Celtics Owner Details Why he Threatened to 'Strangle' Danny Ainge

Wyc Grousbeck wouldn't allow Utah Jazz executive Danny Ainge to recruit two coaching assistants.

Utah Jazz executive Danny Ainge has earned the nickname 'Trader Danny' but there's at least one NBA team that might know him as 'Thiever Danny.' In all seriousness, Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck was fit to be tied when Ainge tried to pilfer his coaching staff. 

Ainge, a former Boston executive, hired Will Hardy away from the Celtics to serve as Utah's successor to Quin Snyder. Armed with a new head coach, Ainge went back to the Boston well for more, only to be threatened by Grousbeck. 

In an appearance on The Greg Hill Show, Grousbeck revealed candidly how Ainge also tried to recruit Celtics assistant Joe Mazzulla, who's since been tapped to serve as Boston's interim head coach in the wake of Ime Udoka's season-long suspension. 

“I prevented Danny from stealing him this summer, because I told Danny I’d fly to Utah and, like, personally strangle him if he did. You can quote that. You can take one person, an assistant, and make them a head coach, and they did with Will Hardy. And then they also wanted Mazzulla, and I was like, ‘That’s it, you’re crossing the line, and we’re not having it.’ And that was just when Joe was senior assistant with us, and now all of a sudden he’s interim head coach.”

Turnabout is fair play. And in the end, Ainge backed off. 

The Jazz are thrilled to have Hardy as head coach. Hardy is only 34 years old and a first-time head coach to boot, so the Jazz surrounded him with a solid assistant staff made up of long-time Utah coach Alex Jensen, Brian Bailey, and Lamar Skeeter. 

If the Jazz are tanking this season, as all signs indicate, it's the perfect incubator for Hardy. He can go through the trial-and-error learning curve with minimal stakes, and maybe come out the other side as a really good head coach. His reputation as a young NBA coach is stellar. 

Who knows? Maybe Hardy will outkick his coverage and coach the Jazz into 2022-23 relevancy, which would spoil Ainge and GM Justin Zanik's plans. We'll see. 

The Jazz tip off the regular season Wednesday night vs. the Denver Nuggets. 

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Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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