Danny Ainge isn’t sure how much longer he has left on his contract as Celtics president of basketball operations.

“I honestly don’t know,” he said after a pause to ponder.

That’s one of the reasons he didn’t take the microphone at Saturday’s open practice at the Garden and say he would be re-signing here if they’d have him back.

“I won’t be doing that,” Ainge said, referencing the famous pronouncement by his now departed All-Star point guard at last year’s event. “No. Won’t be doing that.”

Kyrie Irving’s pending free agent status was a question heading into the 2018-19 season, but the team’s fitness as a contender of the NBA championship was not.

Things are decidedly different with this Celtic version, a group with a far more modest outlook.

“They’re different kinds of questions,” said Ainge. “I think last year’s questions were more based on, you know, how is it going to gel? Like, there was not a question of how much talent we had. This year the question is, are we good enough and can players step up and take advantage of the opportunities that they’re given to become more elite?

“I mean,” he said, “I see good things in all of the guys, but I also see mistakes. But I’m enthusiastic about where they are and their attitude, and they’re togetherness seems to be very good right now.”

That latter quality was certainly in question when it came to the Celtics on the court last year. It was, as Ainge has readily acknowledged, a trying season.

“I don’t really think I learned anything new,” he said Saturday. “I think that there were a lot of things that we hoped wouldn’t happen and that we were worried could happen. But, I mean, I’ve been around the game for 40 years, so I think I’ve seen pretty much everything, and last year was just one of those seasons that…

“We got off to a bad start, made some changes – starting lineup – and we went on a 25-game stretch where we were the No. 1 team in the NBA. And then we hit a bad spell again, and then we turned it around again, and then we started off with five straight playoffs wins, including a tough game against the No. 1 seed in Milwaukee. And then things just went bad again. So it was a hard season in that regard, in that, like, we never really were able to sustain our full potential through longer stretches – although 25 games was a pretty long stretch where we were the No. 1 team in the league.”

Now while other NBA clubs load up on star combinations – LeBron and Anthony Davis with the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George with the Clippers, James Harden and Russell Westbrook with Houston – the Celtics have to hope someone emerges to join Kemba Walker as an All-Star.

As for how the locals can measure up to more celebrated rosters, Ainge said, “I don’t know. I don’t know. We’ll see. I know you guys would like to make the prognostications, which I don’t like to do. I like to wait and see. I’m optimistic. I’m hopeful for guys stepping up and exceeding expectations, instead of making high expectations.

“I think right now there’s been a lot of buzz about Gordon (Hayward) and his comeback, and I’m worried that it’s a getting a little out of hand. You know, I think he’s Gordon. He’s back to being Gordon, and we’re very excited about that. I sometimes worry, like, oh my gosh, that it’s somebody else. But I’m excited about Gordon. I’m excited about Kemba. Jaylen (Brown) and Jayson (Tatum) had really good summers. They’ve looked really good in training camp. Obviously they have great comfort level with the system. And Marcus (Smart). We know who all of those guys are. I think there’s a lot of questions in lots of other places in our roster.”

Such as in the middle, where Al Horford and Aron Baynes are gone, and well-traveled Enes Kanter is expected to lead a group approach.

“Yeah, so most of them are new,” said Ainge. “Daniel (Theis) has the most experience of that group of guys with our group, so I think he’s got a little bit of a head start just mentally and emotionally and understanding what Brad wants. I think that I can see some of the newness of the other guys. I think Robert (Williams) has taken big strides from last year to where he’s at. I think his work this summer, you can see it already, so that’s an advantage for him. But I think those are question marks that we have to… I’m not sure how good it’s all going to fit and work. But I think individually they all can contribute.”

As for how it will all shake out, it seemed Saturday as if Danny Ainge has as many questions as the crew of media types asking them.