Ja Morant Saved Memphis from Ainge

[Ed Monix]

A recent NBC Sports article reminded me that Ja Morant has been the Grizzlies saving grace in more ways than one.

We all remember that pick we received off Memphis for Jeff Green.

The pick contained diminishing lottery protections that included top-eight status in 2019 and top-six positioning in 2020 before being completely unprotected in 2021.

If Memphis hadn’t gotten extremely lucky in the 2019 Draft Lottery, they more then likely wouldn’t have pick up a player who could make such a significant winning difference the following season.

Even with a broken down Mike Conley Jr, you’d imagine the Grizzlies would be in the bottom six of the final standings in 2020, thus the Celtics could easily have had an unprotected Grizzlies pick in 2021…if it wasn’t for some lottery luck and Ja Morant.

[Roy H.]

Yep.  Memphis moving up hurt.  If they were just a couple of games worse, we could have ended up with Halliburton.

It was the same thing with Sacramento:  they went from sucking to being mediocre.  We lose a 3-way coin flip and get Romeo instead of Herro or PJ Washington.

[Celtics2021]

The pandemic also played a part.  Memphis' schedule was going to be very difficult the final month of the season (13 of their final 17 games were scheduled against playoff teams), but those games were cancelled, and the pre-bubble standings were frozen for lottery teams.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

[Celtics2021]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

In the case of Sacramento, they didn’t stop being awful.  They just took a break and went back to awful.

It’s like when the Celtics got the Clippers pick a decade ago, and right before the season the Clippers got Chris Paul so we got Fab Melo.

[liam]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

In the case of Sacramento, they didn’t stop being awful.  They just took a break and went back to awful.

It’s like when the Celtics got the Clippers pick a decade ago, and right before the season the Clippers got Chris Paul so we got Fab Melo.

RIP

[Moranis]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

In the case of Sacramento, they didn’t stop being awful.  They just took a break and went back to awful.

It’s like when the Celtics got the Clippers pick a decade ago, and right before the season the Clippers got Chris Paul so we got Fab Melo.

Yeah when they fired a good competent coach and hired the worst coach in the league.  Had Sacramento kept Joerger they wouldn't have been as bad the last couple of years.  That said, they were still 31-41 each of the last two years, which is bad, but not terrible.

[Roy H.]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

In the case of Sacramento, they didn’t stop being awful.  They just took a break and went back to awful.

It’s like when the Celtics got the Clippers pick a decade ago, and right before the season the Clippers got Chris Paul so we got Fab Melo.

In that case I think the pick was top-10 protected, and the picks between 11 and 22 in that draft were truly awful.  Picks 20 (Fournier) and 21 (Sullinger) may be the best picks in that range.

[Celtics2021]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

In the case of Sacramento, they didn’t stop being awful.  They just took a break and went back to awful.

It’s like when the Celtics got the Clippers pick a decade ago, and right before the season the Clippers got Chris Paul so we got Fab Melo.

In that case I think the pick was top-10 protected, and the picks between 11 and 22 in that draft were truly awful.  Picks 20 (Fournier) and 21 (Sullinger) may be the best picks in that range.

Yes, it was top-10 protected that year, but I think unprotected the following year.  Also, picks 23-30 weren’t much better.  The entire league messed up drafting that year, as the 30s produced some terrific players while most of the first round stunk.

[libermaniac]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

How soon we forget the good luck. We got the two Jays because Brooklyn sucked.

[Roy H.]

A gamble that didn’t work out:  electing to only have the Lakers pick we got in the Tatum convey if it was top-5.  It instead became the mediocre Sacramento pick.

That Lakers pick turned into Mikal Bridges.  Next up was SGA.  Michael Porter Jr was on the board, too.

[libermaniac]

A gamble that didn’t work out:  electing to only have the Lakers pick we got in the Tatum convey if it was top-5.  It instead became the mediocre Sacramento pick.

That Lakers pick turned into Mikal Bridges.  Next up was SGA.  Michael Porter Jr was on the board, too.

Seemed like a brilliant move at the time.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

The Memphis AND Sacramento picks went from highly promising to thoroughly mediocre. I was like, oh, of COURSE both of those teams stop being awful as soon as Boston has their picks.

Just another stroke of bad luck in a long line of bad luck for the Celtics.

How soon we forget the good luck. We got the two Jays because Brooklyn sucked.

I figured someone would say something like this, but rest assured I haven't forgotten the good stuff. But even when considering Tatum and Brown, I still think Boston's had WAY more bad luck over the last dozen years than good luck—KG's knee, Perk's knee, Rondo's elbow, Green's heart surgery, Shaq's leg, IT's hip, Hayward's ankle, Kyrie's mental instability, Celtics being the hardest-hit by covid last season (and hit pretty hard early this season too). I'm gonna need a few titles to balance out all of that crap!

[Neurotic Guy]

Does it speak somewhat to when a team reaps no benefit from losing that maybe it changes mentality and gets a few wins they otherwise wouldn't have had?

[liam]

Does it speak somewhat to when a team reaps no benefit from losing that maybe it changes mentality and gets a few wins they otherwise wouldn't have had?

Tell the Lakers!