Priorities different for Celts

The only people logging more flight time than playoff teams now are personnel directors such as the Celtics’ Austin Ainge.

Ainge and Celts scouting director Dave Lewin were in California last week, attending agent-sponsored workouts for draft candidates. Yesterday, Ainge was on his way home from the NBA Global Camp in Treviso, Italy.

For the first time since 2015, when the Celtics took Terry Rozier with the 16th pick, the team is drafting out of the lottery. Indeed, with this year’s 27th pick, they are drafting out of the lowest position since 2008 when the newly minted NBA champs took J.R. Giddens with the 30th pick.

So much for the Brooklyn gravy train.

The Celtics are back to drafting from a position relative to their success, and that means selecting a player from a broader range of candidates. The process of dealing with players and agents, and setting up workouts, changes when you’re no longer picking in the top five or six.

“Fewer phone calls,” said Ainge. “Not as much back and forth negotiating for players to come in.”

At least the Celtics won’t have to fret when a high-profiled candidate like Josh Jackson refuses to come in for a workout, an annoyance at the time it happened last year, and certainly a waste of air fare when Jackson blew off a Celtics delegation that flew to Sacramento, Calif., to meet him.

Not that the Celts, with Jayson Tatum on board, are complaining.

Their young players are now playoff-tested, including last year’s surprising second-round pick, Semi Ojeleye, which doesn’t leave much room for the kind of player who will be available at No. 27.

But as to any change in approach due to their draft position, Ainge said, “it doesn’t change as much as you’d think.”

The pool of players under consideration is naturally larger, and at this point the Celtics whittled their list of candidates down to about 10 players. Finding the best player available under these circumstances can be a challenge.

“That’s hard,” said Ainge. “It’s a little easier when you rank the best available in each position, but we can use depth at all positions over the next couple of years.”

Celtics notes

The Celtics pulled off a major international coup last season when they signed Daniel Theis as a rookie free agent. The German power forward didn’t simply make the roster, he became an important part of the rotation.

Finding an international gem this year — there were approximately 40 players in Treviso — may be a bit tougher.

“Not as deep as in past years,” Ainge said of the international pool . . . .

Though rumors persist that the Celtics are interested in trading up into the top five for a chance at Texas center Mohamed Bamba, a league source recently told the Herald, “Don’t waste your time chasing that thing.”

According to the source, the Celtics have not — at least not yet — looked into the possibility of moving up into the draft lottery.