During his weekly appearance on Toucher and Rich, Danny Ainge let us in on the master plan for rebuilding the Celtics:
“In a perfect world I would like to trade picks for proven, quality players. That’s the perfect world,” said Ainge. “But the top five, 10, 15 players in the league, right now, you can’t get them [by trading draft picks], except through the draft. Now listen, there’s been a lot of really good players drafted in the mid-to-late first round in the past, but you have to be very lucky to get them.”
Damnit, Danny. Now every GM in the league is going to try to trade picks for proven quality players.
As for this year’s draft, where the Celtics possess their pick, the Clippers’ pick and conditional picks from Dallas (only if pick falls between 4-14) and Philly (lottery protected):
Ainge: “I think this year’s draft is very comparable to last year’s draft. It’s probably top heavy. It’s a decent draft. Not spectacular.”
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 15, 2015
In other words, don’t get too excited unless we land in the top 3.
Wonderful.
Ainge also said it’s possible that Austin Rivers could end up wearing a Celtics uniform, albeit on a short term basis. I guess the Celtics and Clippers are having a difficult time finding a 3rd team for their rumored deal. The LA Times reports Phoenix could be that 3rd team. Regardless of what players (Jordan Farmar and/or Chris Douglas-Roberts) the Clippers ship to that 3rd team, the Celtics will be netting a 2nd round pick.
