Now that the draft is behind them, the Boston Celtics’ front office will have to quickly pivot to free agency, which begins on June 30.
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge introduced Boston’s four newest additions (Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters) Monday at the Auerbach Center, but the focus now turns to the NBA offseason’s main event
“We have a busy week to prepare now,” Ainge told reporters following the introductory press conference, via CLNS Media. “It’s clarified in the fact that the draft is over… now we can focus on free agency. And we have this entire week to prepare for that.”
The Celtics have more salary cap flexibility than they thought they would heading into the month of July due to the expected departures of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford and Aron Baynes getting shipped off to the Phoenix Suns on draft night. Yes, things haven’t gone Boston’s way so far this offseason in the free agency department, but some added flexibility can provide a new opportunity, which Ainge pointed out on Monday.
“I like the fact that we have different opportunities,” Ainge said. “We have some flexibility but I don’t really know what is realistic yet. That’s what we’ll spend the rest of this week trying to figure out … but I’m excited about the opportunity. I’m excited about the flexibility that we have.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean more work for Boston’s staff, according to Ainge.
“We have a really good feel for all the players in the league and who they are and how they might fit with us and our needs and so forth,” Ainge said. “So I wouldn’t say a lot more homework, but we will have a lot of conversation. That’s probably the biggest thing, just to get organized as we possibly can for all the possible scenarios in free agency.”
There has been plenty of speculation surrounding the Celtics following the news that both Irving and Horford are expected to sign elsewhere. There’s been an impressive amount of activity to this point with one week to go, but time will tell who ultimately ends up in Boston this summer.
