When Danny Ainge (right) retired as Celtics president of basketball operations in 2021, then-coach Brad Stevens was promoted.
When Danny Ainge (right) retired as Celtics president of basketball operations in 2021, then-coach Brad Stevens was promoted.Auerbach Center
PORTLAND, Ore. — Former Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, now in his fourth season as CEO and alternate governor of the Jazz, visited with several members of the Celtics organization when the teams faced each other in Utah on Friday night, a 121-99 Boston win.
Ainge’s fingerprints on Boston’s roster remain. He drafted Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Payton Pritchard, and helped convince Al Horford to sign with the Celtics when Horford’s first stint with the team began in 2016.
“I leaned on Danny a lot once I got here with the Celtics, and him being a former player and his experience and being in positions that we were, he was very helpful for me,” Horford said. “He was always giving me great insight, great perspective on everything, on what to expect. One of the things I always appreciated about Danny was he always, with all the pressure that comes to playing as a Celtic, he always kept it very loose for us and it was pretty easy to come in here and do our thing and just try to be the best we can.”
Ainge famously traded the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 draft to the 76ers in exchange for the No. 3 pick and a future first-round pick, then selected Tatum with the third choice.
“I’ve got nothing but love for DA,” Tatum said. “Drafted me or was part of the decision to draft me and help my dreams come true, so I’ll always be thankful for that opportunity that was provided for me.”
Does Tatum still give Ainge a hard time about not just taking him first overall?
“I did for a few years,” Tatum said, smiling, “but it all worked out.”
Playing shorthanded
Brown missed Sunday’s game against the Trail Blazers, his third in a row, because of a bone bruise in his right knee. The team previously announced that Brown would be reevaluated Monday.
“He’s getting a little bit better each day,” coach Joe Mazzulla said.
Center Kristaps Porzingis (rest) and guard Jrue Holiday (shoulder) were also sidelined for Boston, which continues to emphasize health and rest down the stretch of the regular season. Tatum was in the starting lineup after being listed as questionable.
Family of champions
Tatum’s father, Justin, on Saturday guided the Illawara Hawks to the Australian NBL title in just his second season as coach. The Hawks defeated Melbourne United in the deciding Game 5, with a slight assist from the younger Tatum, who sent a motivational video to his father the morning of the game.
“It was a reassurance to my group of what they potentially should feel on how to win a Game 7 for [the Celtics], Game 5 for us,” Justin Tatum told reporters in Australia. “He sent a support message to my group which I think enlightened them a lot, like, ‘Hey, the whole ‘23-24 Boston Celtics are about to watch our game right now.’ Those guys said, ‘Hey, if they can do it, we can do it.’ So hearing from him and him sending that message just on his own was unbelievable, and it was meaningful to my players as well.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.