Danny Ainge was on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan show this morning. Here's what Ainge had to say (courtesy the Globe and WEEI):
On being late:
"We expect him to play by the rules and be a leader as a point guard.
We need him to be more of a leader," Ainge said. "There were just a
couple situations where he was late this year, I don't know if he was
sitting in his car, but showed up late and the rest of the team was
there. We have team rules and you have to be on time. He was fined for
being late, he said he was stuck in traffic, and it's just
unacceptable."
On the playoff series with Orlando:
"As we saw in the Orlando series, they left him wide open," Ainge
said. "His presence hurt us in winning right now because his man went
and doubled onto Ray [Allen] and Paul [Pierce] and made it difficult
for us."
On Rondo's attitude:
Ainge said Rondo wasn't "that disruptive of a player," but that he still hasn't fully matured.
"He's got to grow up in some cases, and I think he is, too," Ainge
said. "Slowly but surely Rondo is maturing. He's getting a little bit
more control over his emotions and he's responding in a more positive
way as he gets older and more mature in the league."
On his contract situation:
think it’s a good goal for Rondo to have from a monetary standpoint, to
be that kind of player that warrants a max-contract player. I certainly
don’t see Rondo as a max contract player today.
On signing LeBron or Dwyane Wade:
ourselves up for, to have an opportunity to think along those lines.
This year, it’s a tough call because we’re trying to win now. If we try
to improve our team this summer, it could prevent us from having an
opportunity to be in the stakes for a big superstar in 2010 unless it’s
through a sign-and-trade. A sign-and-trade might be a more viable way
to get him than through cap space.
You’re at a disadvantage with cap space because you can’t pay them
within $30 million of what their team that they’re currently with can
pay them, and you can’t pay them the length of the contract for the
same amount of years. So it’s better and more likely to get a superstar
free agent, in most cases, through sign-and-trades.
That’s probably our best opportunity. You also have to be an
attractive team, and a team that has some value. You can’t just have
the money. You have to have other players that will allow that player
to win. With KG and Paul and the contracts that reamin going forward,
that may be the attraction. We may not have enough money, but if you
have some assets to trade for that superstar, that may be your best
opportunity.
One day after Danny comes out and says he's not unhappy with Rondo, he gives this critical opinion of his point guard.
You know what this whole thing reminds me of? The KG injury fiasco. Sometimes I wonder if Ainge really knows what the hell he is doing. At the very least, he needs a media relations course.
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