Sports Radio Interviews

Danny Ainge: “In the media there are people who are more concerned with breaking news then they are with writing truth and writing real history.”

Danny Ainge is considered to be one of the best general managers in the NBA. He has a keen eye for talent and does a great job drafting players and developing them. He is also known for signing big-time players and isn’t afraid to make a trade. He traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen a few seasons ago and he is now answering questions about trade rumors that recently surfaced. The so-called trade involves three teams and would send Tony Allen, Brian Scalabrine, and disgruntled Sacramento forward Kenny Thomas (otherwise known as cap space guy) to Philadelphia, J.R. Giddens and Philadelphia’s Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento, and tenacious Andres Nocioni to Boston. Ainge has denied there is anything going on and proceeded to blast the media.

Danny Ainge joined WEEI in Boston to talk about the rumor of a three-team deal, whether the media is making this stuff up, whether it’s possible that an agent with a media person would have their own reason for doing this, and the internet and how it has changed the rumor mill.

About the rumor of a three-team deal:

“We have nothing going on.”

Whether the media making this stuff up:

“In the media there are people who are more concerned with breaking news then they are with writing truth and writing real history.  It’s the competition of who breaks the story first, and I have a feeling there’s people with motives that are trying to get their player traded from another team.  That’s why this story gets out.”

Whether there are any conversations with any of these teams:

“No.” 

Whether it’s possible that an agent with a media person would have their own reason for doing this:

“I think that happens a lot.  There’s some person who will call some person in the business to get their input.  That input spreads from person to person to the next thing you know a story comes out and there’s no validity to it.  There’s so much of that that goes on.  I spend so much of my time talking to reporters that are calling to see if this stuff is true.”

Whether he has to deal with the agents and players on the other side when something like this comes out:

“That’s the easier part.  Players get it.  They understand the business.  I’ve been very honest with my players.  I’ll answer any question they have to see if there’s any validity to any of the rumors.  It’s not just our team.  There are things that I read almost daily that I know for a fact aren’t true.”

Whether there is more of this stuff made up in the media than before:

“There’s always been competition in the media.  First of all there’s much more access to smaller media then just the big newspaper media and ESPN.  There’s people trying to make names for themselves and then there’s so many people, you can talk to anyone and they’re a source.  It could be a secretary working for the organization. It could be anybody.”

On the Internet and how it has changed the rumor mill:

“There’s time when an agent or a team will call and say here’s a trade or something we’d like to do and I may be very polite and say [no.].  The next thing I know there’s been trade discussions.  It’s unbelievable what happens.  I guess there’s a lot of interest in trades and that seems to be a real focus of conversation.  Maybe it’s the Fantasy League part of it.”

Danny Ainge on WEEI in Boston on the Big Show

Tags: Ainge blasts the media after recent trade rumors, Boston Celtics, Celtics trade rumors, Danny Ainge, Kevin Garnett, KG, NBA, NBA Eastern Conference, Ray Allen