NBA Rumors: Danny Ainge's Offseason Confidence 'Scares The (Expletive)' Out Of Exec

The Boston Celtics didn’t do anything to get better at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, but they might have their eyes on bigger and potentially better things this summer.

The Celtics stood pat at the deadline, making exactly zero deals despite being tied to Indiana’s Paul George and Chicago’s Jimmy Butler. Neither players moved, and Boston didn’t make any other moves despite owning a trove of draft assets, including the Brooklyn Nets picks that reportedly were on the table.

Instead of making a splash, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge decided to stay out of the pool, seemingly resigned to playing out the string with the roster he currently has and entering the offseason with the aforementioned assets in hand. Boston is one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, but it isn’t a legitimate title contender — yet.

While the patience of Celtics fans is being tested, the club’s biggest moves might come this summer. The Boston Herald detailed, via sources, one potential course of action, which includes Ainge’s reluctance to give up the ability to sign a max-level player in the offseason — which likely would have happened had the Celtics took on contracts of players such as George or Butler.

Furthermore, the Herald indicates “the Celtics maintained a stance that projected a seemingly odd confidence about the offseason in a business with so much uncertainty. As for whether Ainge believes he has this thing wired, be advised that some of his peers are wary.”

A league executive also told the Herald: “Danny wasn’t taking the Nets picks or really anything off the table, but the fact he was so comfortable waiting for the draft and summer scares the (expletive) out of me.”

What exactly that means is anyone’s guess. And it doesn’t make up for the fact the Celtics aren’t any better Friday than they were Thursday, or even at the start of the season. And while the Celtics’ progression since hiring coach Brad Stevens inspires hope for the future, impatience is starting to grow among a pocket of C’s fans, especially those waiting for “fireworks.”

Maybe those fireworks finally will come this summer, but regardless, Celtics fans are left doing something they’re used to doing by now: waiting.