That's what Ainge did when he left the consuming world of coaching to spend more time with his wife, Michelle, and their six children, ages four to 20. There was an Internet report that Ainge's successor, Scott Skiles, had plotted a takeover. There was speculation in Phoenix and Utah that Ainge quit the NBA to coach his son Austin at BYU, where he will be a freshman next fall. A Phoenix TV station received an anonymous phone call in which it was claimed that Ainge left because he was tangled up in a torrid affair with a dancer. Nobody has stronger morals than Danny.
People are just sick.
But then, the NBA's image has been so tarnished lately that it's easy to imagine that intrigue or sleaze played a role in Ainge's choice. One day there's a report that the Knicks were entertained by strippers from Atlanta while the team was attending a minicamp in Charleston, S.C., before the '97 playoffs. They think I'm the whiny guy who complained to the refs all the time. In truth Ainge is a devout Mormon who says he has never taken a drink and who, during his championship years with the Celtics, used to stay at the team hotel reading scriptures while some of his teammates were out looking for action. He tried, both as a player and a coach, to be a positive moral influence.