2025 CelticsBlog Fantasy Draft: '05-'25 Edition

[Donoghus]

That's why I said starting around round 3 is where the real fun begins. 

[Roy H.]

KP / (Brand)
Giannis / Brand
Turkuglu
Jrue
Curry

[snively]

Couldn't remember how quick footed Brand was in his prime. I couldn't decide how good defensively he'd be at the 4 in this league.

[RodyTur10]

Moranis with the last pick of the day and then we've seen teams really taking shape.
They're all incredibly strong! Fun to follow and participate

[Roy H.]

Couldn't remember how quick footed Brand was in his prime. I couldn't decide how good defensively he'd be at the 4 in this league.

Before the first injury, he was a really excellent defender. Top-10 in DPOY.

[snively]

Couldn't remember how quick footed Brand was in his prime. I couldn't decide how good defensively he'd be at the 4 in this league.

Before the first injury, he was a really excellent defender. Top-10 in DPOY.

I remember him destroying Phoenix' small ball back in the day, I just couldn't remember how he handled guys like Marion on the other end.

[Who]

The PF position has an interesting blend of skill-sets

Victor Wembanyama
Chris Bosh
Kevin Garnett
Jayson Tatum
Pau Gasol
G Antetokounmpo
Evan Mobley
Dirk Nowitzki
Shawn Marion
Amare Stoudemire


2 undersized quick PFs - Tatum, Marion
2 slower PF/Cs - Dirk, Pau
3 athletic PF/Cs - KG, Giannis, E Mobley
1 average speed PF/C - C Bosh
1 giant center - Wemby
1 true PF - Amare

We have E Brand and Al Horford on the bench. They both are in the true PF group. Brand an outlier with 260lbs of muscle in a 6-8 frame. Old school muscular PF. Oh, and Draymond. Another underized quick PF like Marion & Tatum but with the muscle of a true PF.

That is quite the variety of skill-sets & physical / athletic attributes to try and matchup against.

[Who]

Couldn't remember how quick footed Brand was in his prime. I couldn't decide how good defensively he'd be at the 4 in this league.

Before the first injury, he was a really excellent defender. Top-10 in DPOY.

I remember him destroying Phoenix' small ball back in the day, I just couldn't remember how he handled guys like Marion on the other end.

I always remember Brand as being slow footed. I remember LAC trying out Chris Kaman (he is not getting drafted) against perimeter bigs and quick bigs instead of Brand because of Brand's lack of foot speed. Not that Kaman did much better.

Brand very good defensively when he can hang back nearer the rim. Brute strength meant he could outmuscle most guys. Excellent length made him a sneaky good shot-blocker. Very good defender inside 15 feet. So-so defender outside 15 feet.

I also thought he played better D in Philly as an old vet on the decline than in his prime in LAC.

It is a long time since I have seen him play though.

[Roy H.]

Also, even though KP will start, Brand will certainly share time with Giannis and will often play more minutes than KP.

[Who]

Also, even though KP will start, Brand will certainly share time with Giannis and will often play more minutes than KP.

E Brand is a very interesting small ball center. Much more skilled offensively than the defense-only centers. And he can drag the bigger slower centers away from the basket on the defense with his midrange shooting. He will cause a lot of matchup issues.

[snively]

The PF position has an interesting blend of skill-sets

Victor Wembanyama
Chris Bosh
Kevin Garnett
Jayson Tatum
Pau Gasol
G Antetokounmpo
Evan Mobley
Dirk Nowitzki
Shawn Marion
Amare Stoudemire


2 undersized quick PFs - Tatum, Marion
2 slower PF/Cs - Dirk, Pau
3 athletic PF/Cs - KG, Giannis, E Mobley
1 average speed PF/C - C Bosh
1 giant center - Wemby
1 true PF - Amare

We have E Brand and Al Horford on the bench. They both are in the true PF group. Brand an outlier with 260lbs of muscle in a 6-8 frame. Old school muscular PF. Oh, and Draymond. Another underized quick PF like Marion & Tatum but with the muscle of a true PF.

That is quite the variety of skill-sets & physical / athletic attributes to try and matchup against.

I went Granger in part because I was worried about getting run off the floor against some of these teams without a quality combo forward to slot in. Simultaneously have to worry about getting physically overwhelmed by twin tower frontcourts like  Wemby/Shaq, Giannis/Porzingis and KG/Embiid.

[smokeablount]

Should we just have Moranis start off with 2 picks tomorrow?

[Roy H.]

Discuss question for tomorrow:

Is there anybody that doesn't love their team?  Are there particular decisions that really paid off or that you're second guessing?

[Moranis]

Discuss question for tomorrow:

Is there anybody that doesn't love their team?  Are there particular decisions that really paid off or that you're second guessing?

I went back and forth a lot between Shaq and Embiid.  Having picked up Wemby, I think I made the right choice, but having Shaq absolutely required a player like Wemby next to him, so that could have not worked out so well  if someone had drafted Wemby before I could have.  And I know there are obviously other defensive stretch 4's available, but none would have been as talented or worked as well as Wemby (from the guys that would have reasonably been 4th round type talents).

[Donoghus]

Noah's good value there.  Obviously, he worked out well in the 2000s/2010s and think his skill set would still work well in today's era.