Chances are Ainge is trading all of these picks anyway, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it.
I highly doubt he will be able to trade all of them for anything of quality given this draft. My gut says draft night will remind us of 2015, where we kept hoping and waiting for some package deal to move up or out, but nothing occurred.
I'm assuming they'll be packaged along with one or two young guys to try to get an established player (e.g. Davis or perhaps Beal).
Even in the seemingly unlikely circumstance that the Celtics would be making picks at all of those spots, the range of the picks is such that I doubt the exact position of the pick is going to make all the difference.
Historically, it seems that picking at the end of the draft and the end of the 1st round has much more to do with spotting a diamond in the rough than it does with being a few spots higher.
Yes, I understand your assumption, which is why I included the “or out” portion of “trade up or out”. I just don’t think it happens. It’s a pretty weak draft, and I don’t expect a blockbuster, since at this point such a trade would need to be centered around Tatum, and that’s not happening. At best we trade one of our later 1sts for a top-10 protected pick in a couple of years.
I don’t doubt Ainge will try, but I’m not anticipating fireworks this summer. We’re making most or all of these picks.