In absolutely stunning news, the Boston Celtics announced today that Danny Ainge is retiring from his role as President of Basketball Operations, that he will be replaced by Brad Stevens, and the team is now looking for a new head coach.
“I’m grateful to ownership and to Danny for trusting me with this opportunity,” Stevens in a press release. “I’m excited to tackle this new role, starting with a wide ranging and comprehensive search for our next head coach. I love the Celtics, and know the great honor and responsibility that comes with this job. I will give it everything I have to help us be in position to consistently compete for championships.”
Stevens will now try to untangle some of the knots left behind by Ainge, whose tenure has been hampered by sudden player departures and the NBA's sudden decision to start the season in December rather than January.
“Helping guide this organization has been the thrill of a lifetime, and having worked side-by-side with him since he’s been here, I know we couldn’t be in better hands than with Brad guiding the team going forward,” Ainge said in the release. “I’m grateful to ownership, all of my Celtics colleagues, and the best fans in basketball for being part of the journey.”
The Celtics are holding a news conference at noon. I'll be updating this with more thoughts along the way.
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Wyc Grousbeck: "Brad and I spoke this morning and committed to one another, that we're going to win, banner 18 or die trying. And that's the way, Brad feels about it, that's the way I feel about it and all of us here at this podium believe that Brad is the person to lead us forward"
Ainge: "The basketball is fun. I love basketball, it's been part of my whole life, and been in professional sports for 44 straight years. And I've had a lot of ups and downs, and fun, and sad losses. Today's not a great day. I wish we would have finished the year on a much better note, but I feel like there's so much hope in the Celtics going forward, and I'm excited for Brad. I think that Brad. He was born for this."
Ainge: "It was my decision. It started when I had health issues, two years ago, in the playoffs. And I started thinking about them ,you're surrounded by your six children in the hospital, and they're saying 'hey you need to quit doing this for work it's causing you too much stress,' and that's probably when it started, when I started thinking about it. And then these last two years have been tough."
Stevens: "I've been doing this for eight years. I've been in that locker room with some of those guys for a long time ... they're gonna get to play for a great coach with, you know, some similarities maybe but also some great new fresh perspectives. And I think that that's a good thing. And so I'm looking forward to finding that person, because I do think people can be reinvigorated by that. I think that when I looked at the big picture and when I really talked about it, it made sense. This is a great opportunity to give us a good spark."
Stevens: "Whatever they asked me to do, I would have done it. This side is a great opportunity. I'm invigorated by it. I'm excited. We're set up great. Mike Zarren, Austin Ainge, they are going to make this transition easy. I'm looking forward to working with them."
Stevens: "Hiring a new coach will give us a great opportunity to hire somebody that, I think, will be great at the job, be better than the person he replaces, and be a new fresh voice with new fresh perspective, I think that's great. And so, it has nothing to do with my own, where I was with coaching. Coaching has been awfully good to me, and I'm very thankful for every day that I got a chance to do it."