- ABC News
- August 25, 2017
Amid the fallout from the Isaiah Thomas- Kyrie Irving blockbuster swap, we keep coming back to something Danny Ainge said almost immediately after Irving's Cleveland Cavaliers ousted Thomas' Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals three months ago. "I know that we're good. I know that we're not great. I know that we still have more to do, and, you know, that next step is by far the hardest," Ainge told the Boston Herald in late May. "We have a lot of good players, but we need some great ones." Most general managers of a team that won 53 games and advanced to the conference finals would be content to add a top draft pick, bring back the core of their roster and roll the dice again the following season. All Ainge did was trade the No. 1 pick then aggressively pursue the top available free agent while knowing full well signing him would mean a rather aggressive overhaul of the team's roster. And on the very day the Celtics made...