Celtics own Clipper's pick

The Boston Celtics own the LA Clippers' 1st round pick this year. It is top 10 protected, but anything 11 down is fair game for us. I'm not a college basketball fan but I'm hearing the draft is deep this year. Could an immediate impact player might be available 11-15? 16-20?

Here's hoping the Clippers turn back into the Clippers for the remainder of this season. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and 7-9 since 3/1, so they're heading in the right direction. For us.

bob

.

bobheckler wrote:The Boston Celtics own the LA Clippers' 1st round pick this year. It is top 10 protected, but anything 11 down is fair game for us. I'm not a college basketball fan but I'm hearing the draft is deep this year. Could an immediate impact player might be available 11-15? 16-20?

Here's hoping the Clippers turn back into the Clippers for the remainder of this season. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and 7-9 since 3/1, so they're heading in the right direction. For us.

bob

.

Bob - Right now only eight teams have a better record than the Clippers so if the draft was today that pick would be #22. Your suggestion that it could possibly be in the #11-15 range (I know you also said it could be #16-20) is impossible. #16 is the highest any playoff team would pick and it is clear they are headed to the playoffs. And probably not with one of the lower spots also now that they solved their shooting guard problem by picking up Nick Young.

Don't know where he'll go but i've watched enough Syracuse games to see that this Dion Waiters guy is one tough player.

Another year in college woudl be best but I believe he is MORE ready that Austin Rivers is but that is pure speculation. Not overly big but plays bigger than his listed 6-4. Has some range but takes it to the hole well to and finishes. Defense like all SU players is suspect as they play zone but I would like to think he would be adequate.

here is the local Syracuse rag on him.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2012-03-26/nba-draft-2012-dion-waiters-syracuse-sophomore-guard-to-leave-school-early

beat

How does the seeding for draft order work? Do the 14 teams who don't make the playoffs automatically get the top 14 picks, even if, say, the 8th team in the East has a worse record than the 10th team in the West (as is currently the case)?

If all it takes to be in the #11-15 range is being out of the playoffs, then there is a chance that's where the Clippers pick will wind up. They are currently in 4th at 27-21, but they are only 1.5 games ahead of the Nuggets (9th in the West) and 2.5 games ahead of the Suns (10th). The West is so bunched up in 4th through 10th that any team in that group could be out of the playoffs at the end.

I still think the Clippers will be in the playoffs, but as I've said in other threads, they've played poorly since Billups went out (15-7 before, 12-14 since), so they're not trending in the right direction.

Outside

Outside wrote:How does the seeding for draft order work? Do the 14 teams who don't make the playoffs automatically get the top 14 picks, even if, say, the 8th team in the East has a worse record than the 10th team in the West (as is currently the case)?

If all it takes to be in the #11-15 range is being out of the playoffs, then there is a chance that's where the Clippers pick will wind up. They are currently in 4th at 27-21, but they are only 1.5 games ahead of the Nuggets (9th in the West) and 2.5 games ahead of the Suns (10th). The West is so bunched up in 4th through 10th that any team in that group could be out of the playoffs at the end.

I still think the Clippers will be in the playoffs, but as I've said in other threads, they've played poorly since Billups went out (15-7 before, 12-14 since), so they're not trending in the right direction.

Outside

They pick in reverse order of their record once the ping pong balls determine who the Top 3 picks go to. That way the worst pick a team can get if they have the worst record is #4.

I'm finding conflicting information about the draft order, but as far as I know, the rules around it didn't change with the new CBA, so the best indicator for me is how it worked in the 2011 draft:

-- The 14 teams that didn't make the playoffs were assigned the first 14 picks in round 1, and playoff teams were assigned picks 15-30 by record. So in round 1, Indiana, the playoff team with the worst record (37-45), was assigned pick 15, while teams that had better records but missed the playoffs -- Houston (43-39), Phoenix (40-42), and Utah (39-43) -- were included in the 1-14 group.

-- Due to the convoluted ping pong ball lottery process shuffling the order of the non-playoff teams in the first round, the actual order of the first 14 picks in round 1 didn't exactly match the teams' won-loss record order. The lottery teams with the best records have little chance of moving up the draft order, and in 2011, picks 9-14 wound up the same as won-loss record within the lottery group. The Clippers' pick, which would've been 8th based on W-L record, wound up being the first pick (though they had traded it to Cleveland). Theoretically, even the 14th team in the lottery group has the potential to wind up with the top pick.

-- In the second round, the draft order was assigned strictly by won-less record. Whether a team made the playoffs is irrelevant, except maybe in the tiebreaker system (which I didn't bother to look into). In this round, Indiana was assigned the 12th pick and Houston was assigned the 17th pick.

Here's the site that showed the draft order in the simplest manner for my purposes http://www.insidehoops.com/draft-order.shtml

So, based on how the 2011 draft worked and assuming the draft order rules are still the same, it appears to me that the Clippers' pick could fall into the 1-14 group in round 1 if they don't make the playoffs.

As Bob pointed out, the Clippers' pick is top-10 protected, which means the Celtics don't get to use it if it winds up being pick 1-10, so it's only useful to the Celtics if it winds up as pick 11 or lower. But if the Clippers fall out of the playoffs, it could be in the 11-14 range.

I did find one other interesting caveat about the pick:

Boston receives LA Clippers 2012 1st round pick (via Oklahoma) (top 10 protected) from the Jeff Green trade. The Celtics would get the lesser of the LA Clippers pick or the Timberwolves 1st round pick.

http://www.mynbadraft.com/2012-NBA-Mock-Draft

So that makes it sound like what pick the Celtics get also depends on where the Timberwolves pick winds up relative to the Clippers pick.

And this is all hypothetical based on whether the Clippers miss the playoffs. If they get it together and are in the playoffs, as I expect they will, they'll wind up with a lower pick, like in the low 20's.

Outside

Outside

TransactionsJune 28, 2005: Drafted by the New Orleans Hornets in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 2005 NBA Draft.

December 14, 2011: Traded by the New Orleans Hornets with a 2015 2nd round draft pick and a 2015 2nd round draft pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and a 2012 1st round draft pick.

Above trade complicates the matter even more. How does the above trade of a Clipper 1st round pick to the Hornets(Chris Paul trade) affect the Celtics since both teams may have an interest in the same draft pick?

swish

Outside

Found the answer to which draft pick went to the Hornets.

See below

"Hornets receive the Timberwolves 2012 first-round pick. (unprotected). via Clippers. (Paul trade) (Chris Paul trade 12-14-2011"
Swish

Good point; It's a very deep draft this year.

If our primary needs are center and shooting guard, there is a very real possibility we could get a player that can play right away as far down as the top half of the second round.

To say that we're talking about an immediate impact player might be a stretch, but not beyond possible, especially at those two positions.

These are a few players at C and SG that have been mentioned as having the potential to fall to #15 or even late round 1/early round 2. If you look at some of the mock drafts, the first three centers listed are all over; as high as five and as low as second round. So much for mock draft reliability. I've left off a few at each position that are certain to go before we get to pick.

C
Tyler Zeller 6-11 240 PF/C North Carolina Sr.
Meyers Leonard 7-0 245 C Illinois So.
Arnett Moultrie 6-10 230 PF/C Mississippi State Jr.
Zeke Marshall 7-0 235 C Akron Jr.
Festus Ezeli 6-11 255 C Vanderbilt Sr.

SG
Doron Lamb 6-4 200 SG Kentucky So.
Khris Middleton 6-7 211 SG/SF Texas A&M Jr.
Tim Hardaway Jr 6-5 185 SG Michigan So.
William Buford 6-5 190 SG Ohio State Sr.

I've left Austin Rivers off the list at SG because I just can't see us doing that to Doc.

If we use our picks as they stand...

In that alternate reality where I get to choose I would take Moultrie or Ezeli first, whichever was available, and pencil him in as our opening day center. I really expect Zeller and Leonard to be gone sooner, and I think Leonard could be the steal of the draft at center. I'd take Leonard first above anyone on this list, but doubt we get the chance. Moultrie, still growing, is thought to be an NBA center, was a PF and center in college, and was originally a SF. Ezeli has more of the size and length now.

If Lamb was still available with our second pick, I'd snag him despite his 6'4" size being on the smaller end. If not, any of the next three could probably come in and give some serious minutes right away.

Even our second round pick could net someone who sticks and plays. If Bradley, Moore, Johnson and Stiemsma are thought to be developing and still around, we could have an awfully good stable of young, athletic players who seem to have the right tools and IQ.

If my calendar's correct, we'll see in 93 days...

On artisitic merits alone I'd pick Festus, a name lost to American culture since Gunsmoke went off the air. As sidekick to Marshall Dillon, he gave hope to all of us who don't like to shave. Strange isn't it that three of the top five centers have "Z" prominent in their name. Is Costa-Gavras orchestrating this draft in some arcane way?

worcester wrote:On artisitic merits alone I'd pick Festus, a name lost to American culture since Gunsmoke went off the air. As sidekick to Marshall Dillon, he gave hope to all of us who don't like to shave. Strange isn't it that three of the top five centers have "Z" prominent in their name. Is Costa-Gavras orchestrating this draft in some arcane way?

W,

Let's take this in two parts.

First off, if we were to draft and play Festus Ezeli, during a timeout when Doc was ranting about something he might look at Doc and say "You ornery ole scutter."

Second; if Gavras is behind the 2012 draft, would we see David Stern running around yelling "il est vivant" after Tyler Zeller, Zeke Marshall or Festus Ezeli are drafted?

Also on your second point; Would that mean this year's draft could win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film?

Just some thoughts...

Very cosmopolitan of you NY Celt. I appreciated the French lingo too. You ornery old scutter!