|
|
Danny AingeDaniel Ray Ainge (born March 17, 1959 in Eugene, Oregon) is a former professional basketball and baseball player who starred in the NBA for the Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Portland Trailblazers and Phoenix Suns, and also played Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays. Talented in multiple sports, Ainge starred in high school on a football team that also included another future NBA star, Joe Dumars, 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 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, who had to buy out his contract from the Blue Jays after enduring a legal battle over the rights to Ainge's contract. 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 suggesting that his batting average of .220 was better than his shooting percentage on the basketball courts. 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, whom he helped reach the NBA Finals, only to lose to the Chicago Bulls in six games. He tied a record in this series: On June 5, he scored nine points in overtime to tie the NBA playoffs' all-time record for most points in an overtime during a playoff game. 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 uniform and a new superstar (Charles Barkley) when they signed free agent Ainge before the 1992-1993 NBA season, figuring that his playoff 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. While a player of the Suns, he opened a national chain of hat stores, The Hat Club, over which he still presides. He has worked at a number of charity organizations, and he 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. Ainge has been controversial in his role as a Celtics executive, trading popular players such as Antoine Walker and having personality conflicts with Coach Jim O'Brien that led to the departure of O'Brien to Philadelphia. Walker has since returned to the team. Through it all, the Celtics have not noticeably improved, despite Ainge's stated desire to return the team to championship contention. 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. Also, in an early 1990s episode of Married... with Children, light mockery was made at Ainge's expense: At an 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, he became the second man ever to hit 900 or more three-point shots in the NBA (he made 1,002 three point shots), 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, for a total of 4.0 per game. Ainge currently makes Gilbert, Arizona his off-season home, and he lives with his wife Michelle. He has six children. Ainge's nephew, Erik Ainge, is a rising athletic star as well. The younger Ainge is expected to start at quarterback on the football team at the University of Tennessee as a sophomore. 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 DANNY AINGE LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS 1979 AL WORST RCAA 10TH -23; WORST RCAP T10TH -20 1981 AL WORST RCAA 2ND -21; WORST RCAP T1ST -22 Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny Ainge, Danny
|
 |