Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge indicated he's had no discussions with the Charlotte Bobcats about a rumored deal that centered around a swap of forward Glen Davis and guard D.J. Augustin.
Making his weekly appearance on WEEI (850 AM), the radio home of Celtics basketball, Ainge shot down one of the many rumors that has begun to swirl as the NBA trade deadline (Feb. 18) approaches.
"We haven't had any discussions with Charlotte," said Ainge. "There was some speculation that they were looking for a 4, we were looking for a backup point [guard]. People try to put things together. We have not had discussions. I like the player in the trade [Augustin], but we like Glen Davis a lot, too."
Regarding a potential deal involving Ray Allen, Ainge stressed that teams are interested because of the great value in expiring contracts (Allen is making $19.7 million in the final year of his deal), but seemed to caution against expecting the Celtics to make a big-splash move, even amidst recent struggles.
"I think a trade is one way to fix it, if it's a trade that helps you," said Ainge. "I think that, first of all, health is going to fix [Boston's struggles]. Our guys are going to get more healthy as the year goes on, I've been saying that, and I still believe that. I don't know what we're going to be able to do from a trade standpoint -- trades are very difficult to do in the NBA right now.
"We're going to try to do something. I feel like we need to do something. It might be something very small -- tweak the personality of our team."
Later Ainge added: "I'll know more by this time next week, if there's anything we can do to win better this year and still not hurt us down the road. So I'm exploring, those are the only kind of deals I'd consider doing right now. Right now, I'm not ready to blow it up. [Maybe] if there was a very intriguing young player, but those are not available."
Asked if the Celtics are more interested in shaking up chemistry or filling a need, Ainge pointed to the latter.
"Fill a need," he said. "It’s all about winning. Our chemistry is fine. It’s more of a playing need. I think it might be to change our approach, change our rotation, change the way we go about it. The chemistry on the court is what I’m more concerned about than I am any sort of personalities. We don’t have any bad personalities in the locker room. So I’m interested in helping our team get better."