No sizzle in Celtics draft, but plenty of steak

BOSTON -- About a month after the Celtics finished the third-worst season in franchise history, managing partner Wyc Grousbeck told the Boston Globe that there “could be some fireworks” this June when team president Danny Ainge went about the business of trying to rebuild the team. The key word there was “could.”

In the weeks leading up to the draft, the possibilities seemed endless. The Celtics tried to move up in the draft. They tried to engage Minnesota in a deal for Kevin Love. They worked on a number of other plans and contingencies. But as the day neared, it was becoming apparent that there would be no quick fix. The fireworks would have to wait.

About an hour before the draft, Ainge confirmed the obvious: the Celtics were likely to keep the picks and their efforts to move up had been exhausted. The rebuilding process would continue at a normal rate with no obvious endgame in sight.

“Our initial goal when the season ended was to try and expedite the rebuilding process, and I don’t think by taking No. 6 and 17 that has ended,” Ainge said. “We’ve always been comfortable with No. 6 and No. 17 and knew that was the most likely scenario. We can’t rush something that’s not there.”

As it came time for the Celtics to make their first selection, the mood inside the Garden, where the team had invited season ticket holders for a draft party, was expectant, but hardly celebratory.

This was nothing like 1997, when following the worst season in team history, Rick Pitino strode confidently to a podium and announced to a crowd of 7,000 fans that with Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer, he had assembled, “a dream backcourt.” Nor was it like 2007, when after the second worst season in franchise history, Ainge pulled off a trade for Ray Allen that set in motion a later deal for Kevin Garnett.

When the Magic took Aaron Gordon fourth, there were uncomfortable murmurs. Gordon had become a popular name in Boston during the pre-draft process. A photo circulated of the versatile forward catching a nap on the Red Line after a workout with a basketball in his hands, making him a cult favorite.

After Marcus Smart’s name was announced as the Celtics’ choice, there were cheers mixed with a few pockets of disapproval that had less to do with the player than with the looming reality that this was not going to be quick and it was not going to be seamless.

Expectations had been raised for this day ever since last year’s draft, when Ainge traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets while letting Doc Rivers out of his contract to coach the Clippers. It took Ainge almost five years to assemble the players and trade chips he needed to acquire Garnett and Allen, but in just one week he had already assembled a trove of draft picks. The obvious target was Love, but the Wolves didn’t seem interested.

“We’ve been on the phone quite a bit with other teams about other ideas,” Grousbeck said. “Nothing ever seemed close to fruition no matter how hard we tried. I remember trading for Kevin Garnett in 07. I got a phone call from Minnesota on July 30 or July 31. The trade season is not over yet.

“I always said fireworks were a possibility. It takes two to tango. There just hasn’t been much movement tonight.”

Ainge had never been sold on the hype leading up to the draft. “I don’t see LeBron James sitting out there coming up in the next year, two, three, four,” he told me last summer. His position had not changed heading into the draft.

“Early in the year I said it’s a little bit overhyped,” Ainge said on Thursday before the draft. “Midway through the year, I said it was still overhyped. Part of that is maybe the player in me. Like, come on, let these kids be kids. None of these guys are franchise turners and I still believe that.”

Yet, Ainge and his staff were thrilled to get Smart and James Young, a gifted wing out of Kentucky. They had Smart in for a pair of workouts and Ainge went to see a third just before the draft. Both players can score and create their own shot, two areas that have been woefully lacking from their roster even in the glory days.

“We really liked them,” Ainge said. “Before the day started if we could have come away with these two we would have been really happy and we were fortunate enough to have that happen.”

Smart is listed as a point guard, but at 227 pounds, he has the size and toughness to defend multiple positions. His shooting percentages were a constant source of criticism at Oklahoma State, but the Celtics believe that will improve in the pros where he won’t have to carry such a heavy scoring burden. He lived at the free throw line while generating assists, steals and blocks, which made him an advanced metrics favorite.

What the Celtics liked best is his competitiveness.

“Marcus is a hard guy not to like,” Ainge said. “He plays with great fire and is one of the top competitors that I’ve seen all around the world, watching basketball. He plays extremely hard. He’s very physical. I think he a has a real bright future as a point guard, but I think he can play off the ball as well.”

That led to the obvious follow-up: What about Rajon Rondo? The lone holdover from the championship team, Rondo has been the source of trade rumors going all the way back to the KG deal, when they insisted on keeping him out of the trade package. One by one, the Celtics’ hierarchy insisted that Smart was not drafted to replace Rondo, who is on the last year of his contract, and that the two can play together in the backcourt. Asked if they intended to go forward with Rondo, Ainge simply said, “Yes.”

“When you’re rebuilding a team, you take the best available athlete and then you let it all work out,” Grousbeck said. “We’ve got an All-Star point guard so that’s not in question here. I don’t think this has any effect on Rajon at all.”

“Absolutely, yeah, no question. And him and Avery (Bradley),” Ainge said. “He’s a very versatile player. He can play off the ball. He can handle the ball. With his length and his size he could play against a lot of small forwards. He’s a very versatile player. Easily those guys can play together and I think they can really thrive all of them.”

With Young, the Celtics grabbed a perimeter player who they think can be a future starter. Just 18 years old, he struggled at times on a Kentucky team that was exceptionally young even by Kentucky standards. But like the rest of his college teammates, Young excelled during the NCAA Tournament, punctuated by a monster slam against Connecticut in the championship game.

“We felt like he was a very undervalued scoring wing in this draft,” Stevens said. “Everybody in the room had him ranked a lot higher than 17th, so we were surprised that he was available at 17. We were thrilled he was available at 17.”

The rebuilding of the Celtics continues. It will be a little slower and more measured than some had hoped, but they now have players to go with some of those picks and more draft choices on the way.

This is how it goes for most teams. You draft young players and imagine the possibilities. You think about the future and how it will be a little better than the past. You assemble each piece, step by step, and try to keep yourself in position to take advantage of the next thing that comes along, either in trades or free agency.

“There’s been a lot of conversation over the last month,” Ainge said. “There were a few tempting opportunities but nothing exciting. Nothing better than what we were able to accomplish in the draft tonight.”