After the Melo trade, are people feeling better yet about losing the Nets pick?

[smokeablount]

Not Really.

The problem here is that there's still a good chance Nets Pick conveys between 6-10 at worst, and in this upcoming, deep and LOADED draft (flush with big men), selecting in that range could still get you a star-caliber player.

But with LAL Pick, your only chance is if it conveys 2-5, and now you add NYK to the "tanking competition" and they could end up being worse than LAL. If this LAL pick does not convey, it will really suck for us, and the only 1st round pick we will have this upcoming season will likely be our own high-20 pick. Need this pick to convey for a possible Anthony Davis or Porzingis trade this summer too.

I predict Lakers will be 3rd worst in the league this upcoming season but now the Knicks could legitimately challenge them too. Teams like the Pacers, Hawks, are wild cards too in that department.

Man I wish Ainge fought for better protections from the LAL Pick (like convey if 2-7, not just 2-5...)

I think its entirely possible that Ainge Preferred 2-5, rather than 2-7. There is widely believed to be 5 upper echelon prospects right now (Doncic, Porter, Bagley, Ayton, Bamba). After that there is a drop off, with this draft not being considered as deep as the last one. Ainge may very well be thinking that if he cant get a shot at one of those top 5 he'd rather have a second shot at a top five pick a year later.

I believe the trade occurred before Bagley's official reclassification into the 2018 draft although it was widely believed he would reclassify.  So now the 2019 draft has most probably lost its best player and is even weaker.  The 2018 draft also has Robert Williams and Miles Bridges who were potential top 10 picks in the 2017 draft but decided to go back for their sophomore season.  I'm especially high on Williams who was an unheralded freshman but became a top 10 prospect while playing on a team with very poor guard play.  I think there is a good chance we regret not having less protection.

I'm afraid of this as well, but I keep telling myself that if needed we can trade the SAC pick and maybe more to get into the #6-8 range.

Or that Anthony Davis won't be traded for awhile, so it might be better to have a top pick available for trade for an extra year.

But yeah, I wish the pick could convey at #6 or even #7... for now at least.

[keevsnick]

Not Really.

The problem here is that there's still a good chance Nets Pick conveys between 6-10 at worst, and in this upcoming, deep and LOADED draft (flush with big men), selecting in that range could still get you a star-caliber player.

But with LAL Pick, your only chance is if it conveys 2-5, and now you add NYK to the "tanking competition" and they could end up being worse than LAL. If this LAL pick does not convey, it will really suck for us, and the only 1st round pick we will have this upcoming season will likely be our own high-20 pick. Need this pick to convey for a possible Anthony Davis or Porzingis trade this summer too.

I predict Lakers will be 3rd worst in the league this upcoming season but now the Knicks could legitimately challenge them too. Teams like the Pacers, Hawks, are wild cards too in that department.

Man I wish Ainge fought for better protections from the LAL Pick (like convey if 2-7, not just 2-5...)

I think its entirely possible that Ainge Preferred 2-5, rather than 2-7. There is widely believed to be 5 upper echelon prospects right now (Doncic, Porter, Bagley, Ayton, Bamba). After that there is a drop off, with this draft not being considered as deep as the last one. Ainge may very well be thinking that if he cant get a shot at one of those top 5 he'd rather have a second shot at a top five pick a year later.

I believe the trade occurred before Bagley's official reclassification into the 2018 draft although it was widely believed he would reclassify.  So now the 2019 draft has most probably lost its best player and is even weaker.  The 2018 draft also has Robert Williams and Miles Bridges who were potential top 10 picks in the 2017 draft but decided to go back for their sophomore season.  I'm especially high on Williams who was an unheralded freshman but became a top 10 prospect while playing on a team with very poor guard play.  I think there is a good chance we regret not having less protection.

The trade did occur before he officially reclassified, but there were murmurs out there before the trade that he might and ya gotta think the Celtics knew what direction it was going. Again, I don't think the 2-5 protection is a coincidence. They targeted that range because they value the 2-5 range above the King's Pick but the King's pick above the 6-10 range in this years draft. I disagree the characterization of this draft as being deep, this draft is top heavy with 2-5 being clearly better than the rets of the pack at least as things stand right now. I think the Celtics thinking is this "if we can get in the range to grab one of those top prospects than great, if not we'd rather have a pick that could land top five next year than one 6-10 this year."