With Boston losing in straight sets to the Indiana Pacers Celtics GM Danny Ainge could simply have held up a sign which read  `I Told You So', writes Peter May of the Boston Globe.

It was Ainges plan to rebuild the Celtics in a manner which developed the younger players at the expense of taking a few knocks along the way.. and of course landing the lottery for an all-important draft pick.

Then-coach Jim O'Brien, now in charge in Philadelphia, didn't play along and tried to win as many games as possible before resigning mid-season.  O'Brien's decision, according to May, was what Ainge called the biggest distraction of the season, and was something he wasn't responsible for.

"The coaching change? I don't take responsibility for having the coach walk out. I didn't do anything to have him walk out other than I existed. There wasn't a person who existed in my position before. The responsibility is mine for some of the things that happened. But it's still a players' job to play." (O'Brien, when told of the comments, did not want to respond.) Ainge did praise O'Brien as a good coach Ainge wishes had not ended up in Philadelphia. But he said he didn't agree with O'Brien's approach, namely, to win as many games as possible.

"Obie was a coach that I have a great deal of admiration for to this day," Ainge said. "I'm not happy he's going to Philly because I think he's a very good coach. But, I think [O'Brien and his staff] came in with the design to win every single basketball game."

"This has been my big thing all year," he said. "I said from the beginning that you come into training camp and you play regular-season basketball in preparation for the playoffs. You don't try to win every quarter. You don't have to win every game. If you get to the playoffs and you're not prepared, because you're not deep enough, or you're not prepared enough, then this is the kind of thing that happens. You prepare for playoff basketball. If you don't make the playoffs, because you're trying to prepare, then so be it. That was my thing all along. You have to prepare to get there."