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Message: [QUOTE="Dogdeacon, post: 3995362, member: 1026"] I think Ainge had plans, most recently it was Kyrie and possibly one more free agent. The problem was when that didn't work out, he clung too tightly to that precise plan and overpaid Kemba to try and salvage. It was a decent plan B, it just didn't work. Another miss I think the last few years is due to high payroll they never signed or traded to fill in the glaring holes mid-way thru any of the past 3-4 seasons. Had they signed one or two James Posey types it might have been enough to advance a little further in the playoffs (esp bubble playoffs). Ainge tried to address this (namely the bench), adding role players via their draft picks but they drafted poorly. Instead of picking a role player like Thybulle they tried to buy flawed upside via picks like Romeo Langford and ended up just flawed with little meaningful bench contributors. I'd hypothesize that showing and arguing against this approach is part of how Stevens landed the GM job. The rooks & projects consistently were an albatross around the team and coach. Stevens knows not to do the same to the next coach. So rather than keep an iffy late teens pick that's at best yrs away he jettisoned it for $ that will enable them to sign a vet that's already evidenced whatever skillset the team may need. [/QUOTE]