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It's January 9th, 2017 and the Brooklyn Nets are the league's bottom feeder approaching the midpoint of the season. Of course, other cellar dwellers will likely start shedding quality players to gain lottery position ...but the C's lottery position hasn't looked this good in years.
But wouldn't you know, the year the C's have the best chance to strike lottery gold....the NBA draft is top heavy at the one position Boston has a guaranteed All-Star........point guard.
Mock drafts are predicting PGs come off the board with picks 1-4.
1) Fultz 6-4 PG Washington
2) Ball 6-6 PG UCLA
3) Smith 6-2 PG Miami
4) Ntilikina 6-5 PG France
So what do you do if you are Trader Danny? Isaiah Thomas is a regular season scoring machine who becomes an undersized liability come playoff time (my opinion). Thomas is must see TV during the cold winter months and I love watching the guy take on the world with his little man chip on his shoulders.....but is he the PG to elevate the Celtics to the NBA Finals?
Unless a big man makes a quantum leap forward in the next few months, Ainge could be faced with huge dilemmas? Draft an elite PG to battle for minutes with Thomas? Providence College's PG Dunn was letting the Celtics know he wasn't keen on that proposition last year and I would expect similar push back from this draft's PGs. Will Ainge decide Thomas is his long term solution and pay him the max dollars half the league would likely pay for regular season box office gold?
If he keeps Isaiah, does he trade off the Brooklyn pick for a semi-star who was incapable of elevating the team he was traded from? Does he keep stock piling talent....like Philly? Boston will have all the guards / Philly has all the big men. Will Ainge trade down with a PG desperate team in hopes of grabbing a solid piece now and more future draft picks?
Any way you look at it.....it's complicated and full of risk......and with Thomas and Bradley approaching contract extensions...it could become very expensive.....and not be the right solution.
But wouldn't you know, the year the C's have the best chance to strike lottery gold....the NBA draft is top heavy at the one position Boston has a guaranteed All-Star........point guard.
Mock drafts are predicting PGs come off the board with picks 1-4.
1) Fultz 6-4 PG Washington
2) Ball 6-6 PG UCLA
3) Smith 6-2 PG Miami
4) Ntilikina 6-5 PG France
So what do you do if you are Trader Danny? Isaiah Thomas is a regular season scoring machine who becomes an undersized liability come playoff time (my opinion). Thomas is must see TV during the cold winter months and I love watching the guy take on the world with his little man chip on his shoulders.....but is he the PG to elevate the Celtics to the NBA Finals?
Unless a big man makes a quantum leap forward in the next few months, Ainge could be faced with huge dilemmas? Draft an elite PG to battle for minutes with Thomas? Providence College's PG Dunn was letting the Celtics know he wasn't keen on that proposition last year and I would expect similar push back from this draft's PGs. Will Ainge decide Thomas is his long term solution and pay him the max dollars half the league would likely pay for regular season box office gold?
If he keeps Isaiah, does he trade off the Brooklyn pick for a semi-star who was incapable of elevating the team he was traded from? Does he keep stock piling talent....like Philly? Boston will have all the guards / Philly has all the big men. Will Ainge trade down with a PG desperate team in hopes of grabbing a solid piece now and more future draft picks?
Any way you look at it.....it's complicated and full of risk......and with Thomas and Bradley approaching contract extensions...it could become very expensive.....and not be the right solution.