2013 NBA Draft: Boston Celtics potentially looking to move up?

By Jeff Clark

USA TODAY Sports

Could Ainge be looking to move up in this year's NBA draft?

This year's draft is widely seen as a pretty weak one compared to some of the better drafts. However, the draft still presents the best opportunity for teams to pick up cheap, quality talent that can grow into franchise changing players.

The Celtics have the 16th pick and haven't drafted this high since the Kevin Garnett trade. It is possible that Ainge is looking to up the ante even more and get himself into the lottery.

Apparently based on who the Boston Celtics have interviewed at the 2013 NBA Draft combine – a list that includes projected top-10 picks Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, plus other possible lottery picks Mason Plumlee and Kelly Olynyk – Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix suggested Thursday that the Celtics could be looking to move up.


How he would go about doing that is an interesting question. We certainly have some trade chips outside of Pierce and Garnett, but aside from Bradley or Sullinger, I don't any of them would net us a lottery pick in return by themselves. Still, if someone wanted a shot at kick-starting Courtney Lee's career, it might be worth it if they are simply swapping picks. Moving from say the mid lottery down to 16 isn't a huge drop and if the team isn't that impressed with anyone on the board, they wouldn't mind moving back.

Of course, Ainge could be simply doing his due diligence in looking at all the options available. But as Jay King points out, teams are only allotted 18 interviews and it would be foolish to waste time on too many guys that don't have a chance of falling out of the lottery. So we'll see.

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Outside possibility Plumlee could still be available with our current pick, but if there is any way to move up and take him that would be a wise move. We would probably need to move up a good 3-4 spots to better insure that, though, and I just don't know how we can pull that one off. He's among the more ready bigs this year. Olynyk is an OK big, but strikes me as slow-moving. I'm not wild about his footwork on D. Dieng could be available, and is another C/PF that might be developed enough to come in and quickly earn some minutes. He can defend and even shoot some too. I think Withey could very well end up being our guy, although speed is also a minus with him. His overall game at both ends is well enough developed that it wouldn't be a disappointment at all.

All of those being C/PFs, if we were to go with a PG I like Erick Green as one of the better bargains and a potential steal at that position in this year's draft.

IMHO Olynyk isn't worth the cost of moving up, but I would do it to get Plumlee.

The Celtics find themselves in the midrange position.

They have a pretty good opportunity to draft a good player. I think most would agree that we need a big. if we could find C/F that would provide some insurance if Sully is not ready and it would give us a big in the middle.

So what type of big do we need? There are several centers that are pretty good on the offensive side of the ball like Mason Plumlee and Kelly Olynyk. And there is the French prospect Rudy Gobert who a real freak but perhaps not NBA ready yet and then there is the guy that I thnk would be a perfect fit.

I'm talking about Gorgui Dieng, His National Championship experience would add some value. I like his length and ability to play both power forward and center. Most of all I love his defense. Of all the center out there he is the only one that already knows how to play the pick and roll. He has the ability to switch off on a guard and play him which is something that killed us last year. Check out some video on him and it is hard not to be impressed. He has been described as a high energy guy. We need high energy!

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