Can't post the whole article as it's too long but wanted to share, here ya go: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7604660/the-danny-ainge-anniversary-party Great, great stuff.
Hmm is it coincidence the Celts started falling by the wayside since DM left and took his $ball analytics with him? If I recall DM was part of the brain trust which drafted Rondo and Perkins. They never got good talent via drafts and started making horrible moves (like Perkins for Green pooh pooh platter).
Presti: "Thanks, everybody. Please know that I'm not leaving Oklahoma City — in case you forgot, I have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. But it kills me to see what's happening to the Celtics. Danny, the worst place you can be in the NBA is 'no man's land' — you either need to bottom out or make a run, but you can't tread water. It's an either/or thing. Doing nothing and praying you MIGHT get Dwight Howard just because players like playing for Doc … I mean, nobody signs with a team because of a coach."2
But DM got Perkins, Rondo, Al Jefferson, and Greene which were used to get KG. DM got the Celtics the assets to get the big 3.
I wonder what Presti's CF handle is?? But, for what it's worth, Morey tried to go all-in with the Gasol deal. It fell through, but Morey has been on record stating several times that you can't tread water. His orders however are to remain competitive while re-tooling, so that's what he's trying to do.
There are two types of "treading water": The first is to stick with the same group of guys when you are a "not quite contender" team or make small fixes aimed at the short term. This is what the Hornets did a couple years ago: traded future picks and loaded up on expensive aging vets (like Stephen Jackson) in order to make the playoffs. When you do this, what happens is that your team gets worse as a natural consequence of aging, you can't improve through either the draft or trades. So, all you are doing is delaying an inevitable decline by a couple years. The second form of "treading water" is to churn the roster by trading your older players (whose value as trade assets inevitably decline) for assets with potential to increase in value (younger guys, draft picks, etc) and staying away from taking on bad/untradable contracts. The result of this may be that your record will stay around .500, but you'll be in a better position to improve (through the development of younger players, ability to sign free agents or make a trade). Of course, one can debate the merit of going the second route vs. just tanking for a high pick. However, there is still a significant difference between where the Rockets are at and what Charlotte had been doing in the last 2-3 years.