Danny Ainge dismisses East crown: 'We're trying to win championships'

The Boston Celtics are the clear favorites in the East now that the King has vacated the throne, but they're setting their sights even higher.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge downplayed the potential division crown while speaking with reporters Wednesday about the departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"What do I care about the Eastern Conference? I don't really care about that. We're trying to win championships," Ainge told Fred Katz of MassLive.

A shorthanded Celtics side narrowly lost in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals this season. With both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward returning from injury, Ainge's team figures to be the overwhelming favorite in an otherwise open conference - whether he goes all in for Kawhi Leonard or not.

It also helps that Boston's biggest competitors in the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors have been stagnant this summer. Philadelphia failed to land a significant free agent and was forced to re-sign its existing pieces, while Toronto has left its core pieces untouched beyond promoting assistant coach Nick Nurse.

Nevertheless, Ainge paid lip service to the quality of competition in the conference even after the departure of James.

"I think that there's a lot of good teams in the East that get undersold a little bit. I think Washington and Milwaukee's an up-and-coming team and Toronto was the best team in the conference last year during the regular season, and I think they're a fantastic team. So, the East is going to be tough," Ainge said.