Austin Ainge: Some Celtics Free Agents Took Less Money to Stay

Austin Ainge: Some Celtics Free Agents Took Less Money to Stay

just won a championship guys Austin first couple looks at this team going out there in the summer what do you think of what you’re seen on the floor a lot of good players a lot of depth we got some experienced guys that uh have join the the guys that um are on the roster and uh I think it’s a good team they’ve played really hard coaching staff’s done a great job of um you know installing kind of the first principles how did you guys make the decisions on some of the guys who have been around for couple years of them opting into another year of Summer League yeah it’s just a discussion with them and what they want to do and the coaching staff with their development see if there are things to work on if they are physically healthy if they need rest or if there are some specific things to Target um in their kind of development path we have meetings with coaching staff and medical staff and front office Al together and we discuss players and their progression on the court off the court and and we try to make the best decision we can in those meetings what are you kind of looking for with your experience now over the summer league what kind of things do you look for from now until you you go through it well there’s a lot of things that we’re looking at each player has different things we’re focused on but in general we’re trying to install uh a lot of our offensive and defensive principles and then just culture and habits um you know get better every day get on time get communicate energy all of these things that we we need to have for a long season um this is a great opportunity for these guys to to learn when you look at a guy like Baylor what’s the process like for you to get to know him and him to get to know you and the organization yeah I mean it’s we’ll just it’s just the beginning of it we’re uh We’ve we’ve had dinner with the guys the other night we’ll spend some time you have uh times before and after uh just to sit and chat about life and and it’s just a small part of the big uh relationship building process Austin JD is going to be part of Summer League here obvious he’s still in free agency I know Brad said he wants him to still be part of this going forward what was the process like of you know having him come and be part of the summer league and where’s his process you know going in terms of keeping going forward JD came out very young in the draft and the last two years in Maine he’s really really improved and we loved his trajectory and uh think he still has Room to Grow he’s younger than the guys we just drafted and uh a lot of other guys that were drafted and think he still has some some growth and so um um no we’re we’re we’re very optimistic and what do you see from Jordan in year One what are you hoping to see him accomplish going into year two yeah kind kind of similar kind of similar where where Jordan came out after um being a role player after one year in college and then um jumped and spent a lot of time in Maine this year and his body’s gotten stronger his shooting has gotten better and um you know this this will be another good opportunity for growth for him atin did um uh Ron Harper Jr can you talk about about him I mean he was so impressive as a coming out of ruter and talk about you know your decision to bring him yeah Ron’s a good player he’s a guy we’ve been interested in for a while um he uh is coming off an injury and um that’s kind of I think one reason why he’s not on a roster right now and we have an opportunity to to get a better look at him I think uh he’s looked good in practice so um I think he’ll get opportunities and looks with us and with other teams the physicality I mean does he play that way I mean yeah he’s he’s a big strong kid long and and he has good feel he knows how to play question what are you looking forward with Tyler cook Tyler cook um I I mean he’s he’s physical he handles the ball very well for big and um just trying to see with all these guys how can you help the Celtics how can you help a team win and um our coaching staff’s working hard to put him in those situations Austin when you get to Vegas and all the other 29 teams there and you’ve won a championship you kind of walk with a little I does the food taste better in Vegas what’s that like to to be the defending champion of a team when you’re like around your all your peers who now trying to catch you well I I’ll say this Gary the the biggest advantage of having a really good team last year is that we’ve got most everyone signed already so I can just I can just enjoy summer league and I’m not running around with a million agent meetings and things that that’s the biggest uh Advantage is is we’ve got a really good team so we just running it back in large part and we we’ve got most everyone signed up pleas are you guys to just have that especially this early in the off season here to be able to extremely grateful extremely grateful we had some guys um you know turn down more money other places to come back and and it just feels really good to guys that we care about a lot to come back and and try to go for another run you have to buy drinks out there for everybody that I don’t drink so no diet diet C around for anyone who wants and obviously the roster is pretty close to full at this point are you guys still looking at options at this point you guys would be happy just starting the season as is you know Brian I’ll always say we’re always keeping our eyes open and everything but we feel pretty good about about things um and we have uh kind of the core all all in place but yeah we we’re always looking um that’s a message for these summer league guys is that they’re not just competing with the guys on the court they’re competing with guys on all the summer league teams and other guys that are sitting at home and other guys that are playing the Olympics and it’s a it’s a big world with a lot of talent and we’re all our our job is to be always evaluated you mentioned some of these guys being young how nice is it to have your two draft picks being at a older age as they come in with experience yeah no they’re they’re more advanced than a 19-year-old for sure um but there’s still a lot for them to learn and it’s a big adjustment mention the Olympics how how is that going to Impact summer league and just I mean across the way there’s a lot of guys who won’t be there yeah I mean not not a ton for summer league obviously most of the guys on Team USA are have graduated from Summer League it did uh it did change the schedule a little bit pushed it back a few days just um but no we’re we’re it’ll be fun to watch this this summer Austin what did you say in Anton through the draft process I know you talked to bail in the past was Anton a guy you had talked to in the past and what kind of role can you see him aspiring to yeah we we had Anton in for workouts we had most of these guys in and we talked to them and their college staffs and the these you know he was a 5-year college player so obviously saw him a ton um his size and his feel he really plays well with others he’s a great passer and defensive player and and um those are kind of the main things any other questions for Austin thank you Austin awesome you

Austin Ainge spoke to reporters Monday ahead of the start of Vegas Summer League. Ainge spoke about Celtics free agents taking less money and also discussed their new draft picks.

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