I call a spade a spade. Ainge has done some good things thise season and last. For me to deny that the guy has improved more than I expected under Cuttclife would be dishonest.
But having said that, I think that Ainge has reached the peak of his potential under Cutcliffe. He's not making mistakes that cost us games (LSU 2005 almost). But he isn't making plays to win us games, either. He's just good enough... just good enough to be our best option to win, but not good enough to be a QB that can get us over the top to actually win. He's neither good enough to be a stone cold Tennessee great, but he's not bad enough to have a a consideration about replacing him.
He reminds me of Patrick Ewing in NYC. He was just good enough for the Knicks to say, "where would we be without him?". And on the flip side, just bad enough to say, "where would we be if we traded him and go somebody different?".
The Knicks are still paying for investing so much in Ewing. Hopefully, we can get a fresh coach and have them get Crompton or Coleman coached up enough to where we can actually get over the hump of mediocrity.