in a way, yeah. it’s not like there are a ton of Jewish players who are good enough to play professional ball in Israel but are not good enough to try the NBA. If you’re a high prospect college basketball player with Jewish roots, you’d know Maccabi is an option.
Former lottery pick Joe Alexander is one example.
Jordan Farmer played for Maccabi for a tiny bit but i’m not sure if he got one. Alex Tyus, Jake Cohen, David Blu, Sylven Landesberg are recent examples that also went to play for the Israeli National Team.
Also coach extraordinaire and famous Lebron-hater David Blatt started off as one in the 80s. TJ Leaf is a draft bust that is still trying to make it happen, but will end up playing ball in Israel soon (he was actually born in Israel).
This is a horrific take - Ainge traded for KG, Ray Allen and Kyrie Irving.
I think keeping Jaylen Brown instead of trading for one year of Kawhi or AD (neither of those guys were ever staying in Boston long term) has been proven to be absolutely the right move.
Ainge isn’t perfect but without question has been a top 3 GM. It’s Boston, not LA or Miami.
Some good data. I’m not saying Ainge is terrible. He’s just horribly overrated.
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The Ringer – 2 Mar 21
You love Masai, right? Who do you think has drafted more players that have made ASGs over the last decade, Masai or Ainge? It’s a weird metric to go by, but it’s your metric.
If KG doesn’t get hurt, that team wins more titles (heck if Kendrick Perkins doesn’t blow out his knee in the finals, they win that year). If Gordon Hayward doesn’t snap his leg 5 minutes into his Boston career, that generation looks different too. It’s not an excuse, injuries happen - but they should certainly factor into a GMs review. Ainge never really tanked and kept the team competitive for like 20 years in a city that athletes don’t care for. That’s a great job.
I mean, they signed Kemba (LOL) and Hayward (edit and Horford) to max deals. It’s not Memphis. Athletes seem to like playing for the Pats, Sox and Bruins just fine.
I’d take at least half a dozen GMs over Ainge. And I’d wager the place he takes over this summer won’t make the finals under his watch.
Rolling over assets and taking advantage of Billy King isn’t hard. Going all in is.