Danny Ainge’s career with the Boston Celtics will always be defined by his successful pursuit of Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.
The Celtics had the biggest regular season turnaround in NBA history after Ainge landed Garnett along with Ray Allen in the summer of 2007, paving the way for one Celtics championship and a bonafide contender for the next half decade.
MassLive caught up with Ainge this week, who will be in attendance for Garnett’s jersey retirement at the TD Garden on Sunday, to reflect on his pursuit of the Celtics legend, Garnett’s most underrated attribute and a potential reunion between the Big Three.
After taking the job with the Celtics in 2003, when did you first realistically dream about having a chance of going after Garnett?
I think every team identified him as a guy they would love to have. I don’t think that’s any secret. I coached against KG when I first came into the league and the first time I ever saw him he was obviously a very versatile defender, a high-energy 6-foot-11 skilled player. Everyone in the league admires and desires players like that.
When did those internal talks though start to feel like they had a legitimate chance of happening?
Kevin was a player that we talked about internally before but never really thought we could get. Then there was an opportunity to get him when all three teams lost a bunch. Seattle with Ray Allen, Minnesota with Kevin Garnett had all been in the lottery, KG’s team two years in a row. They were just looking to shift guards so that opportunity came about and we were ready.
Convincing Garnett to come to Boston was a bit of an ordeal ahead of the eventual trade in August 2007. What do you remember about that process?
I was given permission by Minnesota to go visit with Kevin. I flew out and met with his him and his wife. I felt like we developed a good relationship but it was still all about winning for him. I didn’t have to convince him to come to Boston, I had to convince him that Boston could win to acquire him. That took us getting Ray and then he was all on board.
How tough was the balance for you to get Ray and have enough leftover in assets to make a run at trading for KG? How daunting was that in real-time to try to pull it off?
Absolutely because there was no guarantee that getting Ray is going to get us KG or getting Ray and using the assets we used to get Ray that we had enough remaining to get us KG. Those are things you are hoping you can do but you are certainly not sure of any of them. You have to be satisfied that if we have Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson, we are going to be okay. If we can get KG, that’s great too but you have to be willing to live with getting Ray and potentially losing KG because he doesn’t want a sign contract extension coming to Boston if we don’t have someone in addition to Paul.
Has anyone matched Garnett’s energy level that you have seen during your 40-plus years playing or working in the NBA?
I’ve never been around anyone like him. He’s very unique in his enthusiasm and in his constant energy, not sure energy on the court, but on the plane, on the bus, at practice, at shootaround. He’s continuously energy and fun on top of being a great player. It wasn’t just his energy but his energy with his focus, with his talent, with his desire all combined is what made him special.
If the knee injury didn’t happen in 2009 to Garnett, realistically how many titles do you think the Big Three could have won together?
It’s hard to tell. You never know. It did feel like we were better in 2009 than we were in 2008, started out 27-2 before KG got hurt. There’s a lot of evidence that shows we were a better team and headed in the right direction. You still have to get a lot of breaks to win it all so you never know. There are no guarantees to winning a championship. Health is always a part of it.
Reflecting on his career now, is there any part of Kevin’s game that feels underrated in hindsight or when comparing him to today’s era?
The thing that made him special for us in Boston and in Minnesota too was his ability to do everything in the game but yet blend in with other stars. Almost needing to push him, they needed to push him in Minnesota to do more on offense. He came in as a very unselfish player and he left as a very unselfish player but sometimes particular teams need you to do a little bit more than what you are comfortable was and I thought Doc did a good job with that with KG and tried to do more to get him to be more assertive on offense. He will go down as a very team oriented, team-first, superstar and he came into the league that way as a youngsters and that’s pretty rare. Most of the guys are pretty self absorbed.
To that point, with the star movement in the NBA today and seeing numerous stars that struggle to fit together in new settings, how crucial was it to have someone that adaptable from a star standpoint?
He’s a guy that could play with any type of lineup because he was so versatile. He could play smallball, he could play center, he could play big, he could play small forward in a huge lineup, he could play with a superstar center, a superstar point guard or both. His game could still fit into any type of team and that’s what made it the best and that’s what stood out with his time in Boston. He was very unselfish and willing to let Paul, Ray and Rondo be themselves and still be a great player.
Garnett was spotted in a picture with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce during All-Star Weekend and the duo was also seen chatting for the 75th anniversary team. I know there have been some tough feelings from Garnett’s side towards Allen in the past, is it good to see them moving beyond that a bit with the benefit of time?
That’s good. I was always figured that it would work. Those guys had a great run together and won a lot of big games and I hope that they could get back together. That was a good feeling to see them together.
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