Ainge Gives Celtics Ten Games Before Breakup Considered

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Danny Ainge has been open recently about his willingness to break up the Celtics current Big Three if the deal would set the organization up for a better future. Celtics fans will remember that the Celtics had the opportunity to trade Kevin McHale when he was no longer functional as a star Forward, for Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf. While Schrempf and Perkins weren’t star caliper players, they were still solid players that could have helped the Celtics in the early 90s. Celtics fans have the illusion that they can still trade Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce for Blake Griffin or Pau Gasol, few fans consider that BOTH teams have to have something to gain out of the deal, that is why it will be a deal much like the McHale proposal that will eventually break up the Big Three if Ainge decides to go this route.

As CBS Sports is reporting , Ainge has given the Celtics a ten game window before he makes a decision on what the fate of the Celtics will be for the 2011-12 season. Will they make one last push or will the rebuilding process begin?

League sources say Celtics president Danny Ainge is willing to wait at least 10 more games, and maybe longer, before deciding whether it’s time to seriously pursue trade scenarios that would break up the Big Three. Boston had lost five in a row for the first time during the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen era before managing to beat Toronto on Wednesday night, and the signs of age are showing — especially under the duress of the compressed schedule. Clearly, Pierce is the most valuable commodity, especially for a contending team looking for wing scoring. But Pierce also is the member of the Big Three off to the worst start, and his $32 million over the next two years will give even deep-pocketed contenders pause.

For those concerned or optimistic that he will keep the team together based on the results of an easy schedule over that ten game stretch, reconsider. Ainge joined WEEI yesterday on The Big Show where he stressed that he wasn’t overly thrilled with the victory over the Raptors and he won’t be gauging this team based on results in terms of Wins and Losses, rather whether the team is functioning properly.

Other interesting notes from Ainge’s interview on WEEI:

Ainge said he was disappointed by the team’s slow start and made it clear that it was on the players.

“I wish they had come into this situation and this season a little more prepared mentally, spiritually, physically, but they didn’t,” Ainge said. “So now we’re dealing with a bad start. In Doc’s tenure, the thing that Doc has been amazing at in his last five years, boy we’ve come out of the gate strong. This year we haven’t and it’s certainly not Doc. He was very, very prepared for this year.”

Ainge on riding out the season if no worthwhile options are available via trade:

“If I don’t have any choices, sure,” he said. “If there’s no good option. That’ the thing. You don’t just take anything back because there’s great value in having flexibility next summer. So, you don’t want to mess that up at the expense of taking back something you don’t want just because it’s something.”