Austin Ainge opens up on Vincent Poirier, Robert Williams' development and filling the center spot (Part 1)

The Celtics roster went through an extensive makeover this summer, with far more turnover than anyone could have anticipated just one year ago.

One executive at the forefront of locating and luring talent to replenish several open spots on the roster from the collegiate and overseas ranks is Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge. As one of Boston’s top scouts, Ainge has spent a large chunk of the past several seasons not only evaluating college prospects, but also building the C's reach within Europe (Daniel Theis, Shane Larkin, Brad Wanamaker). The team brought aboard four rookies on draft night and will have four other players with international experience (Vincent Poirier, Javonte Green, Theis, Wanamaker) competing when training camp opens up later this month.

BostonSportsJournal.com spoke with Ainge recently for an exclusive interview to get a better sense about how the team views new free agent additions such as Poirier, the development of Robert Williams at 2019 Summer League, how the team plans on mixing and matching at the center spot and much more on a busy Celtics' offseason. This is Part 1 of the two-part interview.

Q: You guys officially brought aboard Vincent Poirier last week? How long have you guys been tracking the French big man and what parts of his game do you expect to translate at the NBA level?

Austin Ainge: We've been scouting him for a few years. In my opinion, when he had the move to Baskonia two years ago, he really improved very rapidly. They did a great job with him in development. He really improved and has become a very good player. This year, we obviously started talking with him and his agent throughout the season and we're excited that he chose to sign with us. As far as his game, he's really big. He's 7-foot-1 in shoes. He's athletic, he rolls really well and he's a presence at the rim. He's a good rebounder so he's a big physical active player.

Q: Did you guys get a chance to scout him live there a bunch of the past year?

Ainge: It's always a mix of live and film. I saw him play, I don't know 14 times live over the last year and a half. I've seen him many more times on film. Our European guy Dennis saw him quite a bit as well.

Q: Vincent has been quoted saying that he was not going to come to the NBA to sit on the bench. How were you guys able to sell him on the opportunity here?

Ainge: They showed interest all along and we started having serious discussions when this season was over and we had him fly out to Boston and meet with us and Coach Stevens. We had him see the city. He got excited and we were able to work out a deal.

Q: You have another international big man returning in Daniel Theis. The injury bug seemed to slow him down a lot last year. How much will a clean slate of health change things for him next season?

Ainge: Daniel has proven he should be able to help us and he knows our system and our coaches know him and how best to use him. We were thrilled to have him back. He's really excited to have a fully healthy offseason to get himself in shape. Obviously, he'll get a good tuneup here with Team Germany in the World Cup.

Q: Looking around the Eastern Conference, there's a lot of imposing frontlines, not just with Philadelphia and Milwaukee, but across the playoff landscape. Given the amount of turnover this year on your frontline, how critical was it for you guys to find a mix of big men to try to fill some big voids?

Ainge: Obviously, it's important. You have to have a full roster and we obviously started out with a lot of very talented perimeter players. Filling out the big positions is big and very important. We have a lot of different types of guys that play those positions. It will be interesting to see how we can put them together and form a big rotation and hand out those minutes with everybody. It's going to be a lot of adjustments and change, but I'm excited to see how Coach Stevens and the players figure out how to make it work best.

Q: Robert Williams will be another one of those options at center this year and he's been around a lot this summer at the practice facility from what I've heard. What has stood out to you with his progress this summer and what is the main priority with him heading into next season?

Ainge: Robert is super talented and he does a lot of things that are special and unique. As with every young player, we're just trying to help him with consistency. If he can play his best more consistently, he's going to be a very good player. We're just trying to develop those habits and help him become a more consistent player, earn minutes and help us out. We're very high on him, not only his long-term future, but this year. He will have a chance to fight for minutes.

Q: Robert's passing at summer league seemed to get a lot of attention. How much is that just getting comfortable in the system more or has that always been a natural talent for him?

Ainge: He's always been kind of good at that. That's what really got us excited about him at the draft. His passing skill is different than a lot of the other really athletic, rim-running bigs. That was the distinguishing skill for us that made him different than a lot of similar body types. His natural vision stood out. Like I said, we'll just continue to work with him on his decisionmaking and consistency on it. Make those reads every time, instead of 75 percent of the time and he has a chance to be a really fun guy to play with for our players.

Part 2 of the interview will be released on Tuesday.