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Celtics' Ainge defends deadline-day inactivity: 'No deals good enough'

Winslow Townson / USA TODAY Sports

With their embarrassment of assets and sooner-than-expected ascension to Eastern Conference fringe-contention, the Boston Celtics were expected to be the NBA's most aggressive buyers at the trade deadline.

But, after being linked to such star big men as Dwight Howard and Al Horford in the lead-up to Thursday's deadline, the Celtics ultimately decided to stand pat, unwilling to meet the asking prices for two aging players whose contracts will expire at season's end.

"We feel like we came close to doing some things, but ultimately we didn't," Celtics president Danny Ainge told reporters after the deadline passed, according to Boston.com's Brian Robb. "We spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort in. I think my staff did a fantastic job this time. We didn't really get anything accomplished that we wanted to do because there were no deals good enough that we wanted to do."

Most of Ainge's signature moves with the Celtics - trading for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007, trading Garnett and Paul Pierce for a half-decade's worth of Brooklyn Nets draft capital in 2013 - were pulled off during the offseason.

Despite passing up the chance to make a splashy deal for an immediate upgrade, Boston will again head into the summer better positioned than anyone to put together a trade package for a star. And if nothing materializes then, it'll still have the majority of the young core that currently has the team sitting third in the East at 32-23, plus the Nets' first-rounder that looks destined to be a top-five pick, and the cap space to accommodate a marquee free agent.

In other words, the Celtics can afford to be patient, and Ainge - who has spent the past three years smartly and steadily accumulating the assets to build a sustainable contender - wasn't going to get sidetracked by an itchy trigger finger.

"I know the risks were more than we were willing to do," he said. "That's why we didn't do any deals, obviously. I think the contract length and security definitely plays a factor into it and what sort of risks you are taking. We also feel like there are other opportunities to have more security in what we are doing and what deals we are making. We are not in the business of making a 27-game gain for a long-term price to pay."

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