costing around $30 million in cap space, there are only two schools of thought on this...
1. Go over the cap, be mediocre and get booted out in the first round annually.
2. Total rebuild, clear cap space for free agents, be in the lottery collect picks.
So dun ako sa 2. Waste of time for me to be annually mediocre...good enough to be in the playoffs but not a chance to win a title or be a scrub team, hopefully win the top pick, clear cap space to chase FAs or be lucky enough for a trade.
Yun trade ni Pierce and KG what did the Cs get in return? After a year.....si Gerald Wallace na lang yun cap space killer. Like I said Pierce and KG took up about $30M in cap space....wala na si Humphries and Bogans. From $30 million, it's now down to $10M. And we still get 2 more draft picks from the Nets... afaik 2016 & 2018.