PORTLAND — The Boston Celtics have always been the Maine Red Claws’ first choice as an NBA affiliate. Now they’re the only choice.
The Celtics and Red Claws announced Thursday that they have entered into a single-affiliation agreement beginning with the 2012-13 NBA Development League season. The Red Claws had previously also been affiliated with the Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia 76ers.
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Under the three-year agreement, the Celtics will have full control over the Red Claws’ basketball operations. That would include hiring a head coach, filling the roster and all basketball-related expenses. The cost is around $220,000 per year, according to team officials.
The team will remain under its current ownership group, which will continue to run all business aspects of the organization out of Portland.
“In our three years we have had outstanding support from our fans,” said Bill Ryan, Jr., the chairman and president of the Red Claws. “And a huge part of that support stems from our relationship with the Boston Celtics. Obviously Maine is a huge Celtics stronghold and it’s always been extremely important to us to have an affiliation with the Celtics.
“I’m extremely excited about our enhanced partnership with the Celtics.”
The Red Claws, despite not making the playoffs in any of their three seasons, are among the D-League’s model franchises, selling out nearly every game over three seasons and being among the league leaders in merchandise sales.
The announcement came just five days after Dave Leitao left after one year as the team’s head coach and Jon Jennings, the man primarily responsible for bringing the team here, stepped down as general manager and president.
Jennings had been responsible for filling the team’s roster in each of the team’s three seasons — a role he would not continue in the new arrangement. Leitao was Jenning’s choice as head coach last year.
Ryan was joined at the press conference by Danny Ainge, the president of the Celtics, and Dan Reed, the president of the D-League.
Reed noted that the single-affiliations — also known as “hybrid affiliations” in which the NBA team runs the basketball operations and the D-League team runs the business side — have increased this year.
There are four other “hybrid affiliations” — Houston Rockets (with the Rio Grande Valley), Brooklyn Nets (Springfield), New York Knicks (Erie) and Portland Trail Blazers (Idaho). Six other NBA teams have single affiliations with D-League clubs.
“This partnership is indicative of an accelerating trend in the NBA Development League,” Reed said. “This trend has been extraordinarily positive, not only for the teams involved but the league as a whole.”
He called the Celtics-Red Claws deal “a natural evolution in what has already been a strong partnership between two strong organizations.”
Ainge said the search for a new coach — Leitao left to return to the college level as an assistant at Missouri — will likely begin later this summer.
“I do have some initial ideas,” Ainge said. “But I can’t share that right now.”
Ainge added that the Red Claws would not have a general manager in name, but that all basketball decisions will be made by the Celtics’ front office, including Danny Ainge, Austin Ainge (his son, the former Red Claws’ coach and current Director of Player Personnel for the Celtics), Ryan McDonough (Boston’s assistant general manager) and Mike Zarren (Boston’s assistant general manager and team counsel).
The Red Claws will run the Celtics’ offensive and defensive systems, making it easier to move players up and down. While the Celtics didn’t send any players to the Red Claws last year — Ainge said the shortened season and injuries at the NBA level prevented it — this new agreement will make player movement easier for both clubs.
“I think that this opportunity creates a better chance for us to develop a better relationship,” said Ainge. “I think it’s better to have our own coach who will be a member of our staff who will be on the same page as our coach, Doc Rivers, and his staff … with the same goal in mind, to develop players without having to share the affiliation with other teams.”
NBA and D-League rules will allow up to three first-, second-, or third-year NBA players to be on the Red Claws roster — as well as any veteran who agrees to come down while on injury rehabilitation. The Celtics will fill the roster through the D-League draft and free agents.
Ainge said this new agreement was something the Celtics have wanted to do for awhile but couldn’t because of priorities at the NBA level.
“We weren’t ready to take on everything,” he said. “I think we’re ready now. Our team’s in a little different place right now. Our focus has always been on development, but I think it will just be increased a little more.”
The Red Claws sold out every home game their first two seasons and nearly averaged a sell-out each game last winter. They were recently honored with five of the league’s six annual business awards.
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