Well its about FUC*ING time the Pats caught a break in the draft lottery. Here's the problem. These kids come out in the draft so young that even the best of them will never make an instant impact. Brown is a perfect example. He had a decent rookie year, but that kid is at LEAST 2 years away before we see the kind of player we hope to get.
It seems like all the Celts will eventually have on their team is guards. That being said Fultz and Ball seem like the 2 clear picks. If I were the Celts, I'd take the guy who will be the best defender of the two (sounds like Fultz). IT is an amazing player, but he sucks on defense and if the Celts are going to take the next step they are going to need to put a lot of good defenders on the floor to make up for Thomas' liability.
2 out of the box thoughts.
1. Because IT is such a defensive liability, maybe it would be best NOT to sign him to the LT deal and go with a good defensive backcourt of Fultz/Smart/ Bradly/Rozier. Decent enough offense, but what they'd lack in offense they'd make up on D.
2. Another thought is find a great defensive big man. Clearly that is a big missing piece on this team. I'm not a big college basketball follower anymore. Is there a preminent big man who is a great defender among the top 10. or maybe one we could pick up in FA
So maybe the strategy should be to trade down to a spot where they can pick up that missing piece and keep IT long term.