Danny Ainge held his season-ending wrap-up interview this morning and he touched on a few things of general interest…
While he did say he likes all the players on this roster, including the impending free agents, he said the draft, outside free agency, and trades will determine who ultimately stays and goes. But he did say “emphatically” that the Celtics will extend the qualifying offer to Jae Crowder. That will give the Celtics the right to match offers made by other teams. It’s pretty clear the Celtics intend on keeping Crowder, and it will probably take an absurd offer to lure him away. Maybe someone will make one of those offers, but I doubt it. Expect Crowder to return.
He also touched on Isaiah Thomas’ role with the team, making it pretty clear that he really likes Thomas in the 6th man role. That’s going to take some level of smoothing with Thomas, who has said he wants to be a starter. Ainge says he feels like the team is maximizing Thomas’ production by playing him 28-30 minutes because (a) he expends a ton of energy to score, so adding minutes to his game might not mean more production. In fact, it might hurt him. And (b) his size is a problem defensively and the team does need to do things to cover for him.
Part of the sell for Thomas is that he might become a bigger star as a 6th man than as a starter. Jamal Crawford is a good example of a guy who got a lot of notoriety because his production came off the bench. Thomas needs to be sold on this role.. and if anyone can do it, it’s Ainge and Brad Stevens.
Another major note Ainge touched on was Jared Sullinger’s weight. The simple message was this: The Celtics have provided Sully with the resources to make changes to his lifestyle. Sullinger seems to really want to make those changes. But he’s a grown man, and the team can’t watch him all the time. Ainge things Sullinger has a bright future, but he added, bluntly, that Sully is hurting his longevity by not being in top condition.
Other quick hitting points:
- Free agency is a crap shoot. They’re going to pursue everyone they can to improve the team, and it’s really up to each individual player to figure out if Boston fits with what they want.
- Because of how unpredictable free agency is, the draft will be conducted with the assumption that no FA’s are coming and they’ll draft the best players they can, rather than just try to fill certain needs.
- Brad Stevens is freakin’ awesome, but he’s not the only reason anyone would come here. Still… Brad’s awesome.
- He feels bad for Kevin Love, but there’s no way Kelly Olynyk intended to hurt him. It was just a foul and it resulted in an unfortunate injury.
- Ainge likes Jonas Jerebko. He’ll try to retain his services, but he doesn’t know who’ll offer what.
- Marcus Smart and James Young are definites for Summer League. Kelly Olynyk has obligations with the Canadian National Team… so he’s just going to focus on that.
That’s it. Nothing monumental, but some interesting points.
Now…….. we sit and wait a little bit as the NBA playoffs drag on.
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