Ainge eyeing 'great' players: Celtics could undergo 'significant change'
Despite finishing atop the East in 2016-17 and reaching the conference finals, the Boston Celtics could look very different come next season.
Team president Danny Ainge won't let his club's expedited rise to contention fool him into thinking it can hang with the league's top dogs. Fresh off elimination in five games to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the executive is gearing up to make many difficult decisions this summer.
"There is a potential for there to be some significant change," Ainge told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. "But maybe less change. Maybe more change; maybe not. A lot will be dependent on what we're able to pull off in the draft and in deals leading up to free agency and then what happens in free agency. There's just so much unknown right now. ... It's an exciting time for us, and it's a very busy time for us."
Boston owns the No. 1 overall selection in June's draft, which the GM intends to "explore the value of."
Related: Pierce recommends Celtics look into trading No. 1 pick
"Just because you're one piece away doesn't mean you can get it," he said. "And if you force yourself to get it, and if you force a deal or force yourself to get the second best available or the third- or fourth-best available player at that position that you need, then it might not make you that much better or make you still not good enough, and you're stuck.
"So, yeah, we're not that far away, but we're still a ways away. We still know we need to get better. Everybody in our organization knows we need to get better. We need to add.
"We have a lot of good players, but we need some great ones."
After years of collecting assets, developing their youth, and wisely managing their cap, the C's are in position to pick up a star. They possess the pieces to swing a deal for one if they so please, as well as the cap flexibility to sign one outright. They have only $61.7 million committed in guaranteed salaries for 2017-18, with the cap projected at about $101 million.
The club was linked to superstars Jimmy Butler and Paul George ahead of February's trade deadline. There are also rumblings of interest in Utah Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward, who played at Butler under current Celtics head coach Brad Stevens and is expected to become an unrestricted free agent.
Boston will also have to determine whether or not it wishes to retain free agents Amir Johnson, Jonas Jerebko, Kelly Olynyk, and Gerald Green.
It's going to be an eventful summer in Beantown, and Ainge said he's ready for it.