Ainge Dealt for Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine

The shoe that every Celtics fan knew had to drop finally did yesterday -- right on the heads of Danny Ainge and Brad Lohaus.

They're gone, traded to the Sacramento Kings for 6-foot-9-inch forward Ed Pinckney and 7-foot center Joe Kleine.

"I thought there was a good chance something was going to happen," said Ainge, who had been a Celtic since the 1981-82 season. "We all knew the team was lacking. They got the big guys they thought they needed. A backup center was the biggest weakness on the team."

The deal was a fait accompli around 4 p.m., but it wasn't officially announced in Boston until Celtics general manager Jan Volk emerged from his office at 8:50, 10 minutes before the trading deadline. "Salary cap details," he explained. "They weren't going to stop anything, but they had to be done. It was a lot of clerical housekeeping."

Volk left the office Wednesday figuring he would not be able to do business with the Kings, with whom he had been holding major discussions since the All-Star Game. "But something happened last night," Volk said. "We were able to get it going again this morning."

In all likelihood, that "something" was the collapse of a proposed deal between the Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers. Sacramento had interest in Benoit Benjamin, and among the names being bandied about by the Kings were those of Kleine and Pinckney.

"We think these players will fill the need we have identified right now," said Volk, "and that is more big people."

Ainge has been primary trade bait for some time. As for the 24-year-old Lohaus, the 7-footer had officially been labeled a "major disappointment" this week by Volk. The second-year man, projected as a possible starter prior to the season, had instead floundered, averaging 5.7 points in 15 minutes per game. He frequently seemed lost on the floor.

Kleine, 27, is expected to provide the overworked Robert Parish with the support he needs. The burly Arkansas product has been a frequent starter during his 3 1/2-year NBA career. He is known as a player who puts in a day's work for a day's pay. Taken by the Kings in 1985 as the sixth pick in the first round, Kleine never developed into the star the Kings hoped he would be.

One thing is certain: Joe Kleine will not forget the date Feb. 23, for he not only changed uniforms yesterday, but he also became a first-time father. His wife, Dana, gave birth to 7-pound 9-ounce Daniel Christopher in Sacramento.

Pinckney, who will turn 26 on March 27, is the type of so-called "lively body" the Celtics were seeking to import into the program when they drafted the ill-fated Len Bias. Pinckney is a runner and a dunker with a career field goal success rate of 55 percent, a figure compiled mainly on inside maneuvering and fast break finishing. If the Celtics truly are serious about becoming an up-tempo team, Pinckney could have a major role.

Ainge had been trade bait for a long time. "Kevin McHale and I talked about it all the time," Ainge said. "We knew if something happened, it would involve one of us."

But it was far less likely to be McHale, because of the inherent problems caused by the indecipherable (to ordinary folk) salary cap. Moreover, it was obvious that coach Jimmy Rodgers was somewhat less enamored of Ainge's game than his immediate predecessor, although Ainge insisted there was no real rift between the two.

"Not at all," Ainge declared.

Not even over Ainge's use of the three-point shot?

"Jimmy never really said anything directly about it," Ainge explained, "other than that he wanted us to move in closer sometimes. We had a somewhat different philosophy, I'll admit. I feel the spacing is important, and I could even drive better from the three-point arc. He didn't necessarily disagree, and he never once criticized me for taking the three-point shot. There was that one well-documented night in Charlotte, but I wasn't the only one he yelled at that night."

"Danny has been a tremendous player for us," said Rodgers, "a real asset to the team. Danny is a great person, and we are sorry to see him go."

As the team's play fluctuated wildly this season in the absence of Larry Bird, pressure mounted on the Celtics to do something in the trade mart. Several NBA sources confirm that the Celtics were actively marketing Ainge. Meanwhile, another source points out that Ainge's representative, Mike Carey, had been sending out feelers in a move to gauge interest in his client.

Turn the clock back a year, and it appeared that Ainge was on his way to being a classic Celtic lifer. Signed in 1981 after a bitter trial with the Toronto Blue Jays ended with the baseball team proving its legal point, Ainge matured into a tough two-way guard whose career peaked in 1988 with his selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star team. He became one of the great exponents of the three-point shot, establishing a league record for successful three-pointers with 148 while scoring a career-high 15.7 points per game.

"I always thought I'd be here my whole career," Ainge said. "I never seriously thought about being traded until this year. But with the needs of the team, and the age, something had to happen.

"My years in Boston were great," he continued. "I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've got two championship rings, which nobody can take away from me. I feel very fortunate to be drafted by the Celtics. I have no bad feelings toward anyone."

Ainge, who has three years remaining on his contract, spoke encouragingly about his move to Sacramento. "I know people won't believe this," he said, "but this could be a positive move for me."

Because all principals must pass physicals before suiting up for their new teams, none are likely to be playing until next week. The Celtics have games against Milwaukee tonight in Hartford and the Knicks in New York Sunday afternoon, while the Kings will face the Lakers in Inglewood, Calif., tonight and the SuperSonics in Seattle tomorrow evening.

Because Volk was sequestered for so long, speculation grew that another deal was forthcoming. But this is it. The Celtics are committed to moving on without Danny Ainge. You think this isn't a transient business? From the 1986 championship team, only four men are left.


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Has anyone gotten used to the idea yet of Danny Ainge in a uniform other than the green and white of the Boston Celtics? Have Sacramento Kings fans, the same ones who booed Ainge so loudly just two nights ago, gotten used to the idea they will now applaud him in their starting backcourt?

Nothing was doing until late yesterday, when the Kings agreed to swap center Joe Kleine and forward Ed Pinckney for Ainge and second-year forward Brad Lohaus. It is a trade that should not send shock waves through the community, despite Ainge's longevity and popularity here.

For starters, the worst-kept secret in basketball was that Boston needed a backup center. Kleine, a burly 7-foot workhorse, is a prototype backup. His work habits are exemplary, he has developed a nice jump hook, he takes up a lot of room in the paint and works hard off the boards. In fact, he was working so hard for the Kings, they recently gave the 26-year-old Arkansas alumnus the starting nod in the pivot over Jim Petersen. Kleine is averaging 6.7 points and 5.1 boards a game. He is also one of the top foul shooters in the league (91.9 percent).

Now, the big redhead should not be mistaken for anything but a top reserve, but that's exactly what the Celtics were looking for. Kevin McHale and Robert Parish can cut down on their minutes, a particularly worrisome problem of late since Parish's chronic elbow problems have flared up.

Pinckney, the slender 6-9 forward who helped Villanova to its dream national championship in 1985, is a little harder to figure. He is obviously talented, yet has not flourished in the NBA. His offensive output has varied from night to night, and he has not improved on his perimeter shooting since he came into the league.

On the upside, Pinckney is only 25 and can run the floor like a racehorse. The sight of Pinckney, Brian Shaw, Reggie Lewis and Parish running the break together conjures up just the kind of images coach Jimmy Rodgers has been trying to create. The kid also has some sweet inside moves, when he has a notion to unleash them.

Now for the most pressing question: Why was Ainge the one to go?

There are a few reasons. No. 1, he and McHale were the most marketable, and the Celtics view No. 32 as too valuable a commodity to give up.

Of all the veterans, Ainge was struggling the most under the new regime of Rodgers. The two differed greatly in their approach to the game, a fact that became public when the two clashed over Ainge's shot selection during a game in Charlotte.

Ainge, a fiery competitor, wasn't thrilled about coming off the bench, and he was adamant about his right to shoot the three-pointer, despite often being discouraged.

In the last couple of weeks, Ainge met with general manager Jan Volk to discuss some of his concerns. As the trading deadline approached, Ainge joked that if he did stay in Boston, "it could be worse."

Doesn't sound like a guy who's dying to stick around, does it? With Brian Shaw coming along at point guard and Reggie Lewis able to fit in at the 2 slot, the Celtics finally determined Ainge could be expendable.

That is the gamble of this whole deal. With Larry Bird still out, and Lewis still logging most of his time at forward, Boston has traded its only true outside shooter. Together the starting backcourt of Shaw and Dennis Johnson are shooting 42.6 percent from the floor.

Ainge was also one of the best athletes on the team and could never be criticized for lack of effort. He was pesky, relentless, knowledgeable and emotional. He will be missed.

As for Lohaus, his demise was the biggest disappointment of the season. After a strong rookie season, he gave the Celtics plenty of reason to feel he would be a key contributor. Instead, he was inconsistent at best. He was not a reliable rebounder, had trouble playing with his back to the basket and was a weak link defensively. A 7-foot jump shooter is one thing, but Lohaus couldn't get those shots to fall, either.

In recent weeks, those close to Lohaus could see the frustration growing. He grew tired of McHale riding him in practice. His teammates quietly questioned his toughness when a bruised lower left leg kept him sidelined for three games. Some players maintain that Lohaus missed Bird, who believed in him and was good for his confidence.

Will Lohaus develop in a new environment? Possibly, but Boston cannot be blamed for giving up. The Celtics gave the forward enough chances.

Will Boston miss Ainge's outside shooting? Definitely. How much will depend on the development of their remaining personnel.

Finally, is this a deal that could ultimately take the Celtics back to the top? The answer is the same as it has been for months: not without Larry Bird.

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Since none of this would have been necessary had Larry Bird never been injured, it might not hurt to see what No. 33 has to say about the Celtics trade last night -- Danny Ainge and Brad Lohaus to Sacramento for Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine.

"I knew we were looking for two big guys," said Bird, "but I hate to get rid of Danny. He comes to play every night, and it's hard to find guys like that. And we'll miss his toughness. He goes out after loose balls, and he always scraps. I know he's not having his best year, but some of that is probably due to me not being around."

On Lohaus: "He's got great potential, but I don't think he's doing the right things in order to become a better player. He's got to go out in the summer and play basketball. He's got to be monitored if he's ever going to develop."

On Kleine and Pinckney: "We've got our backup big men. Both will help us. They're each legit."

On his return: "I'm better, but the right heel is still a problem. Once I get the left one loosened up, it's great. The darn right one is getting stronger, but I can't jump or make a sharp cut on it without pain. I'm hoping I can practice with the team the week after next, when we only have the one game home against Chicago, March 8. But I still don't know when I can come back."

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In the morning, he went out for a haircut. Then a few calls to friends in California for information about his sudden need for a house and a school in Sacramento. A trip over to Boston University to ensure that his credits there will be transferred to Brigham Young and a meeting with a realtor here, for the present house must be sold. Details. Sudden details.

Last night Danny Ainge watched a bit of the Celtics game from Hartford against Milwaukee, but not all of it. "I wanted to spend some time with my children," said Ainge, "because last night was my last chance for a while to be with them." Today he is off to Sacramento.

Professional sports are a business, Ainge spoke the traded player's cliche once again, but even if he had been halfway expecting a trade since last summer, "this really hit me emotionally. I wasn't totally surprised to be traded . . . but sometimes you don't realize the depth of the attachments you have made." The attachment flows two ways.

Danny Ainge will be missed. He came to play every game. He played with enthusiasm. He played with verve. Danny Ainge played basketball; seldom was there a sense that basketball was a job.

"I felt I always gave it my best effort," said Ainge, a day after being dealt with Brad Lohaus to the Kings for Joe Kleine and Ed Pinckney. "I feel I'm the type of player who has to give his best to succeed, since I don't have the talent to take an opponent lightly and still succeed. There's a difference between playing hard and playing with a love for the game. I tried to always play with that emotion, that enthusiasm, that love for the game, because I really felt I wouldn't rather be doing anything else than playing basketball."

Ainge came back to the same theme several times. About playing hard, which he said these Celtics are, and about playing with a love for the game, which perhaps these Celtics are not. Could this be a reason the Celtics have fallen further than they should have without Larry Bird?

"First of all, I want to say coach Jimmy Rodgers has done a great job holding the team together," said Ainge. "I also thought that everybody was playing hard and I thought Jimmy has done a great job in seeing that we did. But I just don't sense the same attitude that we had in the past."

The same "attitude"?

"The sense of everybody pulling for everybody else," replied Ainge.

Here Ainge went through a long list of Celtic cheerleaders and reserves from the past, from M.L. Carr to Cedric Maxwell, from Jerry Sichting to Greg Kite and Rick Carlisle and Quinn Buckner and on and on. "There was just a great team spirit that came from these guys, a confidence and an attitude that was there in practice and which came through in the game. Everybody was pulling for everybody else."

Perhaps that attitude comes from winning, and perhaps that attitude is more difficult to come by when there are so many new and young faces on the team, said Ainge. "But everybody used to get along with everybody," he said. "Now the team is split into three or four groups, and I'm not saying players don't get along with each other, but before there was only one group."

Again Ainge came back to the theme that there is a difference between playing hard and playing with a love for playing. "Now the Celtics are giving a great effort," he said, "but the emotion . . . there's a real difference between playing hard and playing with that love for the game. It just doesn't feel the same.

"I don't know . . . maybe that attitude comes from winning and maybe they'll be able to bring it back once Larry comes back. But that camaraderie we used to have . . . it wasn't there."

Ainge always will be a Celtic at heart. Asked how he felt these Celtics would do when and if Bird returns to the lineup, Ainge said, "I can't personally see them winning the championship, but I'll be rooting very hard for them to do it."

He again spoke highly of Rodgers and said too much was made of Ainge's three-point shots or Rodgers' decision to have Ainge come off the bench. "Jimmy and I talked about that before it happened, and I agreed with the decision," said Ainge. "With the lack of scoring production we had off the bench last year, we thought that I'd probably get more quality time this way. And that's the way it worked out. I was scoring more points this year while playing eight minutes a game less."

What he will miss most, said Ainge, are the friendships with the Celtics, "especially with my close friends and Jimmy." And if Ainge spoke so warmly of just being with the Celtics, of just being around Kevin McHale, of how the highlight of his career "was the '86 championship season," his happiest moment came much earlier.

"My greatest memory of them all and the most excited I ever was came the day I signed with the Celtics," said Ainge. "That gave me so much pride . . . to be with the Celtics."

A pride that Danny Ainge never allowed to wane. He played for the Celtics, but he always played as if he loved to play for the Celtics. Which was the truth.

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Say what you want about Danny Ainge, but one thing you can't say is that he didn't hustle.

Ainge is one modern athlete who can look himself in the mirror and say, "I always do my best."

Sometimes the shot falls and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes he makes great passes and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he comes up with a great steal and sometimes he gets burned. But he always puts out, as Larry Bird said Thursday night: "We're going to miss him; Danny comes to play every night."

There's no arguing that somebody had to go in the Celtics' quest for adequate backup frontcourt help. With an aging Dennis Johnson having zero market value, and Kevin McHale being essentially untradeable because of the salary cap (you could import only a player making McHale's Base Year Compensation -- roughly $450,000), that somebody was Ainge. Hence Thursday's deal that sent Ainge and Brad Lohaus to Sacramento for Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine. But never forget Ainge's ability to make the big play or come up with the big game.

Who saved the Celtics' life in the 1984 seventh game against the Lakers? Who picked up the Celtics when they were ready to drown in the face of Michael Jordan's 63-point game in the playoffs? The answer in both cases was Ainge. And there were many other examples.

Danny Ainge was never as popular in this town as he should have been, for reasons I never completely understood. The deal was necessary, but Ainge will be missed.

ON GUARD FOR A SHOOTER

One thing the Celtics' restructuring does is clarify the draft picture. The Celtics have traded away their only reliable outside shooting guard. What else can they be seeking but the best available bombardier? In the meantime, look for Reggie Lewis to get some backcourt time. But don't expect the same results he's been having at forward. Speed is relative. Lewis won't blow by guards the way he has forwards . . . It's not easy being Michael Jordan. He recently attended a March of Dimes dinner at Bears coach Mike Ditka's restaurant in Chicago and found himself so mobbed he had to dine in the kitchen . . . Guess who adorns the current cover of Celtics Pride magazine. Ainge . . . In the Sacramento media guide, Kleine lists his "most memorable game in the pros" as a triumph over the Celtics Feb. 11, 1986 . . . Pinckney has seven siblings -- all sisters . . . It's official. Andrew Toney's paperwork is done, and he's retired. The former Sixers guard will collect the remaining $2.59 million of his contract. For a couple of years in the '80s, Toney was the most unstoppable guard in basketball.

RILEY ANALYZES CELTICS

Lakers coach Pat Riley on the Celtics: "They're playing hard and executing. What they lack is a guy who can create and get funky. At the end of the game, we are simply not going to allow either Kevin or Robert Parish to shoot in critical situations. One other thing. In the end of the game, they no longer get the calls. Larry used to create and get to the line."

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He has always been a chemistry major, feeling the formula for success is having a happy, well-balanced team. To use his word, Red Auerbach has always felt one stiff can easily turn a contender into a pretender. But Auerbach went against that philosophy last week when the Celtics traded Danny Ainge to Sacramento.

"I didn't want to do it, but we had to do it," the club president said. "Our team was so far out of balance that one injury to either Robert Parish or Kevin McHale would have thrown the whole thing out of whack. We would have been gone. We would have had no chance to make the playoffs.

"Listen, for my part, it was tough to do, even though I knew it was the right thing to do for our team. Remember, I drafted Danny. I went to court to fight to get Danny when Ainge was under contract to the Toronto Blue Jays. And I loved the way he hustled for us and all the rest of that stuff. But he was the only one we could use to get what we had to get. Big bodies."

McHale? No one wanted McHale?

"Sure, all kinds of people want Kevin, but he isn't available, as far as I am concerned," said Auerbach. "To me, McHale, Larry Bird and Parish are untouchables. You don't trade guys like that. Did we ever trade a Russell, or a Cousy, or a Heinsohn, or a Ramsey? No. You don't get back full value for those kinds of players.

"There was a lot of talk in the media about trading McHale, but I would never be for it. Someone gives you a couple of first-round draft choices. So? Will they give you in the future what you know Kevin McHale can give you in the future? Nope. Because unless we really got lucky, and we can't count on that, the choices would not be high enough to get a player of McHale's quality. Hell, someday, if he keeps playing the way he has been, you are talking about a Hall of Fame player, and you don't trade those kinds of players."

Auerbach pointed out that Ed Pinckney and Joe Kleine, obtained from Sacramento for Ainge and Brad Lohaus, were both first-round draft choices. "They were young and had big bodies," he said. "Now we would have a chance if either McHale or Parish got hurt. Before, we did not. We had nothing behind them. There was no balance. Now we have someone we can put in there up front if something happens."

Auerbach feels the Celtics' priority in the draft this June will be a guard.

"I think no matter where we finish now, we will get to draft a good player," he said. "If we don't make the playoffs, we will get in the lottery. If we do make the playoffs, it still looks as though we would pick around 12th on the first round.

"In my opinion, there will be 16-18 players coming out this year who can play well enough to help teams in this league. You've only got one or two centers, about six guards, and the rest are forwards. We should have a chance to get an outstanding guard. But if there was a forward there that we thought could be great, we would still take that player if we thought it would help our club most."

Auerbach also indicated that he won't be enthusiastic about Bird's return until he sees a lot more of Bird in practice. "To me, there is no way he can play before another 2 1/2 or 3 weeks, and I am going to monitor the situation closely," he said. "Larry has a tendency to want to rush things. So the way we are going to handle it is this: When Larry says he is 100 percent and ready to go, that will be half of it. Then when I say that I think Larry is 100 percent and ready to go, we will let him give it a try.

"I do not want him to play this year unless he is 100 percent ready. I do not want anything less, and I don't care if it could mean making the playoffs or not. The No. 1 consideration for me with Bird is Bird's future. Not his present."

Auerbach said the vast majority of Celtics fans have been "fine" about the team's slide this season, but he doesn't like to hear some of the grumbling about new coach Jimmy Rodgers and the job his staff has done. "Everything considered, they have done a good job," Auerbach said. "People forget we are playing a new system, with a lot of new people, and without Bird. There is nothing easier to do than to sit back and criticize.

"I think some people around here are a little spoiled by the success we have had over the years. They don't seem to realize that it is not easy to stay at the top. What we do around here is to try to stay competitive, to put together a team that, with a little luck and a lack of injuries, can do well.

"Things go in cycles in sports. We have had ours. The good part for us is that our downs haven't lasted that long in the past and we were able to come back quickly. I like a lot of the things we have done this year. I like some of our young kids. When Larry is completely healthy and ready to play again, then we could surprise some people."

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SACRAMENTO, Calif.

The funny thing about it is that Danny Ainge had just begun to breathe easy again.

For weeks, he had opened newspapers around America and seen his name mentioned as this or that town's newest star. Game after game, city after city, question after question. All about coming. All about going.

"It was a little distracting," Ainge said. "I'd go to Houston and try to visualize myself as a Rocket. I'd go to Denver and try to visualize myself as a Nugget. I'd go to Utah and try to visualize myself as a Jazz."

He did not, however, spend much time visualizing himself as what he has become -- which is royalty of an odd sort. With less than 24 hours left before the trading deadline two weeks ago, Ainge figured he was on safe ground the morning the phone rang to inform him that, after seven-plus years as a Celtic, he was now a Sacramento King.

"I thought I'd survived," Ainge said last week. "With a week to go, I thought there'd be a trade, but two or three days before they did it, I thought it was pretty much a dead deal.

"It's been kind of funny lately. One day I looked around and Greg Kite was gone. Then Fred Roberts was gone. Then Bruce Hurst was gone. All the guys I hung around with. I thought, 'Man, that's pretty strange.'

"And then I was gone."

Danny Ainge was gone along with Brad Lohaus in exchange for Joe Kleine and Ed Pinckney, two badly needed big men, but he was not the only one going.

That is a side of professional sports only people like Michelle Ainge know about, the darker side that comes in the first days after your husband's team has sent you packing, too.

"After I got here, we had four games in five days, so I didn't have any time to look for a house," Ainge said. "Our older three kids are in school, but Michelle had to come out with the baby and look.

"She had delayed flights with bad weather, so it was about 20 hours with the baby before she got here from Boston. She's living at the hotel for two weeks while we try to find something.

"It's really tougher on my family than me. She has to do all the packing and be alone with the kids. She has by far the tougher job, but because she's from California, she's excited about moving. She doesn't have the organizational ties I do.

"I'm from the West, too Eugene, Ore., and all our family is out here, so I feel more comfortable here. But in professional sports, your team is the most important thing. The Boston Celtics could have been in Timbuktu and it would have been great."

Now, of course, only Ainge is in Timbuktu, playing in a 16,000-seat arena named after super octane (Arco), for a team that has won just 17 games, in a town that never had anything but minor league sports franchises until the Kings arrived three years ago. Some residents will even tell you things haven't changed.

But that is not to say there isn't tradition here.

When Ainge walked into Arco, he was relieved to see the Kings had their share of banners. The difference was that the only championship flag said, "ROCHESTER 1951," which was when the Kings were the Royals and Ainge was unborn.

This is what must pass for tradition in a town whose biggest sporting event for years was the annual Pig Bowl football game between the sheriffs and the police. But the hope is that Danny Ainge can change that.

"Everyone knows Danny Ainge," said Kings coach Jerry Reynolds. "They may not like him, but they respect him.

"He takes pressure off Kenny Smith. I think, honestly, Kenny and Danny are among the five best backcourts in the league, and they don't even know each other yet."

Maybe that is so, but Ainge doesn't know about the notion he can be The Franchise, either.

"I've always believed recognition is important for every player, but you get it with winning," Ainge said. "In other places, I could have scored 20 a game, but who cares? To score 20 or 25 a game and shoot three-pointers is not the way I look at it.

"I just plan to go out and play hard every night the way I've done. I may get a few more opportunities here than on a team with Larry Bird, but if a team has to build around Danny Ainge in this league, they're not going to go too far. I'm not the guy, by any means."

Perhaps not, although his career-high 45 points March 4 against Golden State in just his fourth game with the Kings might argue otherwise. Regardless, it is clear he was expected to deliver a message to the youthful Kings, and he began doing it quickly.

On a flight from Phoenix, Ainge noticed a young teammate was missing. He asked about it and learned this was not a rare occurrence. He began to mumble. Soon he was ranting. Then he was raving. This was not the way a TEAM functions.

"You need to stick together as players," Ainge said. "So much bad stuff is written and said when you lose; you have to be loyal to each other. Effort is all you can ask.

"I've been very cautious since I got here about not coming on like Mr. Celtics. I've bitten my tongue in a lot of spots because it's not the time. I just want to do the stuff I've always done in Boston.

"But, yeah, I've noticed some things. I don't know if it comes from losing or what, but guys walk out late to practice or a bus or plane. In Boston, if we had a 10 o'clock practice, everybody was there a half-hour to an hour early. Here I walk in at 10:25 for an 11 o'clock practice and I'm the first guy here.

"In Boston, you played with all types of injuries. Here you don't, and maybe that's right. In Sacramento, they look to the future. In Boston, it's right now."

Yet Ainge had to admit it was changing there, too, in subtle ways . . . and in some not-so-subtle ones like the win and loss columns. There was still talent and nightly effort, but the fire was being banked.

"Too many people on the team are keeping their emotions in this year," Ainge said. "It's not the same feeling on the Celtics. I think it's because of losing. It's not easy to wave that towel over your head when you're losing. It takes something extra.

"When Larry first went out, I thought we had some great talent. I thought we'd still be very good. Now I really don't believe the problems stem just from Larry's absence. Last year in the playoffs, we played terrible basketball. Our depth was in question, and then we lost our best player, and that made things worse. Suddenly, we weren't winning."

So, just as suddenly, there were no more stories to read. Danny Ainge was gone in exchange for depth.

"I got traded because they thought it would help the team," he said. "It was business. I learned this was a business a long time ago."

A cold, hard and sometimes surprising business.

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He is the same insufferable, lovable, excitable, pesky, nasty, wonderful player you always cheered for in Boston Garden. Danny Ainge is no longer part of a tradition steeped in championship banners. Instead, he settles for signs in Sacramento that read, "Hey Boston, Ainge you jealous?"

Who ultimately got the better of the deal that sent Ainge, along with Brad Lohaus (now playing in Minnesota) to the Kings for Joe Kleine and Ed Pinckney? The Kings wanted a veteran leader, a scorer, an inspiration. The Celtics wanted backup help for Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. The trade has been as advertised for both clubs, but neither is much better off than before they made the deal.

Boston now desperately needs a guard the caliber of Ainge. Sacramento yearns for the kind of depth that Kleine and Pinckney provide.

In spite of it all, Ainge has wowed 'em in Sacramento with his unique blend of frankness and humor. In the team press guide, under "After pro ball I hope to:" Ainge responded "Never need a real job." Under random thoughts, he posed this lofty question: "Why are there no gas pumps at ARCO Arena?"

As always, he takes the 3-pointer when he's open and remains outspoken on just about everything. Here are some samplings of his other random thoughts:

On Larry Bird: "Larry at one time was the greatest player in the game. I always felt when I played with Larry he made my job so much easier because he took all the pressure off you. But what he does by taking the pressure off you is also take some of your responsibilities away. In that regard, Larry makes your job easier, but he doesn't make you better on the floor.

"A guy like Magic Johnson looks to get other people involved in the game first. It's just two different ways of leading a team.

"People said Kevin McHale missed Larry last year, and that's what hurt him. What Kevin missed was another forward to pass him the ball. Kevin is a great player no matter who he plays with. If he played with Magic, he'd average 40 points a game. No, that's an exaggeration.

"But the perfect example of all this is Chief Parish. He had the best season of his career when Larry was out."

On Greg Kite, now a Kings teammate: "I tried to get Greg here in training camp. We had Jawann Oldham and Ben Gillery, neither of whom were healthy, and I thought Greg was better than anyone we had.

"His defense in the post has been great. He did a nice job on Akeem Olajuwon. He hurts us a little offensively, but when we go to a smaller lineup we get killed defensively underneath."

When asked if the Kings fans appreciate Kite more than the fans in Boston did, Ainge answered, "I don't think so. When you're losing, they pick on the weaknesses of players, and Greg has some."

On Jerry Reynolds: "Jerry and I get along great, no matter what anyone says. He comes and asks my opinion a lot. We play tennis in the summer. Sure, we've had some disagreements, but that's OK.

"I'm a little disappointed Jerry won't finish the year as coach. This franchise has already gone through a lot of adversity. Changes aren't always for the better. I felt if we were patient we'd be OK with the team we had.

"It was kind of like that last year in Boston. They got a little uneasy with how the team was playing without Larry and they made a change they might not have had to make."