Back on draft night in 2007, about an hour after the Celtics had traded the No. 5 pick, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle for Ray Allen and a second-round pick that would turn later in the evening into Glen Davis, famed broadcaster Sean McDonough, among the revelers at the club’s party, asked me what I thought of the deal.

I told him it didn’t make sense to me as it stood. I believed there had to be another move to come, for all this one did was take a bad team and bring it closer to mediocrity, which is the NBA version of jail.

McDonough, either because his brother Ryan was working in basketball ops for the Celts or because it’s what he truly thought — or maybe both — essentially told me I was stupid. I told him that was beside the point.

We’ll never know how that trade alone would have worked out, because a little more than a month later, the presence of Allen helped make Kevin Garnett more willing to pledge allegiance to the banners that sit above the parquet floor and allowed the Celtics to complete a deal for him with Minnesota.

Sean certainly doesn’t care what I think about the latest Celtics deal, but I’m pretty much of the same mind I was on June 28, 2007. In a maneuver that will become official today, the C’s have sent the No. 1 overall pick to Philadelphia for the No. 3 pick and either the Lakers’ first-rounder next year if it falls in the 2-5 range or the Sacramento pick in 2019, though a source Sunday said that choice may be protected if it’s No. 1 overall.

Without a corollary move, Danny Ainge is punting the can down the road to a value that’s hard to see from this far away. Sure, the view will be different if the Nets and Lakers grant the Celtics the top two picks in the 2018 draft, but it’s doubtful we’ll ever get to that point.

According to league execs, there is no trigger waiting to be pulled that will turn the Celts’ assets into a veteran star, but the talks begun in the past will continue. It’s important to note that when the C’s made the Allen deal in ’07, they had no assurance they would get Garnett, so Ainge, although he insists the Ray Allen move would have been good with or without KG, was making a reach. In fact, the No. 5 pick had been an important part of the Celts’ negotiations with the Timberwolves.

Now Ainge is in a resembling position. The Celtics are far better off than they were coming off a 24-58 season in 2006-07, but, as with Pierce then, they have a leading scorer in need of stars to fill out a constellation. And it would be nice if they could do it before Isaiah Thomas becomes a grandfather.

So no doubt the Celtics are searching the NBA galaxy for a deal — and that’s in addition to the efforts they’ll be making in free agency in a couple of weeks. In the trade department, Jimmy Butler is still an attractive name, but with Paul George letting the Pacers know he’ll opt out next summer and leave, most likely for the Lakers, the C’s might want to take a stronger flyer on bringing him to Boston with the hope that a year in the system can make him want to stay.

Let’s also take a moment here to note that, while the Celts will be looking at ways to deal for most every major name, a preponderance of league sources insist here is no way in the heat of a New Orleans summer (you know, hell) that the Pelicans are giving up Anthony Davis. It doesn’t matter what you offer, the club cannot give up its marquee player in a town where the franchise is still working for more solid footing.

But as relates to what the Celtics have to spend, it’s a bit hard to see much of a difference now than before this trade. In terms of what the Celtics have to either keep or offer, before the deal their prime draft assets were the No. 1 overall pick and the 2018 Nets first-rounder. Now they are the No. 3 choice, the Nets pick and the more nebulous value of the Lakers ’18/Kings ’19 pick.

So there has to be more to this trade with Philly.

There is clearly some shortcoming the Celts see in Markelle Fultz. There has to be. Why? Because of all the players in their fab four, Fultz has a clear and present skill the C’s desperately need: the ability to create one’s own shot and score consistently.

For all the talk of a rim protector who can wipe the glass clean, the Celtics have to find someone who can find the hoop on more than just a catch-and-shoot basis. When plays fall apart or the defense brings extra attention, NBA games, particularly in the playoffs, are won by people who can break down a double team and either score or hit, say, Andre Iguodala for an open jam.

Fultz has shown the ability to score even if the opposing Pac-12 school and its entire student section was geared to stop him. But, to the Celts, he was not a clear enough No. 1 overall pick to take.

The only real negative we’d heard this past season and into the pre-draft process on Fultz — and we heard it from a number of sources — is that he didn’t seem fully engaged at all times. The concern is that if one can’t get properly motivated for thirty-something games, then 82 plus playoffs could truly be an issue.

But Celtics types didn’t see this as a real problem, even going so far as to compare Fultz’ manner to that of Paul Pierce, whose pace was not exactly in the class of famed Warner Bros. actor Tasmanian Devil.

Others around the league later supported the position that it won’t necessarily keep Fultz from fulfilling his potential.

“Engaged?” said one source. “Oh, he definitely had some issues with that. But I wouldn’t compare him to Pierce. Pierce was always a gamer. This kid just doesn’t understand what it takes yet. But he’s a good kid, and I really don’t think that’s going to be a problem. I think he’ll be fine once he gets it.

“He’s just a really young player right now. All these kids are. You really have to do some projecting with these guys. Or guessing may be a better way to put it. You can have an idea, but with people this young, it’s hard to really know.”

It’s really hard to know, as well, the specific nature of the Celtics’ end game after this trade. That’s at least in part because Ainge has no definitive answer available to him.

Therefore, while judgments have to be reserved until it all plays out, we reserve the right to be profoundly wary.