BOSTON — A Celtics summer of drastic change began in June when the Utah Jazz hired away Austin Ainge from Boston to become their new team president of basketball operations.
Ainge spent 12 years in Boston before reuniting with father and Jazz basketball CEO Danny Ainge four years after he stepped down in Boston. The younger Ainge is still putting his fingerprints on an inexperienced Jazz roster just a few months into his tenure but he’s already rebuilding a strong connection with Jazz coach Will Hardy.
Ainge and Hardy spent one year together in Boston with neighboring offices when Hardy was an assistant under Ime Udoka for the 2021-22 season. This time around, the duo finds themselves in more prominent roles as they become neighbors again.
“Now, our offices are next to each other, and we’re having different conversations than we used to have,” Hardy said before the Jazz faced the Celtics Monday night.
Hardy has already signed a contract extension with Utah that keeps him under contract through the 2031 season as the team undergoes a lengthy rebuild. Ainge was brought aboard to help with that challenging process and has already left a strong impression with Hardy.
“He’s incredibly smart, he does the work, he’s a basketball junkie, a great talent evaluator,” Hardy said. “He’s also a great person. He’s very even-keel. He doesn’t get very emotional, and I mean that in a good way. We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together over the last couple of months talking about where we are, where we want to be and that space in between, how we’re going to attack the steps to get where we want to be. But he’s obviously bringing fresh eyes to it, which is helpful.”
Hardy has also been eager to get Ainge’s perspective on the roster’s wealth of young talent from the outside after watching from a contending perspective in Boston.
“It’s about understanding what he thought of our team from the outside and what the viewpoint brings to our future,” Hardy said. “I’ve tried just like everybody to help him with some contextual things on people who have been on the team or the staff for a while, and just kind of understand what’s happened over the last couple of years. But so far it’s been an awesome partnership.”
Ainge, 43, joined the Celtics in 2009 as a coach for the Maine Red Claws in the G-League. He moved into the front office two years later and served as an assistant general manager for the last six seasons, helping Boston reach the postseason in 17 of their last 18 seasons.
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