Expectations were sky-high for last season’s Boston Celtics, but a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference and second-round playoff loss forced president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to reflect on the decisions he made.
“I think that in hindsight, we should have cleaned out the roster a little bit to make it easier for [coach] Brad [Stevens], more joy for him to coach,” Ainge told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in an interview that was released Tuesday.
The Celtics were expected to be title contenders in 2018-19 after losing in Game 7 of the conference finals the year before with a team that lacked injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. However, the duo’s return to a rotation that featured Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart led to a logjam of players.
“It just didn’t mesh,” Ainge said. “You know, it just didn’t, and I knew, and we talked about it.”
Ultimately, Ainge said he refrained from trading any players last season because, after an uneven start, the team entered the All-Star break 37-21.
“So that’s why I didn’t do any deals, but in hindsight, you know, I would,” Ainge told ESPN.
Going forward, Ainge told Nichols he would be “a little bit more careful … building another team that had such equal depth.”
This season’s Celtics are tied for the second-best record in the East at 12-4. They’ve done that without Irving and Horford, who each left in free agency, or Rozier, who was traded to Charlotte as part of a deal to acquire Kemba Walker.
And while some have attempted to cast blame on Irving for the failings of last year’s Celtics, Ainge said that’s unfair.
“I think it’s silly that Kyrie is targeted as the guy just because he’s not with us this year,” said Ainge, who thinks he was also part of the problem.
“I’ll blame all the players and I’ll blame myself, and we’ll go from there.”