he’s been one of my faves in our ‘new generation’ celtics…

good luck leon…

am still hoping he’d latch with the celts eventually.

I definetely feel bad for Leon. He works so hard and gives everything he has, to have this happen is tragic. That said, the NBA ia a business. This is the uglier side of bussiness for sure.

we treat sports like something more than a business, almost like a religion.
but dollar bills rule. and danny wants to bring us a winner. too bad POWE has to be sacrificed. i’m rooting for a comeback. we all are.

Im hoping he will be back… im really hoping for a Scal/TA 2 for 1 so that we can have a roster spot available for Powe right when he is able to play again.

I would not have let him go. I would have kept him around somehow.

i hope it was more like: we can’t make you any promises until we see your progress.

maybe it’s true, but I can see where both sides are coming from. I hope he recovers by mid season and he will be our mid year acquisition.

wow. how classy.

If Swift takes his roster spot, I’ll vomit

I can see delaying his signing to see how the roster shakes out and tell him that they’d bring him back mid-year but this sounds like Danny won’t offer him anything unless he goes elsewhere to prove he’s healthy again.

a vet min contract for the 15th spot wouldn’t have hurt the team. if he comes back, you’ve got a solid player off the bench which is what we need.

With a little luck, we will be able to move some of the dead weight (Scal, Tony, Pruitt, Giddens) for a contributor. Hard to believe we go 15 deep.

Danny Ainge is terrible if he doesn’t sign Leon back. Beyond basketball (where he is more capable of seeing a court than the likes of Gabe Pruitt and Patrick OBryant) Leon exhibits high character, commitment, dedication and hard work. You’d think the Celtics would utilize this as an opportunity to show the youth of today that qualities off the court matter. And as far as a 2 year window goes, Leon Powe has proven that he can contribute to a championship team.

I hope for the Celtics sake that Danny’s callousness and shortsightedness wont come back to hurt the 2nd half of the season if Leon signs on with another contender and is bolstering the toughness of say the Lakers or Magic.

For shame Wyc and Danny.

A lot of people are hoping for a midseason acquisition, possibly including Danny. If that’s the case, and we’d like him back at some point, shouldn’t we be treating him a little better than this. If things did actually go down the way this article makes it seem then shame on you DA. If I were Leon, there’s no way I would want to come back here when, after I’ve busted my butt for this team when they were good and bad, I get thrown out like this.

I’d like to see them sign Powe. However, part of the problem here is the wasted roster spots on guys like Walker, Giddens, perhaps Pruitt, and perhaps Danny’s man-crush Robert Swift. Part of the reason we it’s not so simple to keep Powe is because of these guys. How many guys on an aging team can we really afford to have sitting around who can’t contribute to a rotation?

Pruitt can be cut, his contract is non-garaunteed. This would freea spot for Powe. I would rather have an injured Powe over Pruitt any day, not to mention Powe would contribute just as much injured as Pruitt healthy. Is Danny trying to say getting a DUI is something to be rewarded, but Powe’s hard work and altogether good guy attitude is not?

This is the right move by Danny. He has to atleast wait until Powe heals befor he considers taking him back. If there’s room then, fine, if not, It’s been real.

Yeah he’s a classy guy and all but I know lots of classy people and none of them are getting contract from major sports teams.

As far as the loyalty goes, where’s the out cry for Big Babby’s loyalty? Where’s the out cry for him to take a home town discount for the team that took a chance on a fat, undersized PF? Oh It’s Ok for players to chase money and do whats right for them but the team can’t??

This is what needed to be done. If he can come back, great! But they can’t take the risk and wait around for him.

But the guy has blown out his knee for the THIRD time. Let’s be realistic here. You’re talking about a guy who came into the league with the odds pretty much against him with two blown knees. Now he’s on the shelf again. You just can’t retain guys when they can’t play! They cut injured guys all the time in the NFL and no one cries about that.

And the whole Danny thing is Leon’s quote, not Danny’s quote.

No one need cry for Powe. He’s made more money in the last few years then many of us will ever make.

It’s not like Powe is homeless, he’s made close to 2 million dollars in the last two years, and the team is letting him rehab (if he wants) at their facility. Most likely he’ll get another NBA contract and make several more million. At the same time there is no reason to sign Powe now until the roster shapes up. What if DA plans on dumping Scal and Tony, but he can’t do it until Dec – should he release a young guy he likes or not sign a vet to carry an injured Powe on the roster?

I hope in the end Powe and the C’s can come to some deal later in the offseason and we see Powe back, he’s my favorite Celtic. But this is logical and probably doesn’t hurt Powe the way some people think it does.

They better fill Powe’s spot with someone who actually contributes because otherwise this move disgusts me, I mean why keep high character guys around who works his a** off when we can give his spot to a guy who already ate his way out of the league once. I’m just a little bit less of a Celtics fan today.

Work hard, be a good faminly man, a good guy, a fan fovorite andyou get shat on. Or, go out and get drunk, get behind the wheel of a car, potentially put peoples lives at risk and get rewarded. Good message to send the kids Danny!

…but it was the right moive, imo.

Never listen to the fans, Danny.

Thank you for making the right decision, even if it`s hard.

Good bye, Leon. I`ll really miss you.

I didn’t realise the Celtics were being run by Unicef. I always thought the point was to win championships. You can win with guys who can’t walk. He’s got one working leg. Maybe they should get RIck Allen to play the Back up three. Hell, Allen Shawn Feinstein to back up Rondo, He’s done more for the community then just about anyone else in New England and he’d come cheap seeing he has no need for the money.. Remember we’re not trying to win, we’re trying to be nice guys.

What players want to see in an organization is it’s desire to win. That’s why no one goes to the Clippers.

Just hope Danny’s bad karma doesn’t end up hurting the C’s as well.

give me this guy on my team anyday of the week he never gives up hes been through it all he says all the right things..hes one of my favorite celtics and will continue to be one of my favorite players and will always root for him

Let`s not forget the following :

1} Ainge was the ONLY general manager in the NBA who took a chance and provided Leon his big opportunity back in 2007. None of the other GM`s were willing to do so.

2} Telling most any player that he won`t be back is the worst part of any GM`s job. You can only imagine how tough it was for Danny to break the news to someone like Leon.

I like Leon a lot too, and I hope he can either heal up or bank some of the good will he’s earned by getting a great job outside basketball.

But over the past two years he earned $1.2 million and got to play basketball for a living. That’s pretty good.

Even Wilbon and Ryan, filling in for Kornheiser, think this is bogus.

but I’m glad Danny isn’t sentimental about his roster. It was the smart decision.

what Danny Ainge done? he could just have offered him an previous contract which he can be released if he can’t come back from his injury! this is not a case of “business is business”! no loyalty….

as well as his previous injuries. Its gonna be a loooong road back for Leon. Its a real shame.

I have a feeling we havent seen the last of him in Green… but with only 3 reserve spots and no long term injured reserve we just cant afford to keep a guy who is out until AT LEAST January on our roster. I have to agree with Danny’s assessment. We’re either going for it now or we’re not. If we’re going for it now you need to do everything you can to win now. A crippled, unreliable Leon Powe doesnt fit.

Hopefully when he’s healthy and good to go in February or March we can fit him in.

I find it a little ironic that people are mad that we kept POB as a project player and wasted a roster spot with him last year and want to waste a roster spot on Leon this year.

We are contending for a championship and will likely be fighting for playoff positioning when he is slated to be healed. And it is possible that he will never be the same player again.

We all wish leon the best. It’s possible that we don’t win number 17 without him after that game 2 performance against LA. I seriously hope he can find has way onto an NBA roster soon. I have no doubts in my mind when I say that he deserves it when you consider how he is on a personal level.

And although Powe was a favorite of mine as well, you can’t put together a championship team if you allow emotion to guide you. We dont know how good he will be after he recovers. We have to do what we can to win. I just wonder how many here were knocking the guy during his slump early in the year?

This is a lousy way to treat Leon Powe. He deserves better.

i’m positive the real reason behind this is the c’s aren’t sure powe can do anything next year. i love leon, but he’s had way too many knee injuries. yeah, i’m sure he’ll work harder than anyone to get back, but a) he might not be physically able to; and b) we need contributions from every spot on the roster, since we’re competing for a title. i hate to say it, but i think keeping a guy on the roster who, at the very least, won’t be back until MAYBE after mid-season (i think a more likely return of any kind is near the end of the regular season, and given the layoff, i highly doubt he’d be very effective until the next year, anyway – and again, i seriously wonder if he’ll be able to come back, given the number of knee injuries he’s had), particularly when you’re competing for a championship, is not smart. now, after next season, i think we should make every effort to sign him (given that he is able to come back), or, if we have a roster spot open/make a roster spot open near the end of this year and he looks like he can actually play (and nobody has signed him). leon is one of the truly great guys in sports, and if we do actually sign him, i’d be happy, but i think its not a smart move in the end. i just hope he ends up back in green if he’s able to come back at some point.

But honestly, this is a very tough decision and we don’t know what Powe’s timeline for recovery is, etc….If he recovers and can play he will get another job. Danny’s job is to get players that can play within the next three months.

I feel bad for powe

But i think some of the fans reactions is ridicoulous…this was the right move, period end of story..

The Cs payroll this year will be over $70m. Powe’s potential salary will represent between one and one and a half of a percent of the team’s total payroll. I can understand not signing him to a QO, but to jettison the guy with :good luck with your new team" is disloyal and foolish.

At a minimum, the Cs should let the guy know that they will offer him a minimum contract as long as his knee comes around. We;re talking about a guy who scores a point every two minutes or so and makes more than half his shots. He grabs a rebound every three and a half minutes. He’s one of the best bigs in the entire league at drawing fouls, and one of the best at drawing fouls. Powe’s a stat stuffer who seems to immediately impact a game the minute he checks in.

If Powe’s going to be healthy after the all star break, that’s perfect. He can be a great 9th man for the playoffs this year, then sign a three year $10m deal to be the 6th man here for the rest of the Big 3 era.

I’m guessing that another team is going to take a flier on the injured Powe, and as a Leon fan, I will be happy that he’s going to get some of the money he deserves in a FA year. I will be sad as a Celtics fan that we let the guy get away, and that we didn’t show a little more loyalty to him.

If I was running the Celtics, I’d make sure the guy was on my roster, by either doing a 2-1 or 3-1 with the expiring contracts of Scal and TA, If that can’t happen, just leave a spot for Powe and don’t offer a contract to Pruitt.

this is too bad. i love leon. good player and clearly one the highest character guys in professional sports, let alone the NBA. I’d love to have him back. He’s a player that makes me proud to be a Celtics fan.

How? He obviously doesn’t have a heart.

Or a brain for that matter. This was a softball, and he whiffed on it. It would have been a smart business decision to lock him up- Leon Powe is not done playing professional ball. ACL injuries are not career enders any more (Powe himself is proof of that). He’ll be back and I hope to god that Ainge grovels for forgiveness and Leon is wearing shamrocks again.

As much as I’d love to see Leon stay in Celtics Green, you can’t resign a player that will be out for at least half of next season…especially when there is a realistic chance that he will never be the same player he was pre-injury.

Shame DA
Leon is a class act and the embodies what a Celtics basketballer should be.

I love Powe. My God if the Celtics could keep ML Carr around for all those years why not Powe? This is terrible.

we just have to get him back. Thats all it comes down to. Danny did the right thing by not signing him now but in February when we need that last piece of the puzzle give me Leon Powe baby. None of this Mikki Moore nonsense. We know what were getting with Powe 110% every night and some execution. Mikki had the hustle down he just couldnt execute. Powe executes more than not and is a terrific post player. SIGN HIM UP

I have to agree with Amen. I have also experienced interviews where what was published was nowhere true to what i said. Reporter do not necessarily reproduce what you say accurately; they will report what makes news.
Like I already said, right now we are at a crossroads; we need to get a healthy team on the floor and we have more than our share of walking wounded: TA, KG, Perks, Scal(with his dubious value, however minimal or whatever) and us fans are demanding that we improve our team ASAP; not that Ainge is checking on what we say here. I stopped being an Ainge unconditional fan, but I havent walked 20 miles in his moccassins, so I cannot tell him what to do.
Celtics are a business like so many sport teams. Economics dictate what is to be done or undone. Owners are fans; but there are not in the business of losing money unnecessarily; they will invest in a rteam as long as they believe in the long run they wont lose their shirts.
I love Powe; he has played his heart for us. I rather keep a healthy Powe instead of a healthy BBD; but I have no money running on my preferences. Im not sure Ainge saaid whats attributed to him in the words that were attributed to him.
What we do know is that we dont know right now if Powe will be able to make it back to play and how effective will he be with a re-re-reconstructed knee. The responsible thing for the Celtics is not to tie up dollars on his behalf . It just doesnt work that way, unfortunately. Lets wait and see. I just hope Powe can make it back with us or with some other team, if the chips fall that way. I love Powe, but I love my Celtics a little bit more.

We are all Celtic fan’s we can agree on that. Now what every one wants is fairness RIGHT!! It has to work both ways, for players and the team. When you here players say they want money…all the money they’re worth (Stehon M.) in the past. How can we condem them when a team treats a player like Powe, like garbage. It has to work both ways. Players are not stupid…if players cannot get your loyalty thin how can you expect to get theirs?

A good business deal used to be everyone walked away feeling pleased with the result. Now the norm is if you don’t stick your finger in someone’s eye it’s not a good business deal. The celtics were founded on loyalty and then winning. Do you people think all the past Celtic players ( Cousy,KC Jones. Sam Jones Tommy H., Bill R., Jo Jo W. Hondo) were payed there true financial worth. Of course they weren’t. But they did it and from there loyalty came this steller franchise.

RED understood this but Danny — will understand it.