Danny Ainge Says the Brooklyn Nets Wanted a ‘Dream Team’ at Any Cost

With the Boston Celtics looking to rebuild and move on, GM Danny Ainge jumped at the opportunity to trade Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. Ainge says the Brooklyn Nets, in their desperation to build a “dream team”, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Per the AP and Boston Herald: “It was the first thing Celtics general manager Danny Ainge told Kris Humphries on Monday when the two sat down to talk: ‘We’re not tanking.’ … ‘It’s the first thing he told me, too,’ said Keith Bogans, who came to Boston along with Humphries, Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks and three first-round draft picks in the deal that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets. Boston also sent Jason Terry to Brooklyn and acquired Kris Joseph. […] ‘‘I’m not sure I used that word,’ Ainge said, though both players said he was very specific with his expectations. ‘I think every player wants to know what the rules of the team are. I assured (them) we’re going to try to win every game.’ […] ‘Brooklyn showed a great deal of interest in putting a dream team together … at any cost, it seemed like,’ Ainge said. ‘We felt like, where we were as a team, it was going to be very difficult to be a championship contender (had) we kept Paul and KG. The opportunity presented itself. It’s a situation we needed to do.’ […] ‘Instead of having a farewell tour this year and letting them go by the wayside, to be able to get the young players and draft picks, as hard as it is for some fans, as hard as it is for me to do when I care as much as I do about them, it was the right thing to do for the Celtics organization,’ said Ainge. ‘It just softens the blow that they get to go together and play on a great team.'”