Danny Ainge Might Have Just Saved the Celtics A Lot of Money

(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)

By: Greg Payne

Stand up and applaud Danny Ainge right now. I'm serious. Stand up and clap your hands a few times. He deserves it. Because in the aftermath of Rajon Rondo averaging 16.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.8 rebounds in this most recent postseason, everyone appeared blinded by the numbers, the triple-doubles and the double-take plays, while conveniently ignoring the shortcomings that came along with those. Everyone except Danny Ainge.

As fans or wannabe members of the media, it's extremely simple for you and I to ignore the business side of basketball. We see a player we like and we want to keep him around. Plain and simple. Our first thoughts are always, "He's our point guard of the future!" and not, "Wow, we need to sign him to a contract extension this summer before he tries to test free agency for a max contract in 2010!" It simply doesn't work that way for you and I.

But it's a different story for a general manager. Sure, you might not have applauded him at the beginning of this article because he might have simply been doing his job, but Ainge's track record sits much prettier than those of most other general manager's around the league (see Steve Kerr for reference).

So once the playoffs ended and we were in the midst of hyping Rondo up as our version of Chris Paul (I'm guilty to a fault), it was Ainge who brought both Rondo and us back down to earth. While not trying to downplay Rondo's immense upside or bash him in any specific light, Ainge brought up Rondo's weaknesses, if for no other reason than to save the Celtics some needed cash.

"As we saw in the Orlando series, they left him wide open," Ainge recently told WEEI. "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."

Then of course, the issue of Rondo's stubbornness was brought into the equation and how it hurts both him and the team at times.

"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."

Why say these things? Because Rondo's agent, Bill Duffy, can smell cash better than Jaws can smell blood in the ocean. In the course of two months his client went from the B (possibly even the C)-list to the A-list. It was like his client suddenly won the lottery and he knew the distant relatives would suddenly start calling to get a piece of that prize. Just like other teams (Sacramento, Detroit, Memphis) would start demanding Rondo's services in potential deals with the Celtics.

With Rondo's stock at an all time high, Duffy could easily have advised his client to not sign an extension with the Celtics before the start of next season, allowing him to become a restricted free agent at the beginning of next summer. Then, they could demand some real money, possibly even a max contract in Duffy's mind, which is why Ainge might have said the following on WEEI:

"I think it's a good goal for Rondo to have just from a monetary standpoint, but to be that kind of player that warrants a max contract -- I certainly don't see Rondo as a max-contract player today," Ainge said. "Next summer is a summer where we'll probably have to make some financial decisions on Rondo if we don't come to a conclusion this summer."

So now, as a result, everyone must be curious about the supposed "dark side" of Rajon Rondo. Why would a GM spend so much time appearing to berate him to the public media? Why question his jump shot and his role with the team? Why mention the fines for being late and the maturity level?

Why do all of this? So the Celtics could have Rondo all to themselves, and save some money for the future in the process. Kudos, Danny Ainge. I will now stand up and applaud you for an encore.

Stay Tuned.