This from Marc Stein.
http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/3796/summer-scoop-boston-celtics1. Who is the Celtics' dream target in free agency?
Kevin Love is the most common reflex answer you hear these days.
Not so sure, though, that it's the correct answer.
The Celtics certainly want to make a free-agent splash this summer. No less an authority than Ainge was very clear at his farewell address that he knows he has no stars in Boston at the minute and needs to find at least one as soon as possible.
Yet Ainge is realistic. He also knows that Love -- irrespective of anything Kelly Olynyk did to him last weekend -- is going to be very hard to get come July. Which is a sentiment that applies to any of the top free agents.
And this has nothing to do with the long-running narrative about the Celtics and their decades of struggles when trying to sign the biggest names on the open market. It's more about the simple reality that the LaMarcus Aldridges, Marc Gasols and Kawhi Leonards of the world generally look to land with contending teams when deciding to walk away from an incumbent team that has treated them well.
The good news for Boston: Ainge and his staffers are creative and aggressive and understand all of those dynamics as well as anyone else. And that's why the Celtics realize their next major talent infusion is perhaps even more likely to come via trade rather than free-agent signings.
Will they open their war chest of future draft picks to try to pry DeMarcus Cousins away from Sacramento via trade? The early word out there is: Bank on it.
Will they be in the mix for pretty much any name player who unexpectedly comes available in coming months?
Bank on that, too.
An athletic big man or a scoring threat on the wing would appear to be Boston's two most glaring needs, but Ainge likely won't be choosy.
Expect him to try to pounce on the next elite player, at any position, who finds himself being abruptly shopped.