Boston Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge was named NBA Executive of the Year. Ainge is the architect of the team’s NBA record 32-game turnaround from worst team last season to the best team this season.
After missing out on the Greg Oden-Kevin Durant lottery at the NBA Draft and ending up with the 5th pick overall which they traded with a package of players to Seattle for Ray Allen.
Then in mid-summer Ainge pulled the trigger on a deal with his former teammate Kevin McHale trading nearly the entire roster for future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.
Allen and Garnett were paired with team captain Paul Pierce and some other pieces were added and the Green were off and running and never looked back as they went on to a 66-16 record.
Currently the Celtics are locked in a battle with defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland as the teams play for the right to play Detroit for the conference title and a shot at a world championship.
Since the award’s inception at the end of the 1972-73 season, Ainge is the first member of the Celtics to win Executive of the Year.
Ainge received 18 of the possible 47 votes cast, edging out Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, who received 14. New Orleans Hornets general manager Jeff Bower received 12 votes and finished in third.
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