Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge hasn't been an executive to hide in the shadows, and when faced with a report by The Athletic's Jason Lloyd saying an unnamed Cleveland Cavaliers player called him a “f***ing thief” after pulling off a blockbuster trade last summer, he responded promptly.

“First of all, time will tell,” Ainge said during an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich. “But that pick that we gave them had the chance to be the No. 1 pick in the draft.” “It turned out to be No. 8, but who knows? They may get a really good player with the eighth pick in this year’s draft. There are some very good players at the top of the draft.”

In true fox-like manner, Ainge's words have some truth in it — as No. 1 picks are not guaranteed to become a transformational player, and some franchise players have gone much lower in the draft — making it more a combination of luck, fit, and player development that determines the finished product.

“They turned Isaiah and Jae Crowder into other pieces, Clarkson and Hood and so forth,” Ainge continued. “Time will tell on all these trades, but at the time, we were criticized for giving up too much. And we gave up a lot. We liked Jae Crowder and we liked Isaiah Thomas. And we liked that Brooklyn pick.”

“I thought it was a fair trade at the time,” Ainge reasoned. “Both key players in Isaiah and Kyrie aren’t playing in this series, which is interesting, but we liked the trade for us then and we like it now. Hopefully it works out for both teams.”

Ainge had to know that the pick he gave away had some calculated risk, and chose to bundle it into a package that the Cavs couldn't refused. He later flipped a No. 1 pick for the third overall selection, adding even more future assets to his collection and setting himself up for the future.

Is he a thief? Maybe. But one playing by the rules and outsmarting fellow executives in his quest to a championship-caliber team.