BOSTON — Speaking with reporters midway early in the second round of Thursday’s NBA draft, Celtics coach Brad Stevens expressed confidence that the three players Boston had selected at the time — Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey — will be with the team this season.
“I haven’t had any of those discussions with (Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge), per se,” said Stevens, whose meeting with the media came before the C’s used their final pick of the night on William & Mary guard Marcus Thornton. “I would think that all of these guys we picked thus far are going to be with us. And certainly from a coaching standpoint, that’s the way I look at it.”
Ainge, however, said with near certainty a short time later that Boston’s opening night roster would not include all four draft picks.
“No, we don’t have room on the roster for all four guys, most likely,” Ainge said. “And we may even be buying another pick before the night’s over. (Editor’s note: They did not.) We probably don’t have room for them, so we’ll work out deals where guys can play overseas in some of the situations.”
The Celtics’ decision to draft three guards (Rozier, Hunter and Thornton) further overloaded the team’s already-packed stable of backcourt players, and Ainge acknowledged additional moves likely are still to come.
“Obviously, we have a lot of guards,” he said. “And we’ll figure it out. I like them all. We may have to make some tough choices, but we really like all the guys.”
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
