February 1989
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."
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