Danny Ainge has been here before. Bowing out in the Eastern Conference Finals. Two young superstars in tow. Another crossroads of an offseason. This is a familiar path.
When Ainge first became Boston’s president of basketball operations in 2003, he took over a Celtics roster that had lost a six-game series to the New Jersey Nets and were swept by the same team a year later. The talent pool had been whittled down by a series of impatient deals. Rick Pitino had dealt an underperforming Chauncey Billups in his rookie season for Kenny Anderson.