Maybe he's banking on another team's willingness to overpay wildly for a player named Marcus Thornton.
In the days leading up to the 2015 NBA Draft, Danny Ainge, the Celtics' president of basketball operations, publicly voiced his desire to move up. With a treasure trove of assets, including four picks this year and some potentially great future picks from the Brooklyn Nets, many expected the C's to climb into the lottery or deal for a player.
Instead, they took Louisville point guard Terry Rozier 16th, Georgia State shooting guard R.G. Hunter 28th, Louisiana State University power forward Jordan Mickey 33rd and William & Mary guard Marcus Thornton (no, not that Marcus Thornton) 45th.
"We don't have room on the roster for all four guys, most likely," Ainge told reporters after the draft.
Stints overseas and in the D-League are options. But even if the team did have room on the roster, it probably won't have room in the backcourt, with Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart all expected to get regular playing time in the guard spots, and with Evan Turner having played point guard, shooting guard and small forward last season.
That would seem to make a post-draft trade more likely. But after being famously quoted last offseason telling fans to expect "fireworks" around Independence Day, and announcing his intentions before the draft, was it a letdown not to pull one off Thursday?
"Not disappointed. We tried. It just didn't happen," Ainge said. "I did say that we would try to move [but] the price was too high."
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One of the most compelling rumors was that if the Lakers passed on Duke center Jahlil Okafor at No. 2, as they did, many teams would be willing to pay a king's ransom to the 76ers for the third overall pick. The Celtics were said to be at the forefront.
Instead, the pick came and went. For the third consecutive year, the Sixers ended up with a highly-praised big man who was picked between third and sixth, their future front now as crowded as the Celtics' future backcourt.
"People – they get caught up in these rumors, and their expectations grow even higher," said Ainge.
Still, on paper, it would make sense for the C's to go after Okafor, or perhaps Massachusetts native power forward Nerlens Noel, the sixth overall pick two years ago who sat with an injury in 2013–14 and was named to the All-Rookie First Team last season.
Head coach Brad Stevens praised the toughness of Rozier, who worked out twice for the team before the draft. Scouts love Hunter's deadeye shot, and he was not expected to be around at the end of the first round when the Celtics took him. A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet New England called Mickey a "huge steal" at No. 33.
The draft could end up working out for Boston – even if Ainge can't trade this Marcus Thornton with a low first rounder for a player as good as Thomas.
The picks everyone was surprised to see the Celtics use were assets. It would follow that the players the Celtics took are also assets. At this point, we shouldn't be surprised by any move Ainge makes.
The only thing we know right now is that all of these players can't possibly play for this team at the same time – that's enough to realize that some types of trades, which we will also scrutinize to an insane degree, will happen in the future.
