Danny Ainge covered a bunch of topics this morning during his weekly appearance on Toucher and Rich. Let’s start with Lonzo Ball’s refusal to work out for the Celtics:
“It’s not ideal,” Ainge joked. “We’ve drafted guys who wouldn’t come in for workouts before. It’s not the end of the world.”
Ainge said players declining a workout with a team isn’t too uncommon. The Celtics’ roster is currently loaded at the guard position, so it appears Ball would prefer to go somewhere where he could make an immediate impact.
“They’re making their priorities. Sometimes they don’t want to come in not because they don’t like you, but they see our roster and would prefer to go to another team,” he said, adding that Ball’s camp did not give a reason for declining the workout.
The Celtics request for a workout is simply a matter of due diligence. I believe they’re planning to draft Markelle Fultz unless some sort of blockbuster (see Davis, Anthony) trade scenario emerges.
Ainge also commented on Jackie MacMullan’s claim that Isaiah Thomas was shopped leading up to last year’s draft:
We had eight draft picks and were trying to consolidate our picks to move up or out of the draft. We were also making plans to go get Kevin Durant and Al Horford, so why in the world would we go there without Isaiah Thomas and try to have our best player traded for a lottery pick? It just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Ainge responded.
While I trust Jackie’s reporting, Ainge’s explanation makes sense. Unless Ainge had plans to parlay two lottery picks for some mystery All-Star caliber player. We’ll never know.
Speaking of Isaiah, Ainge also said they have yet to make a decision about hip surgery.
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