History Shows Danny Ainge Trades His Top Picks
BOSTON (CBS) - Scott Souza of the MetroWest Daily News was a guest of The Adam Jones Show on Thursday night to preview the offseason of the Boston Celtics as well as what is shaping up to be a "fascinating" draft night in the NBA.
During his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich show, Celtics president Danny Ainge revealed nobody on the roster is untouchable in terms of trades, and he also can't stomach the thought of another losing season.
Factor in the owner's comments about there being "fireworks" this summer and this could be a very busy time of year for Ainge, and a very exciting time of year for Celtics fans.
However, Ainge also told T&R that he would need to do the "right deal" and not just one that will blow up fireworks.
Scott Souza says even though he has the "Trader Danny" reputation, Ainge won't do a deal just to do a deal.
"As much as he's made some big moves in the past, like the Kendrick Perkins trade that really shook things up, there's also been times where he's shown restraint. I don't think there's any questions there were times when he was looking for deals with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett that he waited until the right deal was there."
Souza sees the C's going either one of two directions: you either add a big free agent to Rondo or trade Rondo for picks and pieces -- you can't build slowly with Rondo. Luckily for Celtics fans the team has assets, therefore options, so it'll all start to take shape during the lottery on May 20.
However, even though the Celtics currently hold a top 10 pick that doesn't mean they'll draft, keep and develop the player. In fact, history shows otherwise.
"Back in 2006 the Celtics had the seventh pick and they basically traded it for Sebastian Telfair and some salary cap relief when they could've had Randy Foye or Brandon Roy. Danny Ainge, when he's had those top picks, he really hasn't kept them. He traded the seventh pick for Telfair and in 2007 he traded the fifth pick in Jeff Green to acquire Ray Allen.
"Not only is it important to find out where they're gonna be [drafting], but it's also gonna be important for teams the Celtics might be dealing with; you wanna find out where they're gonna be drafting in that top 10 too."
Listen below for the full discussion, including Souza's take on the market for Avery Bradley and whether or not Jeff Green sticks around next season:
