Takeaways from Ainge's remarks on 2018 draft class and team building for next season

Danny Ainge has taken part in several interviews this week in the wake of the Celtics season coming to a dramatic close on Sunday night. We covered some of the bigger takeaways from his comments following exit interviews on Monday here at Boston Sports Journal, but he touched on a number of new topics on Friday in an appearance with Dale and Keefe on WEEI. Here’s a look at a few of his more notable remarks and what we can glean from them.

Ainge on the prospect of there being not enough shots to go around next season with a healthy returning roster: “You need that kind of scoring. Look at Golden State. They have four games who have the ball in their hands all the time, with Klay Thompson, Curry, KD and Draymond Green –– even though Draymond is more of a facilitator, he still has the ball, plays a point-center. The better your team becomes, the more sacrifices guys have to make. So yeah, it’s not going to be perfect every night. There’s going to be some nights where guys get a lot more shots than they get some other nights. But at the same time, it’s a heavy burden having to carry a team offensively every single night. The more you have, the better your team is.”

BSJ Reaction: It’s hard to argue with this perspective, especially in the wake of Boston scoring 78 points against one of the league’s worst defenses at home in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The bigger question that Ainge and Brad Stevens will need to grapple with as he constructs this roster is how to ensure the shots are being distributed to the right players on a nightly basis. A lot of the problems the Celtics have run into offensively have been caused by giving the green lights to nearly every player in the rotation, including inefficient ones like Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris and to a lesser degree, Terry Rozier. All three of those pieces could be playing for their next contracts in 2018-19 (if Smart ends up playing on his qualifying offer) and they are going to want to individually show the world what they can do. There may not be enough room in the rotation to keep all of them happy, but it will be very intriguing to see who gets moved on that front to help ensure that the likes of Hayward, Irving, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are getting the bulk of the shots within the C’s offense.

Danny Ainge on the 2018 NBA Draft: “It’s a good draft. It’s not a special, special draft. But it’s a very good draft. I think it’s got some decent depth. I wouldn't say it’s one of the better ones or one of the worst ones. It’s a normal draft. But we’re excited about who we can potentially add late in the draft.”

BSJ Reaction: We will take a closer look at the prospects in the bottom of the first round in the coming weeks here at BSJ, but there appears to be a stockpile of useful wings and point guards that could be available at No. 27 by glancing at a number of big boards from draft experts. The Celtics could certainly use an upgrade at the bottom of the roster (Abdel Nader) but there is limited room for extra bodies there with 11 players already under contract and Jabari Bird in the mix for a roster spot as well. A draft-and-stash pick could be in play here yet again to help reduce the glut of bodies and give the Celtics more cheap talent to bring aboard when they are paying a big luxury tax bill in a couple seasons. On the flip side, moving a guard like Rozier via trade for future draft compensation would open the door for a depth pick at No. 27 for the backcourt right away. What happens prior to draft night should tell us a lot about what direction the C's are going to go in that front. If they are going to trade a rotation piece, it probably comes beforehand or during the draft itself.

Ainge on Marcus Smart publicly declaring he’s worth more than $14 million: “It doesn’t bother me at all. I know it creates headlines and talk radio buzz, but from my standpoint, I’m not worried. I’m worried about how players are working and how they perform on the court. I don’t pay much attention to what they say. Marcus was responding to a question he was flat out asked.”

BSJ Reaction: Ainge is surely happy to let a tight free agent market do the talking for him on this front. The Celtics hold all of the leverage here and it remains unclear whether Smart will be able to command an offer north of $10 million given the lack of teams with significant money to spend and the limited demand for an upgrade at point guard. The guess here is that Smart and his agent are in for a rude awakening when they can start talking with teams officially on July 1st. Once that happens, it will be up to Ainge to figure out whether he wants to offer enough to convince Smart to sign long-term or let him ride things out with a one-year deal.