BOSTON — We’ve gotten a sense of the Celtics’ offseason strategy through reports about who they will or won’t include in a potential trade for San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard.
But why not hear directly from the man who would pull the trigger?
While declining to get into specifics, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge seemed to corroborate reports that Boston is taking a conservative approach to any blockbuster trades.
“We explore every trade of players of a certain magnitude — superstar, first-ballot Hall of Fame-type of players, we’re going to take a look and kick the tires and see if there’s something there. That’s all,” Ainge said Friday following an introductory press conference for rookie Robert Williams at the Auerbach Center in Boston.
“But I think those things are unlikely.”
What about signing a player from this year’s free agent class, which reportedly includes LeBron James? Don’t expect a major splash there, either, Ainge says.
“First of all, we don’t have the cap space (to sign a high-profile free agent),” Ainge said. “And second of all, we don’t really have a need. We have really good players. So, we need to surround them with role players with the rest of our roster to have a chance to win.”
Barring a blockbuster trade, Boston will return Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving to a young, uber-talented club that simply could do some minor housekeeping this summer and contend for an NBA title.
“I feel great that we have a lot of players that people like and want,” Ainge said. “And that’s the reason we like our guys, too, is we have a lot of talent on our team. I’m excited about our team going forward.”
Don’t expect Ainge to sit completely on the sidelines, though.
“There’s things I’d like to add, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
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Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
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