(This was written in response to a bunch of friends, some fellow Celtics season ticket holders, who think Danny Ainge sucks at drafting.)

Admittedly, I’m the biggest Ainge fan here. And it’s not that I think he can do no wrong (Ainge certainly has his share of misses) but if you think there are multiple GMs in the league better than Ainge or you think Ainge is anything other than a plus drafter compared to other GMs you are either a. anti-Ainge no matter what or b. factually incorrect.

Essentially, you’re premise is that Ainge should select the best player in hindsight every single time. That is impossible. No one does that. Sure, plenty of GMs find great players at different spots each year but no GM does it consistently. In fact, most of them draft very poorly especially when they are picking outside the top 10 where the talent is plentiful. Except Ainge. More often than not, we have come away with a very good NBA player and very rarely has he missed.

What you should be judging Ainge on is how often does he come away with a good draft relative to the talent he had available to pick. The key piece here is “talent he had available.” In your eyes, that is the best player down the road every single time. For example, “Ainge should have drafted Draymond Green” is a classic. Should he have? Of course. But if you’re expecting Ainge to be that great of a talent evaluator, we should also then expect the GMs you think are better to have identified “Draymond Green” types at some point, right? RC Buford, Sam Presti, Jerry West, Darryl Morey, and Pat Riley are all better talent evaluators right? So let’s see how they’ve drafted compared to Ainge and see who has done better.

And Ainge isn’t with out fault. My biggest criticisms of Ainge is that he a. has done a poor job with foreign scouting and stashing and b. drafted safe 3/4 yr college guys when he should have been taking fliers on foreigns and projects when he had the big 3.

But here’s my Bill Simmons/Gerard Text-length version of Ainge draft history.

Before getting into the specifics, to recap in his tenure we’re one of only 7 out of the 30 teams to win a title, he’s hired two of the top 10 coaches in the NBA, we’ve made the playoffs 11 out of his 14 years here and been to the ECFs 4 times and the Finals twice, and Ainge has only had 3 top 10 picks in 14 years. Of the GMs Matt mentioned, Darryl Morey has been to the WCFs one and his teams have lost in the first round 3 times and missed the playoffs in 3 of his 8 years, Sam Presti went to the finals once, lost in the WCFs three times (and he also traded away James Harden and lost Kevin Durant but who’s counting). West, Riley and Buford are self explanatory their success. And actually, Jerry West’s success with the Lakers is obvious but he was GM of the Grizzlies from 2002 to 2007 and did crap so I’m not going to include him. But Buford became GM after they already had Duncan and Riley had the benefit of Miami and Wade being friends with Lebron to get his latest titles. Doubt he’d have more than one title if not for that. But we’re just looking at drafting so here goes.

2003:

Celtics — Drafts Troy Bell & Dahntay Jones…Trades them to Memphis on draft day for Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins.

Passed on — David West, Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw.

Outcome — Drafts the starting center for the title team and the guy everyone killed him (rightfully so) for trading away. Let’s call that a solid B draft.

Spurs — Draft Barbosa and trade him two days later to Phoenix

Passed On — Walton, Josh Howard, Steve Blake, Zaza, Mo Williams and Kyle Korver.

Heat — Draft Dwayne Wade…are we giving him credit for getting Wade because Dumars took Darko? Would we be raving about Riley if he drafted Darko?

Trades — Ainge also started clearing house. Traded Delk/Walker for Lafrentz, scraps and a 1st which got Delonte West. He then traded Battie/Kedrick/Eric Williams and got Ricky Davis, scraps and a second that netted Ryan Gomes. Both Gomes and West were involved in the Kevin Garnett deal.

2004:

Celtics — Draft Al Jefferson, Delonte West and Tony Allen. That’s a goddamn A+ draft on it’s own with two pieces that netted Garnett and one that was an all NBA first team defender. And Ainge got Tony Allen because he traded Mike James and Chris Mills.

Passed on — Josh Smith and JR Smith in the first to take Big Al. Any issues there? No.

Outcome — A+

Spurs — Took Beno Udrih.

Passed on — Anderson Varejao, Chris Duhon, and Trevor Ariza. If you’re going to be critical of Ainge, then Buford gets an F here for passing on potentially two solid core pieces in Anderson and Ariza.

Heat — Drafts Dorell Wright…passes on both West and Allen as well as all of the guys above. Solid F there.

Trades — In the off season Ainge traded Chucky Atkins, Jumaine Jones and Chris Mihm for Rick Fox, Gary Payton and a 2006 1st round pick.

2005:

Celtics — Draft Gerald Green at 18. Green was a piece in the KG deal but didn’t really become a solid pro till much later. Based on who he passed on I’d still call this a B draft as he came away with a good player. Above average.

Passed on — Nate Ro, Jarrett Jack, Jason Maxiell, David Lee. Can’t believe he passed on David Lee for Gerald Green right?

Spurs — Drafted Ian Mahinimi at 28 who finally got NBA minutes this year. Genius right? No.Buford passed on David Lee as well.

Passed on — In the next ten picks after he took Mahimi were guys like David Lee, Brandon Bass, CJ Miles, Illysova and Monta Ellis. Another F draft for Buford if we’re judging him based on that he should have known that David Lee, Bass, Illysova and Monta Ellis would all be average to above average NBA players.

Heat — Pat Riley, master talent evaluator had to have his on the the best guy at his position? No, he took Wayne Simein at 29 over David Lee at 30.

Trades — Unloads Antoine for a second and scraps. Walker never really plays in the NBA again.

2006:

Celtics — Select Randy Foye at 7 and Rajon Rondo at 21 via a trade with Phoenix. That’s an A draft as he nets Rondo at 21 who was an All Star, NBA first team all defense and lead the league in assists three times (2 with the Celtics). We can all have our opinions on Rondo post-Big 3 but facts are facts. That’s an A steal at 21.

Passed on — Rudy Gay, JJ Redick, and Kyle Lowry (took Rondo instead)….none of those guys stayed with the teams that drafted them. Gay was drafted by HOU, Redick ORL and Lowry Memphis so not sure there’s any genius GMs there since they all moved those guys. Foye was traded to Portland for Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract which helped get the KG deal done. Anyone have any issues with moving Foye?

Spurs — Didn’t have a draft pick this year. Not sure what deal happened to net that.

Heat — Didn’t have a pick either. Not sure what happened.

2007:

Celtics — Drafts Jeff Green at 5…trades Green, Delonte and Wally for Ray Allen and Glen Davis. Again, A+ draft that nets a HOFer SG in his prime.

Passed on — Does it matter? Noah, Thad Young?

Outcome — Gets Allen and then fleeces Minnesota with young assets he drafted for Kevin Garnett. A+++++. In the off season Ainge then signs Eddie House, James Posey and Scot Pollard and he signs PJ Brown and Sam Cassel during the season.

Spurs — Drafts Tiago Splitter eh and Marcus Williams, who? Passes on Glen Davis, Josh McRoberts and Marc Gasol. Twice. Best GM around passed on Marc Gasol. Twice.

Heat — Took Jason Smith (who?) over Jared Dudley, Wilson Chandler, Aaron Brooks…another F.

Presti — Got the #2 pick and got Durant instead of Oden (some luck there) but then traded HOFer Ray Allen for Jeff Green. And this guy is better than Ainge? Ainge traded Perkins for Green and people killed it, imagine a HOFer in his prime. This is a D and that might be kind.

2008:

Celtics — JR Giddens. I HATED this pick. This is where you should be taking flyers, not 4 year so so guards to Matt’s point as well.

Passed on — Omer Asik, DeAndre Jordan, Mario Chalmers, Goran Dragic. I think this is where taking on a project that Jordan (who took 5 years to develop) or Dragic would have been the flier.

Outcome — Not a good draft. F because of what Giddens was.

Spurs — Drafted George Hill at 26 and Goran Dragic at 45.

Outcome — Hill has been a serviceable PG but most of that came from his time in IND. And though they drafted Goran, two days later they shipped him to PHO for Malik Hariston so again, even the best GM in basketball supposedly didn’t think Goran Dragic was gonna be a superstar and traded him. I’d rate this draft a C- but only because he traded Hill for the pick that was Kawhi Leonard.

Heat — Took Michael Beasley instead of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Gallinari, Brook Lopez, Serge Ibaka, Nick Batum. Hell even drafting Robin Lopez here might have been better. This is the exact case of how most GMs are horrible drafters and to be average at it makes you above the norm. Giddens at 30 is one thing, passing on all those guys at 2? C’mon.

Presti — Takes Westbrook over Love. Good call there. Can’t argue with it. Nice to have a draft where those are the two options you have. That’s an A. We all know that drafts can swing in talent year to year. If Presti is in 4th in 2009 that pick is Tyreke Evans. Huge difference. Still an A.

Morey — First year in Houston. Took Aaron Brooks. That’s a C I suppose. Passed on Affalo and Splitter only really.

2009:

Celtics — Don’t have any picks.

Spurs — Drafted Dajuan Blair

Passed on — Patrick Beverly and Danny Green. That’s a C-.

Heat — Doesn’t have any picks in the first round but did pass on Danny Green in the second for Marcus Thorton.

Presti — Takes James Harden at 3. Again, great cause he took him but he also traded him and got back the pick that would be Steven Adams and Kevin Martin.

Morey — Didn’t have a pick this year.

2010:

Celtics — Draft Avery Bradley at 19. All NBA First Team Defender. Given that no one else in that range did anything other than maybe Trevor Booker this year, this is at least a B+/A-.

Spurs — Drafted James Anderson at 20. Who?

Passed on — Both GMs passed on Hassan Whiteside and Lance Stephenson who went in the second. We gonna kill both of them for not seeing that Whiteside would be great 6 years later?

Heat — No picks in the first but drafted Dexter Pittman one pick ahead of Hassan Whiteside in the second.

Presti -Drafted Eric Bledsoe, yes! No, he traded Bledsoe to the Clippers on draft night for a 2012 draft pick. Sam Presti was about those assets! Interestingly, that 2012 pick was the one that ended up as Fab Melo. Again, image Ainge trading Eric Bledsoe for a draft pick. You’d kill him.

Morey — Took Patrick Patterson. Solid I suppose but he passed on both Eric Bledsoe and Avery Bradley so that’s a D pick.

2011:

Celtics — Take Marshoon Brooks at 25. Oddly enough, looking at Chad Fords Insider today they had Brooks rated as the 15th best prospect in this draft just ahead of Tobias Harris. Forde also didn’t have Jimmy Butler in his top 20 (can’t see past that without Insider).

Passed on — Chandler Parson, Isaiah Thomas, Bogdanovic and Jimmy Butler. Ah HA! Ainge sucks!

Spurs — Trade George Hill to draft Kawhi Leonard. Obviously an A move. Drafted Corey Joseph at 29 and passed on Jimmy Butler as well who was taken at 30 right after. So how do you reconcile that? Is he genius for going after Kawhi, which it was, but then an idiot for not taking Butler, like you’ve called Ainge? Which one is it? If he didn’t think Butler was as good as Corey Joseph, can we operate under the notion that he thought Kawhi was gonna be Kawhi? That wouldn’t make sense.

Heat — Again, no draft picks. Probably best that Riley doesn’t draft given who he has taken.

Presti — Took Reggie Jackson, who he traded away for Enes Kanter. Man, he’s great at drafting guys just sucks at keeping them or not trading them huh? For the record, he also passed on Jimmy Butler.

Morey — Drafted the crappier of the two Morris brothers and drafted Nikola Mirotic. With two picks in the first, including the 23rd he too passed on Jimmy Butler. Twice. But goddamn you Danny Ainge!

2012:

Celtics — Ainge takes Sullinger and Fab Melo at 21 and 22. The only decent 1st he passed on here was Miles Plumlee who sucks so would it have been a better draft if he took Sully and Plumlee? We gonna kill him for that? It was just a C- draft.

Passed on — In the second round Crowder, Draymond, Middleton.

Outcome — This is the dumbest anti-Ainge argument. The He Should Have Known About Draymond! take. You know how passed on Draymond? The Warriors did at 30 and took Ezili. Green also sucked his first two years in the league. What about Kris Middleton? Well, the team that drafted him (Detroit) must not have thought he was gonna be any good cause they had him in the D-league all year then shipped him and Brandon Knight to MIL for Brandon Jennings.

Heat — You know who Pat Riley took instead of Draymond? Arnett Moultrie.

Presti — He took Perry Jones who doesn’t play in the NBA anymore instead of Draymond Green.

Morey — With three picks in the first he took Lamb, Royce White, and Terrence Jones and passed on Henson, Harkless, Tyler Zeller, Evan Fournier and Jared Sullinger. All who were better pros then the three he drafted.

2013 aka Worst Draft Ainge Ever Had:

Celtics — Ugh. Traded up to acquire he who shall not be named.

Passed on — Greek Freak, Dennis Schroeder, Gorgui Dieng, Mason Plumlee and Rudy Gobert.

Outcome — An F, clearly. And this illustrates my issue with his foreign scouting of Freak, Gobert and Schroeder. I give him a pass on Gobert because he was drafted by Denver, not Utah, and traded for Eric Green and Cash and spent two years in the D-League. But Greek Freak should have been the roll the dice pick.

Spurs — Took Livio Jean Charles. Didn’t really pass on anyone other than Allan Crabbe. Draft was kinda shit in the second round.

Heat — None again. Maybe realized he sucked at this after taking Moultrie.

Presti — Archie Goodwin over Crabbe and Isiah Caannan.

Morey — No picks. What a crap draft late.

2014:

Celtics — Marcus Smart and James Young. I don’t like Smart’s zero offensive game but he is arguably the best defensive guard in the league. His other options were Randle, Stauskas, Vonleh, Elfrid, Lavine, Saric, McDermott at the top. I’d probably like Lavine more and Saric didn’t play till this year and was only good when everyone was injured. Doubt he’s gonna be that guy with Simmons and Fultz and Embiid back. This is an average pick. He didn’t miss but just didn’t get the guy I would have preferred. For Young, he passed on Harris, Hood, Bogdanovic. All of those guys are fantasy darlings, Hood and Harris are always injured and Bogo is essentilly the guy Young was projected to be. Young sucks so in hindsight it’s certainly a bad pick. Presti passed on Hood as well though so just goes to show it’s not perfect.

Spurs — Took Kyle Anderson at 30. Passed on Nikola Jokic and Jordan Clarkson. Best GM in the league should have known Jokic was gonna blow up right?

Heat — PJ Hairston over Bogo and Jokic and Clarkson.

Presti — Took Mitch McGary over Hood, Jokic, Clarkson. If we’re going on the logic that Ainge isn’t good because he doesn’t identify guys like Draymond late in the second, then we would assume that the GMs that are better than him at drafting would have known that Nikola Jokic was gonna be better than Mitch McGary.

Morey — Clint Caplea. Cool but it took 4 years for him to finally play. I guess we should give it time and patience.

2015:

Celtics — Terry Rozier and RJ Hunter. Hunter is an F but Rozier is a C so far. Average guy. Ainge passed on Portis, Dekker, Jerian Grant. Really no one that has been better than Rozier. I think we like Portis better, at least when he plays against us but that doesn’t discount Rozier’s value.

Spurs — Took Nikola Mulitov. No idea.

Heat — Justise Winslow. Passed on Devin Booker and Myles Turner. Kind of laughable if you thought Riley was better at this point.

Presti — Cameron Payne…passed on Rozier. Too early to tell between those two right. If OKC offered you Payne for Rozier straight up we’re saying no though right?

Morey — Sam Dekker…passed on Portis as well. Maybe he knew something too.

Not going to do last year’s draft since the Heat, OKC and Houston all didn’t have any picks. And I also stopped adding in the trades like the fleecing of the Nets, the trading of Rondo for Jae Crowder, the trading of Marcus Thornton for a league MVP guard, etc..

Ainge missed on Giannis. It was a huge mistake mainly because we hate the guy he got. But even if he got Dennis Schroeder, we’d still hate the pick. It’s completely fair to criticize the miss but saying he’s not good at talent evaluation? Compared to who? The guys you all agree are the best GMs miss in the draft way more than Ainge does. But “the Bucks went and got their guy” like they knew he was gonna be this good. C’mon. No one knew that. He was 17th on Ford’s prospect ranking which is a survey of GMs and you were all saying was gospel with regards to Fultz as teir 1. That would also mean they knew “the guy” every year. Was their guy Jimmer in 2011 cause they drafted him at 10 instead of Klay Thompson who went at 11 and Kawhi Leonard at 15. Did they go after their guy in 2010 with Larry Sanders instead of Bledsoe and Bradley?

What you can say is that year after year Ainge has made very good draft picks. How many no name guys did Buford draft? Pat Riley had the #2 pick and passed on the league MVP and a HOFer in Kevin Love. Putting aside the fact that Presti has lost two HoFers and traded another one, where’s his genius drafting? When he’s picked in the teens and later like Ainge he’s missed a ton and traded away guys like Jackson and Eric Bledsoe. Darryl Morey, who was groomed by Ainge, hasn’t put a team together that’s been at the top of the west until this year and most often passed on the same guys Ainge did. Morey had three chances to draft Draymond Green and he took Royce White. At least Ainge got Sullinger.

Danny Ainge has orchestrated two of the greatest trades in NBA history, he’s consistently added key pieces in the draft nearly every single year, we just played in the ECFs with a team full of guys he’s drafted or traded for, we have max cap space and we have 3 top 5 picks in the next two years. There isn’t a GM in the league that’s done anything close to the trades or drafting that he’s done. Period. So cut the “GMs take the right guys” bulls*t. They don’t. More than half the time they take the wrong guys as the above shows. The GM who traded for (not drafted) Kawhi passed on Butler. How do you explain that while you kill Danny Ainge for not taking Butler as well? You can’t. And RC Buford certainly isn’t better at trading than Ainge. That’s a fact. The GM of the Warriors was smart enough to draft Thompson at 11 in 2011. Sure. What was he in 2010 when he took Ekpe Udoh over Paul George and Gordon Hayward?

No GM in the past 14 years has drafted better or more consistently hit on above average NBA players out of the draft than Danny Ainge. No one. If there’s a GM you think drafts better, go ahead and prove it.