"Let's not do that anymore," deadpanned Danny Ainge, Boston's president of basketball operations. "Let's try to keep it to three [picks], at the most. Eight's a lot."
Ainge admitted that there were small sequences of chaos inside Boston's war room as the team tried to balance the incoming trade calls with making sure it was ready for the rapid succession of picks.
"I think that, overall, our staff did great. We regrouped, called a 20[-second timeout]," Ainge joked. "We had two 20s. We used one quick and we got it together."
"We had a lot of discussion about even trading [the No. 3] pick and trading down in the draft and trading for future picks and so forth," Ainge said. "Ultimately, there wasn’t anything to our liking. We grew very fond of Jaylen. He’s a great kid -- 19 years old who has a man’s body, great athleticism, sort of a vogue, new type of player in the NBA, of the versatile players, the versatile wings, can play multiple positions defensively. And we think he has a lot of upside, but we think he’s a 19-year-old kid that can get on the court and play with the big boys right out of the gate."
"I'm really excited about a lot of the guys we got tonight," Ainge said. "I'm glad we don't have eight new draft picks. Maybe there will be some playing in other leagues and we can focus on two or three maybe on our roster this year."
Ainge was asked if there was any frustration in not being able to find a more proven player via trade.
"Well, we'll see. Time will tell. [Brown is] not a cornerstone today. I would never put any pressure on a kid that young, but listen, that's how cornerstone players are made," Ainge said. "There are so many guys as you look all around the league, nobody on draft night knew what they were. We'll see. Time will tell."
Ainge has pleaded for patience throughout this building process and did so again after Thursday's draft.
"There was a lot of discussion and no deals. It was just that simple," Ainge said. "We pulled away from some; they pulled away from some. I don't think it was a lack of value [with the No. 3 pick]. But to find trade partners in those kind of deals, it has to be good for both teams. We just didn't find one. I'm confident we are moving in the right direction. We still have free agency and a lot of money to spend in the free-agent market to still build our team."
