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Celtics Notes: Draft, Stevens, Ainge

May 7th, 2016 at 2:37pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Armed with eight picks in the upcoming NBA Draft, the Celtics intend to work out as many players as is logistically possible, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. “This is always a fun time, just to get to know so many players,” team executive Danny Ainge said. “I think this year is a really unique opportunity for us to get to interview and spend time with and have workouts with so many different players. Often when you’re in the middle or latter part of the first round, you don’t get to evaluate fully the top players in the draft. But with eight picks in this year’s draft, we have a full range of players that we’ll have an opportunity to see. So our draft workouts will be much busier this year than ever before.”

Ainge is optimistic about the talent in this year’s draft, but the team hasn’t zeroed in on whom it would take if the first-rounder coming its way from Brooklyn lands at No. 1 overall, Forsberg relays. “[The talent is] good, but we haven’t really seen it yet. I mean, we’ve seen [the top players] as [college] freshmen, but I think that there’s a lot of change that happens between now and the draft or from when the college season ends in March to the draft also, especially with the young kids,” Ainge said. “So there will be a lot of young kids at the top of this draft, and so I think it’s too early to evaluate. I think that we have a tendency to be more critical of kids and say they’re not this or they’re not that. And then we see them two years later in the All-Star Game. So I’ll reserve judgment on that for now and look forward to the opportunity of meeting the kids at the top of the draft.”

Here’s more from Boston:

Amid all the coaching turnover that has occurred this season, Brad Stevens gushed about his love for the city of Boston and how lucky he feels to be a member of the Celtics organization, Forsberg relays in a separate piece. “I will say this: Just doing the research before coming here and taking this job, I’m so fortunate to be here and so fortunate to be a head coach here because there’s obviously a lot of movement, but this is a great place to work and these are great people to work for,” Stevens said. “I have felt empowered every single day I’ve been here. That means that you feel like you made a great decision, and I’m very fortunate.“
The Celtics enter the offseason with a wealth of draft picks and ample cap space, which the team will need to transform into at least one star player if it hopes to move forward as a franchise, Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post writes in his offseason primer. The scribe also opines that while Boston has a number of talented players on its roster, none of them project to develop into true stars.

Celtics To Work Out Vince Edwards, Derrick Jones

May 6th, 2016 at 10:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Purdue sophomore small forward Vince Edwards worked out for the Wolves on Wednesday, has scheduled a workout with the Celtics for next Friday and is expected to work out for the Grizzlies in the near future, Nathan Baird of The Lafayette Journal & Courier reports. Edwards is the ranked as the 24th-best sophomore by Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
UNLV freshman swingman Derrick Jones, who is ranked No. 99 overall according to Givony, has a workout scheduled with the Nets on May 18th and another with the Celtics on May 20th, Zagoria reports (Twitter link).

Latest On Kevin Durant

May 6th, 2016 at 11:10am CST by Chuck Myron

The theory among the teams eager to pursue Kevin Durant this summer is that the Thunder’s second-round series against the Spurs will decide whether he leaves Oklahoma City, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Durant would stay if the Thunder win and leave if they lose, Stein relays, stressing that it’s merely an assumption among the front offices. The Spurs, with the series tied 1-1, indeed have designs on luring Durant to San Antonio, Stein hears, echoing what several rival executives suggested to Chris Mannix of The Vertical in March.

Zach Lowe of ESPN.com recently compared the talk about Durant joining the Spurs as “eerily similar” to the early rumblings that connected LaMarcus Aldridge to San Antonio last year. Still, the Warriors loom as another powerful suitor, and The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in February at that they would be significant front-runners for Durant if he were to leave the Thunder. Golden State is optimistic about its chances, and chatter has gone on since the Warriors’ record 24-0 start about the kinship Durant formed on Team USA with Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala, Stein writes. The Wizards, Heat, Celtics, Rockets, Lakers and Clippers are planning hard pushes for Durant, too, according to Stein, who cautions that it’s premature to peg any team aside from the Thunder as the favorite to land him.

Neither the Warriors nor the Spurs have the cap flexibility to sign Durant for his max of an estimated $26MM for next season without making trades, waiving players via the stretch provision, or both. The Vertical’s Bobby Marks illustrated a scenario involving maneuvers that would give the Warriors enough room to sign Durant, and Danny Leroux of The Sporting News laid out San Antonio’s path. The Clippers would have to offload either Chris Paul, Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, as I noted in our offseason outlook for the team earlier today.

The teams who assume Durant will stay with the Thunder if Oklahoma City advances to the next round of the playoffs suggest he’d go for a two-year contract with a player option on year two, the same sort of contract LeBron James favors, according to Stein. That would allow Durant the flexibility for him to hit free agency again next summer, when Russell Westbrook‘s contract expires, and it would represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP, as I examined. Still, Durant told Stein at the All-Star break that he hadn’t considered such a contract structure.

Forsberg: Big Changes Necessary For Celtics

May 6th, 2016 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

This year’s Celtics had the best winning percentage of any the team has had since the breakup of the Paul Pierce–Kevin Garnett–Rajon Rondo core, but for Boston to take the next step, another round of wholesale changes are necessary, argues Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com, who analyzes the summer ahead.

Celtics Notes: Ainge, Olynyk, Draft

May 4th, 2016 at 4:14pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Team executive Danny Ainge says the Celtics plan on working out 80-100 players in advance of June’s NBA Draft, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com relays. “We’ll put them through a lot of different situations,” Ainge said. “We’ll see how bigs are at guarding guards, and guards defending bigger players, some of the roles they would have to play if they were Celtics. … We’ll get a good look at what they can do in a lot of different scenarios. With our picks, it is in a player’s best interest to work out for us. But for us, we want to see as many players as possible so that we can draft the best fit, the best player that’s available.”

Ainge also noted that he expects to be on the phone with other teams talking trades more often than in previous seasons because of the team’s wealth of draft picks, Blakely writes. If Boston is unable to package some of its picks to acquire more talent, the Celtics will look at drafting players from overseas with the intent that they won’t join the NBA for a few seasons, the scribe adds.

Here’s more from Boston:

Boston is gearing up for a busy offseason, as Ainge detailed and as Jay King of MassLive relays (Twitter links). “There are scenarios where our team could be better, and be significantly better, and there are scenarios where we have younger players that are maybe not as good from a win/record standpoint, but with the development that standpoint being a much, much higher ceiling,” Ainge said.
Center Kelly Olynyk intends to consult with additional doctors prior to making a decision regarding surgery for his injured right shoulder, Blakely writes in a separate piece. The big man is hoping to avoid going under the knife this offseason, telling Blakely, “It’s always an option when you have an injury of certain degrees. If you can make sure it’s healthy without it, then it’s healthy without it.”
The Celtics are holding predraft workouts today for Dorian Finney-Smith (Florida), Quincy Ford (Northeastern), Marcus Georges-Hunt (Georgia Tech), Sheldon McClellan (Miami), Mike Tobey (Virginia) and Jameel Warney (Stony Brook), as Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter).
Dayton shooting guard Charles Cooke will work out for the Celtics on Saturday, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com tweets.

Celtics To Work Out Trevon Bluiett, Alec Peters

May 4th, 2016 at 1:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

Xavier small forward Trevon Bluiett will work out for the Timberwolves on Saturday and the Celtics on May 14th, Goodman tweets.
Valparaiso power forward Alec Peters is working out with the Rockets today and the Celtics on Friday, according to Goodman (Twitter link).

Stevens Hopes Evan Turner Remains With Team

May 3rd, 2016 at 9:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Evan Turner is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and coach Brad Stevens would like the swingman to return to the Celtics next season, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe notes. “I love Evan Turner,” Stevens said. “I think he’s a great teammate. I think he’s a hard worker. I think he loves basketball. I don’t think you can overvalue that. He loves basketball, and he never once — we didn’t have two conversations about starting or not starting. It was never about him. It was always about how to help us put our best foot forward, and he knew his role in helping us do that.”

Celtics To Work Out Jaron Blossomgame

May 2nd, 2016 at 5:16pm CST by Chuck Myron

Draft prospect Jaron Blossomgame will work out for the Jazz on Thursday, the Celtics on Saturday and the Grizzlies on May 16th, as the former Clemson small forward tells Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Celtics Notes: Turner, Stevens, Ainge, Draft Picks

April 30th, 2016 at 3:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

Evan Turner may have to be patient if he wants to re-sign with the Celtics in free agency, but he told Chris Forsberg of ESPN that coach Brad Stevens would like to keep him in Boston. “Coach definitely said [he wants me back],” said Turner. “He said he’ll be pushing for me and everything like that. And that’s pretty much it. But there’s a lot of stuff that’s going on right now. I understand it. And I understand what’s going to occur, with the draft picks and the young guys trying to develop and trying to get a superstar, stuff like that. I definitely comprehend it.” The Celtics may like Turner, and the swingman would like to get a deal done quickly, but the team figures to have other priorities this summer as it tries to improve a roster that went 48-34 and was bounced by the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. Turner played a big part in Boston’s success, averaging 10.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 81 games. He said “money’s cool” in free agency, but he feels it’s more important to find playing time with a winning organization.

There’s more news out of Boston:

The six-game loss to Atlanta showed that the Celtics need to raise their talent level, writes Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. Bontemps says president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has to shake up a roster of “ill-fitting pieces” around All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas. The Celtics own the Nets’ first-round pick, which is almost certain to fall in the top five, and they may have more than $50MM to spend once free agency starts July 1st. Bontemps expects the Celtics to chase every elite free agent on the market, adding that they have enough young talent and future picks to become trading partners if the Bulls’ Jimmy Butler or the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins becomes available.
The Celtics will need some luck to have the offseason they are hoping for, contends Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Boston has eight picks in this year’s draft, but the position of Brooklyn’s choice will help shape the future of the franchise. The Celtics have a 15.6% chance of landing the top overall selection and a 46.9% shot at staying in the top three. Boston will target Kevin Durant in free agency, and Bontemps believes Ainge is eager to make a deal with his parcel of draft picks, citing his offer to Charlotte last year in hopes of drafting Justise Winslow. Boston reportedly made a similar offer to the Heat. The writer mentions Sixers rookie Jahlil Okafor as another trade possibility.

Celtics Acknowledge Expectations Raised For Next Season

April 29th, 2016 at 10:17pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Despite losing to the Hawks in the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Celtics feel that they’ve made progress as an organization this season, Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press relays. “You go from … under .500 and barely making the playoffs and kind of eking in at the end by winning six straight, to being in the mix for being a top-four seed in the East. And so yes, there’s progress,” coach Brad Stevens said. Stevens also added that expectations for the team will be raised for next season after reaching the playoffs the past two springs, Hightower notes. “People have told me all along there’s two really tough tasks, right? One is getting to be a very good, competitive team at a top 10-15 level on offense and defense and give yourself a chance to be in the discussion we’re in now. And that’s been a path in the last three years to get there,” Stevens said.