A Quick Look At All Those Future Draft Picks

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/26/6838333/a-quick-look-at-the-boston-celtics-future-draft-picks



A quick look at the Boston Celtics future draft picks
By Jeff Clark  @celticsblog on Sep 26 2014, 5:00p 1



Some of the most valuable players on this year's team might not actually be players in the NBA ...yet.


For the past few weeks we've been counting down the days till training camp by profiling a player per day.  We've covered all the players under guaranteed contracts on the team but there's one more group of players we have yet to profile, ...because we don't know who they are yet.

So this is my attempt to profile our much ballyhoo'd (that's totally a word) future draft picks.  There's a lot of them and when you see them all together with all their restrictions and qualifications, they become somewhat garbled.  So for your viewing enjoyment, I will attempt to break them down into tiers and categories.


The MVP's (most valuable pick)

2015 Celtics 1st rounder
Unless this year's Celtics mirror the unexpected success of last year's Suns, our own pick is still going to be the most valuable.  With or without Rajon Rondo on the team for the whole year, the odds are good that this will be a lottery pick.


Solid Rotation Guys

2016 1st rounder from Nets
2016 Celtics 1st rounder
Option to swap 1st round picks with Nets in 2017 (also includes swapping 2nd rounders in opposite direction)
2017 Celtics 1st rounder
2018 1st rounder from Nets
2018 Celtics 1st rounder
The value of our own picks obviously depends on the speed of our own rebuilding project.  The faster we get better the less valuable these picks will be (a trade-off I'm completely comfortable accepting).

Those Nets picks could turn into something very solid in the coming years. In fact, they could be lottery picks if all does not go according to plan in Brooklyn.

The Nets obviously gain nothing by tanking in any of the next 3 years and they have an owner who is eager to win. On the other hand, they've adopted a more fiscally sound spending strategy. They are still far into tax territory for the next couple of seasons. Since they can't count on the draft to help them build organically they may be forced to spend even more money to improve.

My best guess is that they'll be moderately competitive for a few more years until the picks run out and cap space opens up. That would still give us picks in the middle of the first round. However, a situation like this could also go south in a hurry, which could be beneficial to the Celtics over the long term with potential future unprotected lottery picks.


Deep rotation guys

2015 1st rounder from Clippers
2016 1st rounder from Cavaliers (top 10 protected)
2015 2nd rounder from Sixers
2016 2nd rounder from Sixers
The Clips and Cavs will likely be in the top 10 for the foreseeable future, but an extra pick at the end of the first round is always nice to have around - especially if you are hoping to trade up a spot or two.

I'm going under the safe assumption that the Sixers don't make the playoffs, so that potential 1st rounder for Jordan Crawford is going to magically turn into 2 second rounders. But hey, the Sixers will be one of the worst teams around, so those are almost like 1st rounders without the guaranteed contract structure and pay scale.

The hidden gems (will take some digging)

2016 2nd rounder from Cavs
Celtics 2nd rounders (2015, 2017, 2018)
2015 Wizards 2nd rounder (top 49 protected)
2016 2nd rounder from Heat
2017 2nd rounder from Cavs
The Heat pick has the best chance (aside from our own) of being in the top 50.  There's a chance that the Wizards could be a top 10 team the year and thus owe us a 2nd rounder in the 50's.  For whatever that is worth.

Anyone picked in the last 10 picks of the 2nd round (like with the Cavs picks) are likely stash-over-seas kinds of guys.

So there you have it.  All the picks in one place.  Aren't they glorious?

Note 1: There's no way all these picks are all being used to select players who will play for the Boston Celtics unless there's an epic (further) tear-down job coming.

Note 2: It is entirely possible that I missed something or failed to mention some specifics behind some of these picks. See http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed for a more detailed breakdown.



bob
MY NOTE: Anybody who thinks that all those draft picks will wear green is crazy. I don't even think all the first round picks will wear green, much less the 2nd rounders. Furthermore, Jeff Clark is only discussing this coming year's draft and the one after that. He's not even touching on 2017 and 2018, where we have at least one more first rounder from Brooklyn coming. Clark said those "could be lottery picks if all does not go according to plan in Brooklyn". Since when has anything gone according to plan with the Nets? You've heard of "The Curse of the Babe"? Well, they have "The Curse of the Doctor". Ever since they traded away Julius Erving and gutted their ABA championship team to join the NBA in the '70s they've struggled to be even mediocre, except for one year.



.

Any opportunity to trade a crap shoot for something of substance is okay in my book.  With occasional exceptions, the lottery is just a few degrees from the annual dunk contest—more entertainment than buried treasure.

Sam