Danny Ainge is ready for a hectic Celtics offseason

After suffering his second heart attack on April 30 in Milwaukee, the team's president of basketball operations is back to work and looking forward to getting the Celtics back on track after a disappointing season.

BOSTON -- More than three decades after they were together on an NBA championship team, Danny Ainge is still poking fun at Bill Walton.

The subject of his ex-teammate came up on Wednesday afternoon when Ainge, the Celtics president of basketball operations, was discussing changes that he has made to his diet following a mild heart attack suffered April 30.

“I’m eating more plants, and not the kind of plants in Walton’s garden,’’ joked Ainge.

In his first meeting with the media since being hospitalized in Milwaukee prior to Game 2 of the Celtics playoff series with the Bucks, Ainge had obviously not lost his trademark sense of humor.

Ainge has been back to work since the end of the disappointing Celtics’ season, gradually increasing his contributions while taking steps to improve his health.

“I feel great,’’ said Ainge, who looked healthy during his 20-minute press conference at the Auerbach Center. “It’s an exciting time of year.

“I just need to eat better and exercise more and get skinner, all those things. My role’s not going to change. I need to manage all that stuff better. I’m just trying to make sure (a heart attack) doesn’t happen again.’’

In his absence, assistant general manager Mike Zarren, director of player personnel Austin Ainge and director of player evaluation Dave Lewin increased their roles.

“We’re all replaceable. We all know that. I tell the players that all the time,’’ said Ainge. “I know our organization is in great hands with Mike and Austin and Dave. We have a great chemistry. We’ve been together for a long time. Those guys are capable of doing everything. Everything moves right along.

“They’re very capable of filling in when I needed to step away for a little while.’’

Ainge said that doctors did not want him watching games between the Celtics and Bucks right after the heart attack, so he had to settle for waiting a few days after they were played.

“They wanted me to avoid stressful situations,’’ said Ainge. “I recorded the games, but I was like, ‘That’s more stressful.’ I’ve got to be in a setting where I’m not screaming and yelling and my veins aren’t sticking out all over my neck.’’

Speaking of stressful, Ainge has a hectic offseason ahead starting with the NBA Draft on June 20 followed 10 days later by the start of free agency with the possibility of Kyrie Irving leaving the Celtics.

All of that comes after the Celtics won only 49 regular-season games, then lost to the Bucks in five games in the second round, falling below expectations due to a lack of chemistry.

“We had some moments where we came together and it was going well, but in an NBA season, you’re going to have adversity,’’ said Ainge. “You’re going to have bad moments and you’re going to have team meetings. But you’ve got to have that resolve to do that all the time.

“You’ve got to be able to play through that adversity. When you don’t have that cohesion, it’s just harder to have the resolve that you need. I think they are all committed to having more resolve individually as their careers go forward. That’s one thing they can learn.

“In the exit interviews, I thought they all had good things to say and I think there’ll be a great learning curve from that experience.’’

Players were unable to accept roles and there was an obvious lack of togetherness on the court for long stretches of the season.

Even after an easy win in Game 1 of the Bucks series, the Celtics were unable to keep that going as the chemistry fell apart in four straight losses.

“I think how many ‘likes’ they get on social media, how much money they’re going to get paid (matters to players),’’ said Ainge. “I was a young player once, too. That stuff mattered to me, how much you’re going to get paid and if you’re going to start or come off the bench.

“At some point, you fight and compete and however it works out, you accept your role and move on and keep going. I wish our team would have done a better job of that this year.

“I learned some things from this year. I think it was a unique situation where we overachieved to such an extent the year before with young players and so many expectations, not just their own expectations, but expectations of everybody.

“I think I learned a lot this year about how a team can respond. I think players aren’t the same today as they were even 10 years ago or 15 or 20 years ago.’’

The Celtics have three picks in the first round of the draft, then they will wait to see if Irving will be re-signing or leaving for another team after two seasons in Boston.

Ainge said that the team is looking at all options this month before the time for action arrives.

He also had praise for coach Brad Stevens, who had a difficult time getting the Celtics on the same page.

“There’s no other coach I’d rather have than Brad Stevens,’’ said Ainge. “He’s the least of our worries.’’