Kevin McHale talks about Danny Ainge and the Celtics

Turner Sports announced that the company is adding Kevin McHale as an analyst, which is wonderful news to anyone who’s had the pleasure of hearing Kevin speak. He’s one of those guys that I would gladly buy drinks for all night just to hear him talk about basketball.

He talked a bit about the Celtics, and his take on them is not terribly surprising. He likes the Al Horford fit but thinks that they need one more star to help Isaiah Thomas with the scoring load. We’ve heard that a few times and will keep hearing it for the foreseeable future.

What was more interesting and infinitely more amusing was his take on old pal Danny Ainge. via CSNNE

“Danny is doing it the right way,” McHale said. “He’s not panicking. . . Which is the opposite of the guy I know. Danny is one of the most impulsive people I know and I’m shocked he doesn’t make a trade every week. He is a disciplined general manager which is funny because he is (a) very undisciplined person.”

Earlier in his GM career, it kind of did seem that Danny Ainge was making a trade every week, or at least trying to do so. However, I think age and experience taught him a lot of patience. He’s still unafraid of taking risks, but I think he’s picking his spots.

A perfect example is the Al Horford situation. There was an opportunity to trade for him at the deadline last year. He certainly would have helped down the stretch and into the playoffs, but making a move for him would have cost the Celtics assets of some kind (picks, players, etc.). By showing some patience, Danny Ainge landed Horford a few months later, and all he had to give up was a good chunk of the salary cap (which they would have needed to use to re-sign him if they traded for him anyway).

So while we’re all eager for the next big trade shoe to drop, we’ll have to content ourselves waiting for Patient Danny to find just the right window of opportunity.

Till then, you’ll know just where to find him each day at lunch.