Who Might Be The Next Celtic?

Ugh, 6.

Assuming that Embiid, Wiggins, Parker and Exum are gone.  Also assuming that Danny doesn't trade this pick, up/down or out.

Heights are with shoes and are draft combine numbers if available.  To see their scouting videos, click on the links provided.


Marcus Smart - 6'3", 227#, 6'9 1/4" wingspan, PG


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Marcus-Smart-6284/



Julius Randle - 6'9", 250#, 7'0" wingspan, PF


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Julius-Randle-6294/



Noah Vonleh - 6'9 1/4", 247#, 7'4 1/4" wingspan, PF/C


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Noah-Vonleh-6471/



Doug McDermott - 6'7 3/4", 218#, 6'9 1/4" wingspan, PF

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Doug-McDermott-6504/



Dario Saric - 6'10", 223#, wingspan unavailable, SF/PF


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Dario-Saric-5706/



Jusuf Nurkic - 6'11", 280#, 7'2" wingspan, C


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jusuf-Nurkic-7118/



Aaron Gordon - 6'8 3/4", 220#, 6'11 3/4" wingspan, PF


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Aaron-Gordon-6458/



bob



.

Either Gordon or Vonleh.



KJ

Vonleh and Nurkic very much far away from being productive players. Saric has had good experience in Europe. If his athleticism is there, he could be productive right away. He's more likely to be able to play power forward than McDermott. Though, McDermott showed that he's more athletic than one would have thought at the combine. He's the most complete offensive player in this draft and probably the most able to have an impact right away. Gordon's defense will at least mean he'll get on the floor early on as at worst an energy. Bit of Ibaka in him or Faried? I'm not a fan of Smart: low % scorer, inconsistent outside shot, turnovers, strong defense at 3 perimeter positions, average quickness. If Randle is there at 6, hard not to take him. He's the best player of this group, and same with Exum if he fell instead.

draft board updates as of 5/20, post lottery with us picking 6th.

draftexpress has us taking Randle
mynbadraft.com has us taking Smart
nbadraft.net has us taking Vonleh
Hoopshype has us taking Vonleh


We don't need Randle, unless he's part of a trade for Love (maybe Sully's gone to Minny and Randle takes his slot).
We don't need Smart, unless he's part of a trade for Love or Asik or unless Avery Bradley is part of a trade for Love or Asik. That solves the Bradley contract situation too.
I don't think Vonleh is an NBA center, he's a PF, maybe even a stretch 4. Therefore, we don't need him.


I'm not liking any of these guys for us, quite frankly. I could see us taking Gordon, so that would make Green expendable or I could see Danny going rogue and either taking Saric (which could make Kelly expendable) or Nurkic or someone out of the order that these mock draft boards are predicting.

Or, I could just see him trading down for more picks and/or players. This draft is very highly regarded and Danny could get tons of picks for what we have. I'm not saying we want more picks, but I could easily see that happen and, quite frankly, I think that's what will happen if he can't cut the deal with Minny for Love or Houston for Asik for that #6 pick. He doesn't want another unbalanced roster year like the last one.



bob



.

Smart, Vonleh or Randle, in that order of probability if Avery Bradley is gone.

Vonleh, Smart or Randle, in that order of probability if Bradley sticks around.

Randle, Vonleh or Smart, in that order of probability if we package Sully and Kelly and Bradley stays.

Gotta go polish my crystal ball...

Vonleh has been compared to Bosh and I think that may be fairly accurate.

he will need a year or two to develop unlike Randle who will be ready day one IMO, however being only 19YO I can see Vonleh as a legit 6-10, 255# NBA center because of his 7-4 wingspan. But not until he's fully grown.

I doubt the Celtics keep the pick now.

on another note, am I the only one that thinks Embiid is the perfect fit for Cleveland?

Asik and Love need to be added to the list in order to answer the question posed by this thread. May not happen, but it's no less of a possibility than the names currently on the list.

Sam

Rapidly moving up:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/yahoo-sports-minute/mallory-edens-represents-milwaukee-bucks-at-nba-draft-lottery--becomes-instant-celebrity-085632202.html

Random tweet: "I'd take Mallory Edens with the #1 pick!"

Hard to argue...

sam wrote:Asik and Love need to be added to the list in order to answer the question posed by this thread.  May not happen, but it's no less of a possibility than the names currently on the list.

Sam

sam,


I agree, but I thought those ideas should be on trade rumor threads and not a draft thread.  For what it's worth, I think you're leaning the right way.  I think #6 is gone, along with whomever, for either Asik or Love.  That's why I said that I don't like any of those guys for us.  They're not top franchise changing talent nor do they fit our needs other than making a player that we currently like/need expendable in a trade for one of those two players (or Sanders or...).

For example:
We draft Gordon and trade Green;
We draft Saric and trade Kelly;
We draft Smart and trade Bradley;
We draft Vonleh and trade Sully, Bass or Hump.

I'd be just fine with this thread morphing into a "which player, draftee or player, would Minny or Houston be interested in to make the deal?".  In that case the list of possible future Celtics becomes one of "if we give up X player in a trade then which player should we draft and keep to replace them, and do we need to draft like kind? If we trade Sully do we need to draft a PF to replace him or go for depth at guard?".  It's still speculation, of course, but it's a little better than where we were 2 days ago and it's matching up specific trading partner's (we know who has who we need) needs with our own and that's the same process Danny does.  

Looking at Minny's roster, who would they want from us to give up Kevin Love? Looking at Houston's roster, who would they want from us to give up Omer Asik? Those are the kind of more focused questions that produce more meaningful trade discussions, I believe. We're not just throwing a bunch of end-of-benchers at the wall because they make the numbers work and hope that Minny/Houston will be foolish enough to take them.



bob



.

Gee, it's good to know now what everyone's draft order is so that all the questions are answered, right? No?

Great, the lottery is over, but we get endless questions and speculation for another five weeks.

Mallory Edens is a cute kid. Very poised for an 18-year-old. Can she GM?

It may appear that Cleveland has won the top spot in the lottery three of the last four seasons, but the ghost of Ted Stepien made last year's top pick disappear. The GM who made that pick is gone, so you'd think they won't do that again.

After seeing Cleveland vault from ninth to first and everyone 1-8 take one giant step back, I vote for the draft wheel concept.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nbas-possible-solution-for-tanking-good-bye-to-the-lottery-hello-to-the-wheel/

"Looking at Minny's roster, who would they want from us to give up Kevin Love? Looking at Houston's roster, who would they want from us to give up Omer Asik? Those are the kind of more focused questions that produce more meaningful trade discussions, I believe. We're not just throwing a bunch of end-of-benchers at the wall because they make the numbers work and hope that Minny/Houston will be foolish enough to take them."

I'll take an early stab at it Bob ( I am never shy about being WRONG anyway)

Houston- For Asik
looking at their roster, they seem to need , #1- Elite NBA point guard, #2- Outside shooting PF to open the insie for Howard better, #3- Depth everywhere (like most teams).

we could offer Rondo for Asik (too one sided, plus they need to add something to meet salary requirements)

Green for Asik ( should work Salary wise, though not sure Green is really a PF)

Bass and our #17 pick (they may not see Bass as an upgrade over Jones).

on to Minny and the Love raffle:

they would need a young PF to repalce Love of course, they also need an upgrade at SF, most importantly they will want draft picks.

Sully, Green , #6 this year and at LEAST one more first round pick in the future will be required, IMO....Since Sully and Green's Salary come in at about $4M below Loves...we'd need to throw in Bogans Non-guaranteed deal (which Minny would use to cut him and have $5M to sign another FA that they can use with, if they chose or save the salary which Taylor their cheap owner will like).

I gotta go back to work now, but I'll think of some more options later