Boston Celtics front office capitalizes upon heavy load of picks, executes key draft night trades, poising themselves to make a run deep into the playoffs.
Why? Why can I not actually have that passage lead this article? Why am I sitting here forced to write about how Danny Ainge flopped on draft night, setting the Celtics back probably half a decade? Why is it that, hours before the NBA draft Boston was in a position to make a plethora of deals, and bring in some established talent from across the league, and now have nothing of the sort to show for it?
I'm very frustrated with the executives and their decision making. The Boston Celtics had EIGHT draft picks to play with. In any normal draft a team is supposed to have two. Mind you a NBA team can only travel with twelve players on their official roster. Can you see the dilemma at hand here?
The assumed plan was to load up on picks in order to place the team in a position of power, allowing deals to be completed more smoothly and with fluidity. THIS WAS THE PLAN!
With the third overall pick (courtesy of the Brookyln Nets in the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett deal) the Celtics were expected to have immense leverage directly after the lottery was drawn. Couple that with the fact that Boston was holding a full hand of cards, 7 additional picks, 2 of those being more first rounders, all seemed well.
Becuase of this, over the course of the preceding week prior to draft night, the Celtics were engaged in multiple trade discussions. These included; the Chicago Bulls, whom were rumored to potentially send star guard Jimmy Butler in return for defensive stud Avery Bradley, the 3rd and 16th overall pick, and a couple lower-tier players on the Celtics roster. This wasn't able to be completed for some reason.
Another major trade that was floated around involved the Philadelphia 76ers. According to a number of reports, Philly offered Boston Nerlens Noel, Robert Covington, and the 24th and 26th overall picks. Celtics executives declined this offer.
There were a couple of other offers rumored to be on the table, and it was no secret that Boston was shopping the third overall pick. However, no move was made. Apparently Danny Ainge and the other personnel involved in coordinating these deals did not feel as if teams were offering as much as they should. I understand that. I'm not a front office guy, I'm simply a fan. So maybe I am not seeing everything I should. But I'm not the only fan that thinks the way this draft was conducted was outlandish.
If it's in fact true that the afore mentioned deal with the 76ers was on the table, I'm downright embarrassed that it was not accepted. To pass up on a young talent like Noel, AND two other first round picks, in insane. The Celtics ended up drafting Jaylen Brown, who is very talented with a great upside if he can start shooting better, but he's not the package of talent (at this stage) that was offered. Then Boston goes on to pick two European guys, who could end up being stashed in leagues over there until needed, not making an immediate impact. Add this to the three additional picks that were used in the second round (a trade was made that swapped the 31st pick Deyonta Davis and the 35th pick Rade Zagorac to the Grizzlies to acquire the Clippers' 1st round draft pick in 2019) and you get a total of 6 new guys.
The Boston Celtics are loaded with young talent and have been drafting guys the past few years that may very well pan out, but aren't ready to win now. But we have too much young talent, too many players to develop. The Celtics front office seems like they got greedy, and held out too long to the fact that now it's too late. Draft night is over. We now have to move forward from here with disappointed fans, and a continuation of the rebuilding process we seemingly have been on course for forever. We aren't the 76ers. I don't want to "trust the process." I'm upset, angry at the front office, and am frankly disappointed. Show us something Danny Ainge, prove me wrong.
