CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Danny Ainge Speaks on the Roster, Injuries, and More

by FLCeltsFan 3:21 PM

August 15, 2006

In these days of being starved for information, Celtics.com has an interview with Danny Ainge. Some of the things Danny touches on are: Rondo being the biggest surprise, he loves Delonte, Perimeter play, Wally's doing great, Pierce is feeling fine, Al's rehab is ahead of schedule, Ray and Pittsnogle have their work cut out for them to make the roster, he isn't going to do a deal just to do one - he likes our players, he is going to be patient, Grant is still on the roster but isn't going to play with us this year, Theo will provide an experienced shot blocker and rebounder, and more. Lots of good things to hear.

The calendar says it's the NBA offseason, but things haven't slowed down much in the Celtics' executive offices, as the team made several moves at the NBA Draft and then had a strong showing in the Toshiba Vegas Summer League showcasing plenty of young talent.

And now, with veteran players on the mend and the schedule released, Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge checked in with Celtics.com for an exclusive interview on Monday afternoon. Ainge gave us an update on some of the injured Celtics, as well as his thoughts on the team's offseason moves and the road ahead to training camp and the upcoming season.

Celtics.com: So now that the draft is past, and you've had a chance to see some of the new acquisitions in the Summer League and other workouts, how do you feel the reshaping of the roster has gone this summer?

Ainge: "First of all, I was very impressed with a lot of the things I saw in the summertime and post-draft, as we evaluate our own drafting and so forth. Sebastian Telfair had a fantastic summer and a great camp with us and continues to give us a lot of hope.

Rajon Rondo is probably the biggest surprise around the league with his play, not only in the Vegas Summer League, but he continued drawing attention to how good of a talent he is in [Tim] Grgurich's camp in Vegas. We got a lot of positive feedback from his quality play there.

Gerald is progressing; Gerald had a good Summer League. Allan Ray played well in the summer. But, it's just Summer League."
[More]
source:Celtics.com

Discuss this topic on the Celtics Green Forums!

Comments:

Well, nothing indepth here, but its nice to hear from Ainge himself. I don't know if K-Pitts is going to ever be a defensive player or a strong rebounder because he really lacks any type of explosiveness or quickness. But he can definitely shoot the ball. I tnink Allan Ray is a quality player, but he basically replicates Delonte, so we'll see if he remains with the team.

Ainge mentions that he's constantly working the phones to try and improve the team. I think Al Harrington would be a nice move, even Shawn Marion. Or if we can get a young big man who can rebound, that would be nice too. But it doesn't seem likely that we'll make any significant moves to instantly make us that much better. We're probably going to go into the season pretty much the way we are, and I can live with that. We'll still be a work in progress, but we'll be progressing.

# posted by

derrenmatts : 9:26 PM

Post a Comment