DANNY_AINGE_PRESSER.jpg

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge faces reporters during a news conference in Boston, Monday, July 1, 2013.

(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

During a video stream Monday afternoon for Boston Celtics season ticket holders, team president of basketball operations Danny Ainge shared some insight into how he might rebuild the roster and once again repeated his belief that the upcoming NBA Draft has been overrated.

CelticsBlog's Kevin O'Connor transcribed interesting portions of the chat, which apparently also included head coach Brad Stevens and team president Rich Gotham.

I discuss a couple select topics below: the overrated draft and the importance of flexibility.

Ainge still downplaying the draft

Hype has swirled around the draft – especially with regards to Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid – but on several occasions, Ainge has said no transcendent players will be selected this summer. This time, he said “the experts on ESPN and so forth are blowing this draft out of proportion” and “there aren’t any game changers in the draft.”

Ainge doesn’t mean the Celtics hate every projected lottery pick. They reportedly have an affinity for Arizona’s Aaron Gordon, and I’m sure they are intrigued by the talents of the aforementioned trio. But Ainge believes that the next LeBron James or Kevin Durant will not come from this year’s draft.

“There are a lot of nice players and players that we'll be excited to work into the development,” said Ainge, whose team currently owns two first-round picks, “but they're not going to come in and turn our team around in one year or two years. But hopefully we'll be able to get a couple of players this year that will be rotation players in the NBA for years to come.”

I can hear the fans screaming – Rotation players? Ahh I want a perennial All-Star, at least!

Flexibility major

As he has done before, Ainge continued to suggest that he could target this summer for a blockbuster move or two.

“We do (have cap space), not just by signing free agents into cap space this summer, but through sign-and-trades,” he said. “We have a lot of flexibility for sign-and-trade potential. Next summer we will have cap space, unless we use it on a bigger deal this summer.”

A couple of thoughts:

1) Flexibility is critical. I don’t know if Ainge has any specific star in mind that he plans to chase this summer, but he’s built the Celtics roster to maximize opportunities. If anybody worthwhile hits the market, Ainge will be waiting there, jumping up and down, flashing a neon light, screaming at the top of his lungs, wearing a statue of liberty suit, and waving an intriguing combination of draft picks and/or young talent. The Celtics also have four nonguaranteed deals which could come in handy for trading purposes – Keith Bogans might be worth something to the franchise after all! – and a $10.3 million trade exception from the Nets deal.

And if all that fails to land a star, the Celtics will have the option to keep cap space for the summer of 2015, which should feature a stacked class of free agents. I know, no top-tier free agent has ever picked Boston. But cap space, even if it amounted in zero franchise-altering signings, would increase Ainge's roster options and flexibility – and I've already shared my thoughts on that.

“I think an important part of our calculus has been looking at whether it's the ‘13-14 summer or the ‘14-15 summer, do we have flexibility to react to opportunities that might present themselves?” Gotham said. “I think that's a big part of what we've tried to accomplish, whether that goes to a free agent or a trade. It's terribly important.”

2) Also terribly important: being anxious to swing for the fences, but not so eager that you pick out the wrong pitch. Ainge’s best strength has been the ability to stay away from any franchise-crippling moves. He’s made mistakes, as any GM does, but never one that would fall anywhere close to the “sign Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to monster deals on the same day” category. Ainge is stockpiling assets now and would surely like to add another star as quickly as possible, but he should also exercise patience to find the right deal. And I assume he will, because that’s what he’s done in the past.

3) Could Ainge trade one or both of Boston’s picks this summer? Even though he's probably driving down the value of said picks with his comments, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he does.

Remember 2007, when he sent the No. 5 pick (Jeff Green) to Seattle as part of a package for Ray Allen, and then later acquired Kevin Garnett from the Timberwolves. That year, the two big draft prizes were Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Obviously things haven’t worked out for Oden, but at the time both he and Durant seemed like sure stars in the making. To my knowledge Ainge hasn’t said which player he preferred back then, but he has noted he might have traded the Celtics’ pick that season even if it had landed in the top two.

I can't find the 2009 article by Sam Amick, which quoted Ainge on the topic, but CelticsHub has an excerpt:

Even if the Celtics pick falls into the top three, would it be crazy for Ainge to trade it in a package for a star? Absolutely not. Would it be nuts for him to keep said pick? Same answer. Does he know yet what he would do? I doubt it.

But especially if the lottery goes well, the Celtics could have several attractive options. And those are what Ainge wants.