Reports indicate the Celtics looked to move guards Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen as well as center Kendrick Perkins in recent weeks. Ainge shot down the rumors even though he left some ever-so-slight wiggle room at the team's training facility yesterday.

"I don't anticipate any trades happening this off-season regarding any of our core players," Ainge said.

Boston fans may hear those words and remain somewhat skeptical because of Ainge's track record for wheeling and dealing. Up until putting together the core of the 2007-08 championship team, he often talked about acquiring "pieces."

The list of players acquired through draft night trades during Ainge's tenure (he took over in May of 2003) include Ray Allen (from Seattle), Rajon Rondo (draft rights from Phoenix), Glen Davis (draft rights from Seattle), Kendrick Perkins (draft rights from Memphis), Leon Powe (draft rights from Denver), Bill Walker (draft rights from Washington), Sebastian Telfair (from Portland) and Marcus Banks (draft rights from Memphis).

Many of this off-season's rumors honed in on point guard Rondo, who was named to the NBA All-defensive second team this past season. He'll be entering his fourth season in 2009-10. He scored 11.9 points and dished out 8.2 assists per game during the regular season, his second season as a starter.

He exploded for 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game during the playoffs.

"I will never sit up here and say that there's any player that is untradeable, ever," Ainge said. "But the notion that we might be trading him because of some reason other than we think we can be better trading any player because of some reason.

"Because of his contract situation, I've hear speculation. I've heard speculation of we're dissatisfied with him or his attitude. That stuff is so false. He showed up late for a playoff game, so we're going to trade him. None of those things are true. We love the kid, and we think he's got a very bright future."

Ainge lamented that it seemed that reports are coming "out of the air," but he did admit the Celtics explored the potential of trading up in the draft.

Teams atop the draft would be willing to deal, Ainge said. The Celtics simply wouldn't be willing to meet the asking price of those teams.

"We have a pretty much guaranteed opportunity, if we play well and we stay healthy, to win with this team that we have," Ainge said. "We don't want to jeopardize that for the future."

The Celtics do not currently hold a first round pick in tomorrow night's draft. They're slated to select 58th overall.