"It was actually more rewarding" - Danny Ainge on defeating the Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals as an executive
When Danny Ainge built the Big 3 in Boston by acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play alongside Paul Pierce, the Celtics took off immediately. They wasted no time in making an NBA Finals appearance, where they defeated their archenemy, the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2008.
It was an extra rewarding experience for Ainge, who spent a lot of time in his playing career competing against the Purple and Gold. The former Celtics president recently admitted that getting the best of the Lakers was even more rewarding as an executive simply because it was a different accomplishment compared to the feeling of winning a championship as a player.
“ … When you’re an executive, you see the impact that so many people have. Like nobody has more impact than Paul, Ray, and KG, but you see the stories of Leon Powe, Eddie House, James Posey and Doc Rivers, and Big Baby like right down the line, and you see the people in the organization that have been there and all the things they do to make it work like as an executive, you know all these things and so it’s actually more rewarding,” Ainge said in his recent appearance on the “Knucklehead” podcast.
An executive’s perspective is a lot more different
Ainge, who admitted that he grew up as a Lakers fan, said that when players win a championship, they mostly think about themselves. Not that it’s wrong and that most players don’t care about their teammates, but players normally think about how championships impact their legacy.
However, as an executive, Ainge admitted that it’s a completely different mindset. After winning the championship in 2008, the former Celtics president couldn’t help to be happier witnessing the people he brought together celebrating the title instead of his individual success.
“Just because there were so many people involved in making that happen. From that standpoint, it was fun for me to see Doc being able to celebrate a championship, fun for me to be able to see Eddie House get a championship. I mean the whole team. And for Paul, Ray, and KG to get to that threshold and get the monkey off their back because all of them were coming from lottery teams, and as an executive, it’s more fun and joy to share with everybody,” Ainge added.
From being a champion as a player to executive
Ainge is just one of the handful of players in NBA history to win both as a player and an executive for one single franchise, the Celtics. He helped the Celtics nab a title in 1984 and 1986 as a player and then as an executive in 2008 who built the team that paved the way for the franchise to nab its 17th championship banner.
It was a satisfying journey and full circle moment for Ainge, who left a big mark on the franchise he grew up rooting against.
