Austin Ainge on Carsen Edwards, Romeo Langford and how Celtics stack up in East

This is the second half of an exclusive interview with Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge. You can check out the first half of the interview by clicking here.

Q: Carsen Edwards really looked like someone who can get his shot off in a variety of different ways in summer league. I know it's not NBA level competition, but how eager are you to see what Brad has in mind for him?

Ainge: Carsen is just something man. He's got a flamethrower. He can run around, off the dribble, off the catch, from 30 feet, from 15 feet and everywhere in-between. He's just a beautiful, deadly shooter with confidence and energy and great physical conditioning. He can just keep moving and is a nightmare to deal with. We're excited to have him and he's a really good, fun personality too.

Q: Summer League head coach Scott Morrison spoke a lot about Carsen's ability to disrupt defenses with his ball pressure? How much more will we see of that this season with him in a more secondary role off the bench?

Ainge: That's kind of the strategy we often employ with smaller guards. Get up into people earlier and use your strengths, your speed and quickness. For Carsen, his strength is to get up into people earlier and make them work. The closer you get to the basket, the less advantage you are at when you are small, just out of principle. We did that with Tremont as well. He was doing that a lot and getting into guys' bodies.

Q: Were you sweating to see if he was going to fall to No. 33 or did you guys have a good sense that you might be able to snag him after you traded down, based on the depth chart of other teams and intel?

Ainge: It's always a sweat to the end. You never really know. You can't tell what teams are going to do. We were thrilled that Carsen was there and we were considering very strongly with other picks as well. We were glad it worked out there. He had a great Summer League and he was working hard this summer, so hopefully, he can keep going up and up.

Q: What's the latest with Romeo Langford? How is he progressing with his thumb rehab?

Ainge: He's been in Boston around our training staff, getting his hands stronger and stronger. He continues to do a lot of on-court skill work. Still, not quite 100 percent live, but he's getting a lot of work in and trying to get ready.

Q: There has been a lot of buzz about your other draft picks but Langford is still your top pick at No. 14. Is he going to surprise people in preseason with his overall skillset, especially his touch around the basket when he gets healthy? Or will it be a long road for him due to the talent on the wing?

Ainge: Romeo has a lot of talent. He's working really hard. With all young players, you never really know when it's going to click. Whether it's in training camp, the start of the season, middle of the season or next season, like, it's all these young guys. Not just Romeo, all of them. You never really know when the opportunity is going to intersect with their development. I believe in Romeo's future. He's going to get there and he's working really hard to achieve it.

Q: How eager are you now after seeing summer league and going through free agency to see these guys compete against each other in training camp and what Brad does with this group? It feels like a lot of spots are up for grabs.

Ainge: I almost don't view it as a competition. We're all pulling in the same direction trying to figure out how to make it work. It's not always about who outplays who, it's often about who fits better with who and I would anticipate mixing and matching and experimentation as we all try to figure each other out here early in the season. I believe in the talent and competitiveness of the group. We just have to figure out how it all fits.

Q: Do you guys feel good about this group heading into the season? I'm sure you guys are always looking at trades, but how do you assess this group's ability to compete in the East with all the new looking teams across the conference?

Ainge: Obviously, we'll see. We've got so many new pieces and huge changes all over the team. We have some core guys back, obviously Jayson, Jaylen, Gordon and Marcus are a huge part of our team. There is a lot of new stuff around. We'll see. A big part of my job is picking these guys so these are guys I like (laughs). We'll see how it works but I sure hope so. The one thing I do believe in is their competitive nature. I think we will fight and scrap and see how it goes.

Q: Nice to see Jaylen, Jayson, Kemba and Marcus get the invites to Team USA training camp? A lot of other guys are pulling out for various reasons but from an organization standpoint, you excited to see them build some early chemistry?

Ainge: Absolutely. I'm excited that they are getting to compete with great players in a competitive environment. It's probably a lot better than the pickup games that they've been playing in around the country. I'm excited that they've been invited to Team USA. It's a great honor to them and their talent and hard work. I'm also excited to see Daniel and Vincent play for their teams. It's great. I think it will help them ramp into the regular season in great shape and great rhythm.

Q: Do you get the sense that a lot of the remaining core is working out this summer with a chip on their shoulder given how last season ended?

Ainge: I don't know specifically about that. I just know they are working really hard. They are eager to show what they can do and show the things they've been working on all summer. Team USA will be a good chance.

Author's Note: Ainge could not comment on Tacko Fall since his signing was not official at the time of the interview.