Celtics Land 3rd Pick in Lottery, Head to Draft with Uncertainty

Going into last Tuesday night’s 2016 NBA Draft Lottery the Boston Celtics had the third best odds to get the number one overall pick.

Today we sit here in the same position with the 3rd overall pick, as the ping pong balls barely bounced as every team in the top 3 (LA Lakers, Philadelphia) sit in the same position as they were at the conclusion of the regular season.

The Celtics should be thankful of President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge for the position they sit in this years NBA Draft, the GM traded Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets for a couple expiring contracts including Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, and an astonishing 3-FIRST ROUND PICKS starting this year in 2016 (’17,’18).  This trade could turn out to be one of the best moves Ainge has made as a representative of the Boston Celtics.

With Brooklyn finishing with the third worst record in the NBA this season and no way to build a team through the draft for at least the next three seasons, I expect to see more lottery picks with the Nets having limited talent and no direction. It would be safe to say to expect a couple more lottery picks for the Celtics (Via Brooklyn) for the next couple of seasons.

Whether Boston opts to keep the pick and seek out a young prospect in the draft, or trade it to another team for established NBA talent, Danny Ainge says the team is in great position to improve and he is excited about the opportunity to have a high selection in this year’s draft.

“The picture is more clear for sure,” Ainge said moments after Boston’s draft position was revealed.“Still,” he added, “the draft is uncertain, just by its nature when you’re oftentimes drafting kids that are so young. So there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future and everybody’s future in the NBA and what players that we draft – there are no guarantees. But we like this draft, we’re excited about this No. 3 pick.” NBA

With the NBA Draft being exactly one month away (June 23rd on ESPN) Ainge and the Boston Celtics have their hands tied in what way to approach this night. The C’s having 7 picks in this years draft (3,16,23,31,35,45,51,58), their are endless possibilities in what they can do to make the future of this franchise look even brighter. They can choose to keep the lottery pick and select someone who they might not have a full read on because this year’s draft class is “shaky” after the first two picks to say the least.

The other option could be to choose to go in a different direction in where they would trade the 3rd overall pick to perhaps add someone who already has NBA experience and could help out the green right out of the gate.

How will the Celtics address their upcoming draft dilemma?