Here's how Ainge described his early free agency moves and his opinion on the market.

"I made some calls,’’ said Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. "Rasheed is a guy we have interest in. We made calls with quite a few free agents’ representatives late last night from my office to let them know we have interest. We contacted 10 free agents and tried to get some feedback in what they are looking for and their interest long term. But that’s about it. Mostly for something down the road.’’

Ainge said he did not contact any players directly, nor has he made contract offers. Ainge said he has been on the receiving end of many more inquiries from agents in recent days than he has proferred.

"We’ll just continue to stay in contact with free agents to see if there is something we can do,’’ Ainge said. "That could take some time. Free agents are talking to several teams. I don’t anticipate anything dramatic happening any time soon. We have plenty of time left.

"We have an interest in a lot of free agents, on different levels. We have different needs. I think everybody’s trying to get a feel to where the market is. I think a lot of players start on July 1st with big dollar signs in their eyes, and then some of them get it, and some of them don’t. And some of them come looking for anything later in the summer.

"So, it will be interesting to see how the summer goes. There’s always guys who have big dollar signs who don’t get what they’re hoping for. That’s their agents’ job, to ask for whatever they can, and settle for what’s available.’’