It was a relatively quiet night for the Boston Celtics at the NBA Draft on Thursday, at least in comparison to last year when they made a huge splash by trading away the No. 1 pick so that they could get Jayson Tatum. The early returns on that, by the way, are looking pretty promising for Boston.
But the Celtics had the No. 27 pick this year, and there was a great deal of debate about what they were going to do with it. That indecision apparently went right up to the very moment they went on the clock and had to make a final call.
Some viewers were treated to a rare – albeit brief – glimpse behind the curtain to see that process unfold on Thursday night, courtesy of Celtics breakout star Terry Rozier, who was appearing on a live broadcast for Bleacher Report during the draft. When the host jokingly asked him to call up Danny Ainge to get the inside scoop, Rozier did precisely that, FaceTiming the team president and duping him into revealing on-air who Boston was going to select with the 27th pick.
.@T_Rozzay3 really FaceTimed Danny Ainge to get the Celtics pick on the B/R draft show 💀 pic.twitter.com/KMvkIS1WG6
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 22, 2018
Ultimately, it was no harm, no foul. But the always circumspect Ainge probably wasn’t terribly thrilled about unknowingly revealing his team’s pick on a live broadcast before the team officially made their selection. Still, he was able to laugh it off in an interview with Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports after the draft:
“I was obviously joking with Terry about the guard position, but I had no idea I was on whatever live,” Ainge said from the C’s new training facility after the draft was complete and his work for the night was done. “I thought he was FaceTiming me. I had no idea, but that is sort of funny.”
Boston already has an embarrassment of riches, and Robert Williams will join a team that will not only presumably get Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward back from injury next season but also figures to be a sleeper player in the free agency scramble this summer that kicks off on July 1.