AINGE FINDS HAPPY PLACE
Disappointed by loss, boss looks forward to full roster
WALTHAM — This Celtic summer is far different than the last. Because of the development of the young players and the absence at the end of bona fide All-Stars, this year’s trip to the Eastern Conference finals looks starkly different from 2017’s — and not just because the Bostonians lasted two games longer.
Because of the fact Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward had to get surgery, one should not expect Danny Ainge to scrub up and perform another major procedure on the Celtics roster.
But when the president of basketball operations spoke yesterday a little more than a dozen hours after the 87-79 Game 7 elimination at the hands of the Cavaliers, his first thoughts were the freshest. And they weren’t entirely pleasant.
“Well, I felt like the team played great this year,” Ainge said. “It was fun. It was a really good group of guys to be around day in and day out.
“You know, it was a very disappointing loss (Sunday). I think that the further you go in the playoffs, the harder it is to lose. And what was interesting about (Sunday)’s game is I felt like it was one of the playoff games we lost that we should have won. And so that’s going to eat at all of us for a while, and hopefully like Brad (Stevens) said that that pain that you feel from losing is part of the growth that we need to take to become a great team.
“I’ve been meeting with the players this morning, and just … it hurts. And I feel, knowing each one of the players, I do think it will propel them. I think that they’re just made that way. We have a really good group of guys.”
It’s a quite different group than that which ended last season, but this time the changes should be minimal. Marcus Smart is a restricted free agent, while Aron Baynes, Shane Larkin and Greg Monroe are unrestricted. The two-way contract guys from this year, Jabari Bird and Kadeem Allen, are free to do as they please.
In descending order, the Smart, Baynes and Larkin talks could get interesting, but Ainge isn’t anticipating significant change.
“I mean, at this time last year, I couldn’t have said that we were going to have 11 new players off the team that just won 53 games and won a playoff round,” said Ainge about a club that actually won two rounds last season. “But you just don’t know what opportunities present themselves — but I like this group of guys, and we’re not looking to make changes other than just small tweaks here and there to our roster. We really do like this core group of guys, and we have all year.”
A question about Irving elicited a laugh from Ainge, whose mind had taken a detour.
“I mean, I get a kick out of the fact that everybody … everywhere I go, people don’t think that we need Kyrie or need Gordon Hayward,” he said. “I have a much longer memory, and I remember how great those guys were and what an effort it took us to get them. I also remember how great they are and how young they are still. So we need Gordon and Kyrie absolutely. If this playoff run and all the series of the playoffs didn’t show that, then I don’t know what does.
“But we were able to win some games, and we were able to fight through some tough battles, but we’re much, much better with Kyrie and Gordon.”
By winning 55 games and getting within a should-have-won of the NBA Finals, a number of players increased their value. Keeping them all will later or much sooner mean having to pay the league’s luxury tax — a decision that is above even Ainge’s pay grade.
“Hopefully we’ll have an expensive roster,” he said. “And I think that we’ve been managing the payroll pretty well up to this point, and we know that there’s some really big, tough decisions going forward.
“We know that in Boston our ownership group has been fantastic, and they’ve been very willing to pay for teams that have a chance. And I think that the way that our team played this year (and) the hope that there is, I think that that will make it easier for them to step forward and realize the potential of this team and be willing to pay the money that we need to to be as good as we can.”
Added Ainge to a follow-up question, “I don’t know what all-in is, but there’s certainly plateaus and there’s ridiculous spending and there’s responsible spending, and that’s what we’re trying to do is be responsible.”
That goes for potential transactions, as well. Presently, the Celtics have the aforementioned free agent decisions and just one pick in the June 21 draft — a first rounder, No. 27 overall.
“I think that we’re always trying to get better, and so when opportunities present themselves, you have to be ready or prepared,” Ainge said. Prepared, also, to do very little. Asked if he is ready to essentially stand pat with this core, Ainge offered a flat, “Yeah. You know, we’re not going to do something unless it makes us better, and there’s no guarantee that those deals are there.”
In other words, if you’re looking for fireworks this summer, you may need look only to the sky, not to the Celts.