Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge joined the Celtics pregame show on NBC Sports Boston on Monday night. With so much focus on the Celtics and what they might do at the trade deadline, Ainge’s gave a little insight into the team’s strategy.
“Our number one need is health," he started, noting that the Celtics haven’t had a full complement of players for much of the season. He then added, “we’re going to look to see if there’s ways to strengthen the end our bench, but I think we like all of our guys.”
He then hinted a willingness to move players at the end of the bench, perhaps consolidating some of them to upgrade and find more immediate help.
“We probably have, I think, too many really young guys,” he said. "We’re going to look around, but we certainly don’t want to make a deal just to make a deal.”
Ainge say that so far, teams seem to be most interested in the draft picks the Celtics own. They have a first round pick from Memphis, which is top-six protected but their surprising start might mean it conveys this year. They also have the Milwaukee Bucks pick and their own.
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens over the next three days. But up until this time, we haven’t had very many teams -- let’s say we’ve had 8 or 10 teams that have reached out that have asked us to do a deal," he said. "I think our draft picks have some interest. I think everybody always has interest in draft picks, especially teams that have just given them all away. So that’s why draft picks are important. They’re important at the trade deadline but they’re also very important at draft time to make deals to improve your team. Not just taking a swing with a young player in the draft, but also in the trade market.”
It’s notable that he added that line about the teams that have traded all their picks away, because the Houston Rockets are among those teams. They traded a haul of picks to Oklahoma City in the trade for Russell Westbrook. They could be looking to recoup some of those in a deal for Clint Capela. Ainge, though, played up how well the Celtics centers have played.
“They’re holding their own against all the centers in the league," he said. "We’re not getting beat at the center position. We’re getting 17, 18 points a night, we’re getting double figure rebounds. We’re just doing it as a team. Grant Williams has given us good minutes at the center position as well on top of those guys... I feel good about our center position.”
The Celtics do, technically, have a way to make a Capela trade work without giving up a rotation piece. A combination of Daniel Theis, Enes Kanter, and Carsen Edwards will work. If they attach picks to the deal, and if Houston can clear some roster space with another move, the Celtics could technically make that happen.
Whether Houston would want that package is a different issue. Nevertheless, pairing Capela with Robert Williams, who was compared to Capela when he was drafted, could be enticing for Boston.
“Coming into the year, both Brad(Stevens) and I thought that Robert’s development was one of the most important parts of our team development," Ainge said. "So this injury has set our organization back a little bit, but hopefully he’s fresh and healthy and will be the player that we think he can be.”