WALTHAM, Mass. — These can be anxious times for the Boston Celtics, what with the opening of the free- agent negotiating period and the flock of trades that’s expected to follow.

Danny Ainge, the president of basketball operations, has salary-cap space, players, trade exceptions and draft picks to use as currency in the marketplace, but he knows he can’t afford to get trigger-happy as those assets burn a hole in his wallet.

What Ainge wants to be, more than anything, is ready.

Just as the club isn’t good enough now to draft for position, it’s also not good enough to attract high-profile free agents looking for a chance to compete for a title in 2015-16. But the trade market is a different story, and here the Celtics have to hope a key player or two becomes available because of his team’s circumstances.

“I think the free agency and trade market is open, and we’ll see what we can do,” Ainge said. “We’ll try to do something to get some significant guys, but I don’t really know what that is yet. The thing is that we’re trying to stay in that game.

“The whole KG-Ray thing that happened (trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007) was because we were in that game. We had young assets. We had draft picks. We had players. But when James Harden came along, we weren’t in that game any longer. So we’re just trying to stay in a position to make a move like that if one becomes available. That’s no guarantee we’re going to get a player of that magnitude, but that’s our objective.”

And that requires a patience that’s wearing thin among some. To have a real chance at a title, the Celtics must pry loose an impact player or two, by diligent scouting or the right bid when a valuable talent is on the block.