WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) – The Boston Celtics have long wanted to become an efficient running team. Now they have the tools to do it.

The Celtics made a pair of trades during the NBA draft Wednesday night to acquire two speedy point guards.

Boston first selected Villanova guard Randy Foye with the No. 7 pick in the NBA draft, then promptly traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers for Sebastian Telfair in a five-player deal.

The Celtics later traded for the rights to Kentucky point guard Rajon Rondo, who was selected by Phoenix with the No. 21 pick. Boston also received Brian Grant in exchange for a first-round pick next year that the Celtics had acquired from Cleveland.

In the deal with Portland, Boston received Telfair, center Theo Ratliff and a second-round draft pick in 2008 in return for Foye, forward Raef LaFrentz, point guard Dan Dickau and cash considerations. But Telfair was the centerpiece of the deal.

“We felt like speed is the way the game is going right now,” said Danny Ainge, the Celtics executive director of basketball operations. “You see in Chicago and you see in Dallas all those different teams playing multiple point guards at one time. I don’t think you can have too many.”

In two years with Portland, Telfair averaged 8.1 points and 3.5 assists. He averaged 12.6 points and four assists through the first eight games last season, but lost his starting job after injuring his thumb.

“My style of play is up-tempo,” said the 21-year-old Telfair, who was drafted out of New York’s Lincoln High School with the No. 13 pick of the 2004 draft. “We’ve got some good players over that I can help make a little better and get open shots for Paul (Pierce), Wally (Szczerbiak) and the rest of the guys.”

Like Telfair, Rondo is best known for his speed and passing ability. He averaged 11.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and an SEC-best 4.9 assists per game last year.

Second-year guard Delonte West started 71 games at point guard for the Celtics last season, but is considered more of a shooting guard who could be best off the bench. He averaged 11.8 points, 4.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Rivers said West and Telfair will compete for the starting point guard position, but that he envisions playing them together.

“(Telfair has) great speed and great decision making, and I think we don’t have that,” Rivers said. “I think Delonte does some things far better than Telfair. First of all the rebounding, the defense, the shot. You add those two assets together, and I think it’s a pretty darn good fit.”

The Celtics had all along planned on drafting a point guard, and earlier this week worked out Rondo, Foye and Connecticut’s Marcus Williams. Ainge said they would have considered taking Rondo with the seventh pick, but thought Telfair is more equipped to run an NBA offense next year.

“We looked at Telfair and we looked at the guys who were available in this draft, and we felt that this would be a better situation for us,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “If Telfair had been in this draft, he would not have been available at seven”

The 6-foot-4 Foye was a first-team All-American as a senior last year at Villanova after averaging 20.5 points and 5.7 rebounds. He led the Wildcats in scoring and was second in rebounds, assists and steals.

Rivers said he was impressed with Foye but wanted to add a traditional point guard to his roster.

“Foye, I think, is going to be a solid player,” Rivers said. “But I think he is going to be more of a scoring point. We have Paul and Wally on our team, so I don’t think we need a lot of points out of that position.”

The Celtics also traded a future second-round pick to acquire California power forward Leon Powe, whom the Denver Nuggets took with the No. 49 pick.

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