With the emergence of Trae Young, should Danny have protected Lakers pick 2-6?

[libermaniac]

I assume the reason the Lakers pick is 2-5 protected is that Danny saw this upcoming draft as a 5 player draft, and didn't value the pick as much if it were 6 and above.  But, given the emergence of Trae Young, doesn't that make this more of a draft where there is a dropoff after the 6th pick?  Just curious if, in retrospect, if Ainge had a do-over, if he'd make it 2-6 protected.  I guess a lot depends on Porter's health.

[Phantom255x]

Well, with Porter Jr. injured and becoming a red flag for most teams at the moment because of it, I guess you can consider it a "trade off"? (Like Young leaps into Top 5 while Porter might be out)

Now Porter is still projected to go around 4-5, but I could easily see him dropping a bit more IF teams feel there's more risk involved as the Draft gets closer. Too early to tell.

[Boise To Boston]

Exactly.  I guess you could say the Celtics, of all teams, could afford to gamble with a pick.  But I want nothing to do with a skinny under-20 kid who's almost 7-feet tall and has already had a season-ending back surgery.

[Boris Badenov]

I think last year is proof enough that Danny has his own thoughts about players.

Plus, even if the pick conveys he will probably flip it for another asset, which will drive everyone nuts, until it becomes obvious that the asset he traded is significantly more valuable than the one he gave up.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[knuckleballer]

There's also Jaren Jackson who looks quite good at a position of need.  Wendell Carter too.  I wish Danny had not put that protection in place.

[celticsclay]

I wish there were no protections on the pick. So sick of weirdly protected picks being traded around the league.

[Sophomore]

I assume the reason the Lakers pick is 2-5 protected is that Danny saw this upcoming draft as a 5 player draft, and didn't value the pick as much if it were 6 and above.  But, given the emergence of Trae Young, doesn't that make this more of a draft where there is a dropoff after the 6th pick?  Just curious if, in retrospect, if Ainge had a do-over, if he'd make it 2-6 protected.  I guess a lot depends on Porter's health.

I have no interest in Trae Young for the Celtics. No way do we want to play him with Kyrie, or (please!) start him ahead of Kyrie. I’d rather roll the dice on Kingspick 2019.

[Androslav]

I assume the reason the Lakers pick is 2-5 protected is that Danny saw this upcoming draft as a 5 player draft, and didn't value the pick as much if it were 6 and above.  But, given the emergence of Trae Young, doesn't that make this more of a draft where there is a dropoff after the 6th pick?  Just curious if, in retrospect, if Ainge had a do-over, if he'd make it 2-6 protected.  I guess a lot depends on Porter's health.

I think this was the best he could haggle for. He would take 1-5, surely. I believe he asked for it.
He would take the unprotected pick if they would let him.

Regarding picks DA always surprises us at draft time.
And this 5-man, 7-man drafts, turn out to be 3 or 4 men drafts with someone great being a 15th or 27th pick. For example M.Chriss was closing the 8-man draft 2 years ago.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/draft16index/complete-coverage-2016-nba-draft

He is not in my 8-man draft now. Bender wouldn't be inside too (still some hope remans )

[Darío SpanishFan]

Maybe he thought Sacramento's would be a better pick in 2019 than number 6.

Maybe sometimes in life you cannot ask for more. Dealbreaker, is called.

Anyway, I don't get the purpose of this thread. Ainge can't see the future and even so he can see the present and predict as much as a GM can.

[rondofan1255]

I wish there were no protections on the pick. So sick of weirdly protected picks being traded around the league.

At the time, Paul George to LA rumors were swirling though.

[CelticsElite]

It was a free pick. I don’t really understand the argument being made here. Why 2-6? There’s no guarantee anyone in the top 6 becomes a superstar, including trae young. Trae Burke had a season like this in college then was drafted high. Where is he now? What about Dante exam? A million players did this before. The draft is a gamble. It isn’t perfect or a science

[libermaniac]

It was a free pick. I don’t really understand the argument being made here. Why 2-6? There’s no guarantee anyone in the top 6 becomes a superstar, including trae young. Trae Burke had a season like this in college then was drafted high. Where is he now? What about Dante exam? A million players did this before. The draft is a gamble. It isn’t perfect or a science

My assumption is that Danny is the one who asked for the 1-5 protection and Philly said, no it has to be 2-5 because they wanted it if it's 1.  E.g. Danny PREFERRED it to be protected if it was outside of the top 5 because he saw it as a 5 stud player draft and if he didn't get top 5 he wanted the Sacto pick the following year.  That was all before Trae Young emerged as a top 5 prospect.  Considering that, I'd assume, in retrospect, Ainge would prefer top 6 protection (and I assume Philly would have given it to him).

And, to answer Sophomore's response about Trae Young.  Yes, we don't really need him, but unless we got the 6th pick and Trae were 6th, then it wouldn't matter ... or we could trade that pick since other teams would love to have Trae Young.

Anyway, it was just a fun question.  Obviously does not matter.  I was just kind of interested in why the 2-5 protection (which is not very common).  Protection is usually done the other way around, where it's not conveyed the better the pick is.