Ainge: Celtics' depth 'just didn't mesh' last season

Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge wishes he'd made more moves to improve the club's fortunes during a disappointing 2018-19 campaign.

"I think that in hindsight, we should have cleaned out the roster a little bit to make it easier for (head coach) Brad (Stevens)," Ainge said in an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols. "We had a deep roster, we were built for a longer run.

"But we had a lot of young guys that had a lot of success without Gordon (Hayward) and Kyrie (Irving), and the guys that had success without those two guys felt like it was their time for the spotlight and it just didn't mesh."

The returns of Irving and Hayward to a roster that reached the 2018 Eastern Conference finals led to issues around playing time and roles within the rotation. In an appearance on "The Lowe Post" podcast earlier this week, Celtics guard Marcus Smart acknowledged players' individual off-court issues also contributed to the team's struggles.

Boston swept the Indiana Pacers in the opening round of the playoffs, but the Milwaukee Bucks then humbled the Celtics in a five-game rout in the conference semifinals.

Admitting he'd be "a little bit more careful going into building another team that had such equal depth" in the future, Ainge hinted at landing a top-tier star as an alternative method of team building.

"It makes it much easier for people to accept roles when there is a clear hierarchy," Ainge said while referencing the Los Angeles Lakers' star duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Ainge's efforts to recruit Davis are well-documented, as the Celtics were in the thick of trade talks involving the superstar last season. The New Orleans Pelicans ultimately traded Davis to the Lakers after Ainge was reportedly reluctant to include budding star Jayson Tatum in a deal.