In spite of all the mediatalk, their best chance to get AD is to re-sign Kyrie. Ainge apparently wants Davis badly. Maybe he realizes the team has a hole up front you could drive a tank through.
Danny had to show his hand on AD, unfortunately, during the trading season, when the Lakers were trying desperately to get Davis. This hurt morale on the Celtics team--especially with the young players, and may be the basis of all their problems with consistency the rest of the season.
The NBA is a star system. You need a few studs who complement each other and get most of the touches. Plus a bunch of role players who can play good defense, with maybe a 3 point specialist thrown in there. One of the studs must be a big--an Embiid or Iannis type player. A guy who can lock up the paint. Bill Russell was that type of guy, and they won a dozen or so championships with him. He was the key, and he averaged 16.7 ppg lifetime.
Ainge played on great Celtics teams, with Parish and Bird and McHale, and he knows all this stuff. He knows he must get Davis. Then his next challenge will be to keep Stevens from trying to make a 3P specialist out of him.