People can't have it both ways. They can't say he held on too long, and at the same time criticize him for trading Perkins. He traded Perkins because he was trying to aquire a player he felt would help them as the aging Big 3 moved on. He viewed Jeff Green as one of the peices to pair with Rondo moving forward. Perkins was a free agent at the end of that year and wanted $8-10 million per. I loved Perk as much as the next guy but I'm not sure I sign him for that much money, considering the cap space plan that was in place for this season. With Green they weren't locked into money long term, so they could resign him, trade his rights, or walk away if someone better came along. I didn't like the trade that year, but I understood why Ainge made it. Or at least what his intention was.
This team, and it's fans, knew full well that this was a 3 year plan when those major trades were made. I think we're in year 5 now, so what you see is the price you pay for bringing some aging vets together for a run at a championship. Had we gotten the 2nd pick instead of the 5th pick in that 2007 season, we'd be without a championship, but with a dude named Kevin Durant. Since the balls didn't bounce our way (I smashed my wall when we got the 5th pick, and I'll never forget the look on the deputy commissioners face when he looked at the card), I'd say we did well considering. Ainge did a good job winning a championship. Now we're stuck trying to figure out where we go from here. Suck and hope for a franchise player via a lottery pick, trade whatever u can for mediocre to marginal talent (and end up like the Buck, Portland, Atlanta...), or take our chances this offseason and pray we sign a marquee free agent. Personally, I'd trade whatever I could for assets, see if I can sign a good free agent, and if not, save my caps space with a start over around Rondo.
Watch Adam Silvers eyebrows around the 4:53 mark as he opens the card to announce the 5th pick. As soon as I saw that I screamed
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!! and smashed a hole in my wall. I'll never forget it. I wanted Oden or Durant. Ainge supposedly was talking Durant #1 overall if we got the #1 pick. What a shame that night. Little did we know that our pain that night would be healed by a 17th championship.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ2NUBbti1w