We don’t know what the Celtics will do on draft night, but we know what they shouldn’t do
Danny Ainge is going to have a lot of options with the No. 3 pick and the Celtics' other assets. We're here to help him narrow them down.
COMMENTARY
As much as it pains a basketball son of the ‘80s to acknowledge this, the Sixers and Lakers are the franchises to be envied in Thursday night’s draft, with versatile Ben Simmons headed to Philly and smooth Brandon Ingram to Hollywood, barring anything unforeseen and ridiculous happening. There’s no guarantee they’ll be the top two players to come from this draft, but they are undeniably the top two prospects entering it. Stupid ping-pong balls.
The team to be mocked? Why, that remains the Brooklyn Nets, who three years ago traded essentially all of their first-round picks through 2018 to the Celtics in the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett deal (featuring Jason Terry!). On Thursday, they swapped one of their few remaining competent professional basketball players, Thaddeus Young, to move into the first round this year, at the No. 20 spot. Just a hunch, but I think the Celtics might be back in the lottery next year and the year after as well, courtesy of Danny Ainge’s Auerbachian heist.
But the team driving this draft, the team surrounded by suspense and possibility? That is Celtics, of course, and for more than one compelling reason. The Celtics hold the No. 3 pick, which is one step from where they wanted to be (Ingram would have looked swell in green), and yet a hell of a good spot nonetheless. Not only are they positioned to land an excellent prospect, but they’re positioned to make a major trade in the hours leading up to the draft should a club picking lower decide there is a prospect it just has to have. Oh, and they have seven other picks as well, including the 16th, which could yield another immediately helpful player.
Coming as no surprise whatsoever, Ainge has done a remarkable job of preventing revelation and confirmation of the Celtics’ true intentions. While we wannabe prognosticators and would-be draft experts pontificate on stars they should trade for (I’m still waiting for the Bulls to give any indication whatsoever that Jimmy Butler might be available) and ponder players they might choose in the 3-spot (Buddy Hield, Jamal Murray, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Jaylen Brown and Kris Dunn have all been pegged as favorites in one mock draft or another), Ainge has played it cool and quiet, waiting for the right offer to come in before the Celtics are on the clock.
Wouldn’t you love to know the offers he’s getting? The suspense – and the possibilities it leads us to imagine – has been fun, and now it all culminates with Thursday night’s reveal. My current hope – and man, have I fluctuated on this one – is that Ainge selects dynamic, determined Providence guard Kris Dunn at No. 3 if the Celtics keep the pick. He’s not a great shooter, but he’s a true point guard, a defensive hawk, and plays with style and intensity. I’d bet on him being a star.
But without knowing all of the possibilities Ainge is considering and has to choose from, it’s easier to now to emphasize what we don’t want the Celtics to do. And there are three things that could happen tonight that, in the moment, I would consider a disappointment. Let’s get the negativity in this town out of the way now:
Don’t trade the No. 3 pick for Jahlil Okafor: I’ll admit that when the story came out that the Celtics approached the Sixers about the 20-year-old big man at the trade deadline, it seemed an intriguing possibility. Okafor was under consideration as the No. 1 overall pick last year before the Timberwolves recognized that Karl-Anthony Towns was the obvious choice, with the former Duke star landing third with Philly. He’s a polished post player with great hands and an array of moves. He’s also slightly more effective on defense than the guy who holds the “slow” sign at a road construction site, and sometimes I wonder if he’ll be anything more than a high-end Jared Sullinger. I think the Celtics can do better here, unless they think Okafor has an Al Jefferson-like appeal as a key chip in an even bigger trade.
Don’t draft Buddy Hield: Everyone loves Buddy, and for good reason. He’s a dead-eye shooter who plays with great joy, and he’s familiar, having led Oklahoma to the Final Four before they got walloped by Villanova. At 22 years old, he could have helped the Celtics this past year. But I’m just not sure he has a high enough ceiling to be the No. 3 selection. He’s a so-so defender and not much of a playmaker, and there are some who think he’ll have a tough time getting off his shot in the NBA. It’s not an insult to suggest he could end up having a J.J. Redick type of career. But if the Celtics traded the No. 3 pick for J.J. Redick, we wouldn’t be too pleased with that, would we?
Don’t trade Avery Bradley in a blockbuster: Bradley is the best defensive guard in the league, is a much-improved shooter (in part thanks to Brad Stevens putting him in spots that play to his strengths), plays impossibly hard, and is still just 25. I can’t say how many times I watched a game during the playoffs – involving the Warriors, Thunder, Cavs, just about any team – and thought, “You know, they could really use someone like Avery Bradley.” His injury is the primary reason the Celtics were wiped out by the Hawks. To me, he’s a cornerstone of what the Celtics are building — more so than Marcus Smart. The Celtics will add a half-dozen or so new players to their organization tonight. Ainge can make something interesting happen without parting with Bradley.
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