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?

IF They Keep The Pick

Keeping the pick would show that the Celtics are going to keep it safe and try to develop someone into a core player for their rotation. With Guard’s Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart all coming back it seems that the weakness of this team comes from their frontcourt. You would see time and time again that although the C’s have a productive two-way backcourt with Thomas, Bradley, and Smart you saw them lose games through rebounding and lack of bigs inside the paint.

The catalyst of the frontcourt this season was F Amir Johnson without a doubt, he came up big in the two wins against the Atlanta Hawks in the postseason and just an overall superb presence in the paint for the C’s this season. Johnson is currently under a 2 year/ 24 mil deal that has a team option for the 2016-17 season, so although it is likely the team will pick up Johnson’s option their is still the chance that he could be wearing a different uniform this season.

My theory is if the C’s do decide to keep this #3 overall pick, is it ok to take a guard?; even though they are already stacked with their guard play. The answer to that was easy for Ainge, even with the necessity of a big man this year’s draft class has such a low-grade for big man here in 2016, Ainge said that they plan on selecting “the best player available”. Here are some draft prospects that you could see in Celtics green next season.

Buddy Hield

One of the most explosive college basketball players we have seen in sometime, the 6-foot-4 Bahamian Senior out of the University of Oklahoma was nothing short of sensational last season. Hield was named the John R. Wooden Award winner (Best Player in College Basketball), while averaging 25 PPG along with 5.7 RPG. Every time the Sooners along with Hield were playing on National Television it was always a “must see”, as the shooting guard would always find a way to pull out a win for Oklahoma with his sensational shooting and also played great defense when put under pressure.

His play compares to Future Hall-of-Famer Kobe Bryant, as his will to shoot the lights out the ball till he is successful is very similar to Bryant’s. You saw this year as a senior Hield being a flat-out leader for the Sooners, and truly embraced defense like you saw Bryant did during his historic career. Overall, I would be very hyped up if the Celtics decided to draft Hield if they kept the 3rd overall pick because I believe that he has the highest ceiling out of anyone in this draft because he has already experienced true success in his young career unlike top prospects in LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram.

Jamal Murray

Murray had a good freshman season for the University of Kentucky, averaging 20 PPG but the team itself didn’t have a “Kentucky” type of season. This 6-foot-4 19 year old shooting guard is a strong player, who developed his shot and play over the course of his first collegiate season.

Unfortunately, when I saw the Wildcats play this past season time and time again Murray would be a complete “no-show” when it came down to the closing minutes. Murray had to be continuously bailed out by teammate Tyler Ulis because Murray didn’t have that clutch factor that we have seen from a guy such as Buddy Hield. Overall, Murray is a great talent who I could see having to develop at such a young age like we saw from former Wildcat Celtics guard James Young, but in terms for the Celtics I don’t think he is worth a #3 pick.

Dragan Bender

If the Celtics keep the third overall pick, Bender will be the toughest choice to look past as the green are in need of a big man for the future. This 7-footer out of Croatia is one of the leading players in the world in his age group. A super-tall forward, he is agile and athletic, with remarkable game intelligence. He combines good shooting, terrific rebounding ability, and excellent passing ability. Bender’s diversity means he can play almost any position on the court.

Although he is only averaging 4.3 PPG and 2.3 RPG, the big man seems like a player for the future as he has to develop his game to matchup to the best players in the world the NBA has to offer. Overall, I think a process like this would kill the Celtics as the motive of this team is a “win-now” type of mentality and the fact that we would have to pay his club Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) over a million dollars just to eat his contract doesn’t seem right. Their is hope for Bender’s career though, as New York Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis had a sensational rookie season as Bender draws comparisons to the Latvian Forward.

IF They Trade The Pick

Jahlil Okafor

In my opinion, I think if they trade the 3rd overall pick Philadelphia 76ers Center Jahlil Okafor seems like the most logical choice. The former 3rd overall pick (Duke ) in last year’s 2015 NBA Draft was displeased from the start of being in Philadelphia. Speaking of production, Okafor finished in the top 3 for NBA Rookie of the Year voting while he averaged 17.5 PPG and and over 7 RPG. Philadelphia has drafted a pretty crowded frontcourt as it is with players such as Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and with the first overall pick in this years draft taking Simmons or Ingram will more than likely make Okafor expendable. Although Okafor had an altercation in Boston earlier this year, I don’t see that being a problem as he looks like he would want to play for a winning team and get out of that mess in Philly. The biggest problem for the C’s if this trade goes down is “what else will they have to give up besides the pick?”. Will it be Marcus Smart or Jae Crowder on the move who have both played such an important roll on this team this past season. Only time will tell.

Jimmy Butler/Paul George

Teams such as the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers played below expectations this past season that resulted in coach firings (Frank Vogel,Indiana) and put a lot of character of players into question. Teams such as these in the past tend to completely just flip the switch when it comes to roster changes. The centerpiece of the Pacers has been Guard Paul George for a long time now, and with George taking up a lot of cap (17 mil/yr) a trade could be put in place to put him on the move in 2016.

Chicago guard Jimmy Butler has taken the thrown as their most important player, but with such a mediocre season after former Head Coach Tom Thibodeau was fired the year prior the Bulls might go in a different direction and try to build through the draft. I’m not saying that George or Butler are likely heading to Boston, but Danny Ainge always has something up his sleeve. Players such as these two could take a contending team like the Celtics straight to the top, but the real question is who else would they have to give up besides the #3 overall pick to get a superstar such as George or Butler?

I think Celtics nation would love one of these guys to come to Boston, I just think the price might be too high as they would have to get rid of 2-3 core players such as Smart, Bradley, or/and Crowder. Overall, it will be interesting in what the Celtics do as Ainge has endless possibilities going into next months NBA Draft, lets just hope the decision that is made pays off in the long run.

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