Danny Ainge asks Isaiah Thomas for help in free agency
Despite being a Boston Celtic for only a few short months, President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge is asking guard Isaiah Thomas who the team should target in free agency.
In Adam Himmelsbach's piece in the Boston Globe,
“Danny said if there’s any free agent out there I’m interested in, to let him know,” Thomas said by telephone. “That has me excited. For him to ask for my input means a lot, because it means I’m definitely, right now, a part of the future, and they also value your word and what you think about the game of basketball. It means a lot, and it’s a mutual respect we have. Now, hopefully, we can get a few guys.”
Thomas cited his days at the University of Washington where he helped recruit multiple big time high school prospects to join the Huskies as a resume of sorts to make him qualified to help Ainge and the C's.
He didn't come up with any specific names that he might want to see in green next year, but did talk about a type of player.
“A defensive-minded player,” he said. “It’d be nice to get one of those in the draft. A lot of the big men out there could definitely help us out. But I know Danny is always up to something.”
Thomas is locked up until the 2017-2018 season and is obviously one of Danny Ainge's favorites dating back to last offseason where he tried to acquire him, before ultimately signing with Phoenix.
However, it's still impressive that in only three months in town, he has already built up enough cashe to have long term input on who will be in part of the Celtics going forward.
“I think we’re close to taking that next step,” Thomas said. “Definitely, adding a big piece to what we’re trying to do [would help]. I know Danny’s going to try to go after everybody that’s available, especially the high-level guys. I think if we can add a big piece, we can take that next step. People saw what we could do even without a so-called superstar. We held our own, for the most part, against Cleveland, and we weren’t expected to do anything.”
Celtics have the 16th and 28th pick in the 2015 draft to go along with a collection of future picks and cap space giving Danny Ainge plenty of room to work with this offseason.
Despite talking about the draft, where Thomas can help the Celtics the most is in free agency.
As mentioned before, the Celtics tried and failed to sign this guy who now, by all accounts, loves it here.
If Isaiah and Danny talk about their free agency courtship of a year ago, they can see what worked, what didn't and then change the approach to close the deal on a big time free agent.
Photo Credit: NBA.com
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