WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) – Danny Ainge is hoping to bring in some talent with his first draft as boss of the Boston Celtics.

He already promises to add something they’ve sorely lacked: Patience.

Ainge promises that he won’t hesitate to take a high schooler if that’s what’s there for the Celtics at Nos. 16 and 20 overall in the NBA draft on Thursday night. Under Rick Pitino, Chris Wallace and Jim O’Brien, Boston has shied away from players who will take a long time to develop and repeatedly traded away those who don’t show promise right away.

“If I think it’s worth the risk, I’m patient enough,” Ainge said this week as he briefed reporters on his draft preparations. “The question is: Are you patient enough? Are the Boston fans patient enough? Is Jim O’Brien patient enough?”

Ainge will be overseeing his first draft since being named head of the Celtics’ basketball operations last month. Boston has two picks in the first round, plus the 56th overall pick received in this week’s trade for Darius Songaila.

The consensus top three players in the draft are Cleveland-area high schooler LeBron James, European star Darko Milicic and Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony. After that, a lot depends on what individual teams are looking for.

Among the players frequently mentioned as possibilities for the Celtics are:

• Sofoklis Schortsanitis, a power forward from Cameroon who’s been called “Baby Shaq.”

• Marcus Banks, a senior point guard from UNLV.

• Nineteen-year-old Serbian small forward Alexsandar Pavlovic.

Ainge has tried to package the two first-rounders to move up in the draft, but few NBA teams are looking to trade quality for quantity.

“When you’re drafting at 16 and 20, if you look at the history, about one in three picks become a successful NBA player,” he said. “So I wouldn’t say it’s make-or-break for us. Realistically, it’s just a stepping stone.”

While sticking to the oft-repeated mantra of taking the best player available, Ainge said he expected that the Celtics would come out of the draft with a point guard. But he also said the Celtics need help at every position except small forward.

“If a point guard that I expect to get and hope to get is not there, then I won’t be stuck on taking a point guard,” he said.

On the other hand, you never know. Ainge himself said he isn’t sure what to believe among the news that floats around at draft time.

Bemoaning the misinformation – from players, agents and other teams – that proliferates around draft time, Ainge said he trusts only what the Celtics have seen for themselves in workouts and game tapes.

“There is so much information. Some of it is comical,” he said, joking. “All the stuff I’ve been saying over the last 10 minutes is misinformation.”