Danny Ainge

Daniel Ray Ainge (born March 17, 1959 in Eugene, Oregon) is a former professional basketball and baseball player who played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns, and also in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is currently the Executive Director of Basketball Operations for the Celtics.

Amateur basketball and professional baseball career

Talented in multiple sports, Ainge starred in high school on his football team and led North Eugene High School to back-to-back state basketball championships in 1976-77, earning all-state honors both years. He also was named to the 1977 Parade Magazine High School All-America team.

Ainge played basketball at Brigham Young University, after which he was selected in baseball's 1977 amateur draft by Toronto. He made it to the majors with the Blue Jays in 1979, but was able to amass only modest numbers for that team. In 1981, after receiving the John R. Wooden Award as college basketball player of the year, Ainge was chosen in the 1981 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, who had to buy out Ainge's contract from the Blue Jays after enduring a legal battle over the rights to it.

NBA career

Not everything went right for Ainge in basketball at first. According to Larry Bird in his autobiography Drive, Celtics players used to make fun of Ainge's initial shooting percentage, some joking that his batting average of .220 was better than his shooting percentage on the basketball court. But Ainge became one of the important pieces of the team that won the NBA title in 1984 and 1986, and a major helper of the middle to late 1980s Celtics teams.

In 1989, Ainge was traded to the Sacramento Kings for young center Joe Kleine, whom the Celtics saw as a possible substitute to the aging Robert Parish. Despite Ainge's leadership, the Kings could not make it to the playoffs.

In 1990, Ainge was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. Being a native of Oregon, he was considered a hometown favorite by Blazers fans. He helped the Blazers reach the 1992 NBA Finals, only to succumb to the Chicago Bulls in six games. He tied a record in this series: On June 5, he scored nine points in the extra period to tie an all-time NBA record for most points in an overtime during a finals game.

After the 1991-92 NBA season, Ainge was to become a free agent. He had stated in media interivews that he ideally wanted to stay in Portland, and would contact Blazers management before seriously entertaining offers from other teams. On July 1, 1992, Ainge signed a contract with the Phoenix Suns on his first day of free agency. This news came as a surprise to the Blazers front office, as Ainge had not contacted them first. This subsequently led Ainge to fall out of favor with Blazers fans.

The Phoenix Suns, a team that had been looking for a new identity, were inaugurating a new home (America West Arena), a new coach (Paul Westphal) a new-look logo and uniform and a new superstar (Charles Barkley) when they signed free agent Ainge prior to the 1992-1993 NBA season, figuring that his experience would help the team during the playoffs. Ainge responded by scoring 11.8 points per game as the Suns went 62-20 that year, only to lose to the Bulls, also in six games.

Ainge retired after the 1994-1995 season.

Post-professional basketball career

While a player with the Suns, Ainge opened a national chain of hat stores, The Hat Club, which he has since sold. He has worked at a number of charity organizations and has held a number of jobs since retiring, including head coach of the Suns, broadcaster for TNT, and, from 2003 on, executive director of basketball operations for the Celtics. His exit from the Suns coaching job was a sudden resignation; he cited a need to spend more time with his family. He was replaced by assistant coach Scott Skiles.

Ainge has been controversial in his role as a Celtics executive, trading popular players such as Antoine Walker and having personality conflicts with head coach Jim O'Brien that led to the departure of O'Brien to the Philadelphia 76ers (a job he would also depart from a year later). Walker later returned to the team, but was traded again. The Celtics have gotten younger and more talented, but the Celtics have not improved in the win column. However, Ainge has kept the support of former head coach Red Auerbach, still employed by the team as a "senior assistant", and the current ownership group.

Trivia

In an early 1990s episode of Married... with Children, light mockery was made at Ainge's expense: At a fictional All-Star basketball game attended by the Bundy family, the public announcer said Welcome to the game of the NBA stars and Danny Ainge!
Ainge, a second baseman with the Blue Jays, hit .220 in his baseball career, with 2 home runs. As a basketball player, on January 18, 1994 he became the second man ever to hit 900 three-point shots in NBA history (he made 1,002 three pointers for his career), and he scored 11,964 points for an average of 11.5 points per game, 2,768 rebounds for an average of 2.7, and 4,199 assists, a total of four per game.

Personal life

Ainge and his wife, Michelle, currently make Wellesley, Massachusetts their home; they have six children. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His son, Austin, currently plays basketball at BYU and was an Honorable Mention at the All-Mountain West Conference during the 2004-05 season. His nephew, Erik Ainge, is a rising athletic star as well. He is expected to start as quarterback on the football team at the University of Tennessee as a junior after splitting time last year.

Statistics

Baseball

YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS 1979 BlueJays 20 87 308 26 73 7 1 2 0.65 19 12 58 1 0 .237 .286 .269 .554 1980 BlueJays 21 38 111 11 27 6 1 0 0.00 4 2 29 3 0 .243 .315 .263 .578 1981 BlueJays 22 86 246 20 46 6 2 0 0.00 14 23 41 8 5 .187 .228 .258 .486 TOTALS 211 665 57 146 19 4 2 0.30 37 37 128 12 5 .220 .269 .264 .533 LG AVERAGE 700 91 185 31 5 17 2.37 86 66 94 13 8 .264 .393 .329 .722 POS AVERAGE 698 92 184 29 6 13 1.80 77 65 86 19 9 .264 .377 .327 .704

YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS 1979 BlueJays 23 -23 -20 .214 2.46 88 10 .049 .091 .293 1 2 7 2 8 252 331 2B 1980 BlueJays 9 -6 -6 .280 2.76 35 7 .072 .117 .333 0 1 1 0 3 88 115 CF 1981 BlueJays 15 -21 -22 .162 1.88 56 8 .041 .146 .288 1 1 4 1 5 215 275 3B TOTALS 47 -50 -48 .204 2.29 179 25 .050 .116 .298 2 4 12 3 16 555 721 LG AVERAGE 91 0 0 .500 4.42 275 52 .129 .232 .430 5 4 8 7 17 555 786 POS AVERAGE 88 -3 0 .480 4.30 263 48 .113 .221 .423 5 3 11 7 14 555 784