Fellas, one or more of the players being talked about here as worth trading up for will end up dropping right to 21 if Ainge just stays patient.
Dion Waiters is now being talked about as a top 10 possibility, and will be drafted before 21.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Yk2y-yFJ4Tony Wroten will probably measure out close to 6'6" without shoes, and is being talked about as perhaps having the highest upside of anybody in this draft. Comparisons to Westbrook at the same age are being made, although Wroten will never be the leaper that Westbrook is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HooPPwJTU3YFab Melo is starting to workout and is looking pretty good. He could easily rise into the top 20. His improvement from freshman to sophmore year was extreme, so why wouldn't that improvement continue in the lead-up to the draft? Big men always rise leading up to the draft, and Melo could be one of them.
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It is entirely possible that two of Terrence Jones, Terrence Jones, Arnett Moultrie, and even Austin Rivers himself will drop right into the Celtics' lap at 21 and 22.http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=92pQIYhLo-khttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0bYcb8Y2r8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR4UJK7Hn8That may not happen, of course, but there will be drops and risers, as happens every year. There are a bunch of good bigs ranked in the top 15 of this draft, but not every team picking in the top 20 needs a big as their top priority. There is talent at every position, so one of the high ranking bigs is likely to fall to 21. Moultrie looks like he'd be the one most likely to get left out of the top 20 because of other team needs.
Terrence Jones is a bit of a tweener, and he could drop to 21 just because teams will have the choice of comparable talents who fit their team better.
The Celtics are in outstanding position, and there is tons of talent in this draft, going 23-26 deep in the first round.
Melo could easily be as good as Tyler Zeller in 2 years, and he's arguably as good as Drummond and Leonard right now.
At 2 guard, there is little to no consensus after Beal and J Lamb. I'd rather have Ross, Waiters, or even Tony Wroten than Austin Rivers. Wroten is a much better and more versatile defender, gets to the rim as easily or more easily than Rivers, and has better natural passing vision.
Harkless is probably 90% of the player MKG is, and if they switched places last year their impact would have been comparable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwzLaJOqb5cI'd even rank Moultrie and Andrew Nicholson about the same, since Nicholson is the better winner, teammate, and brain.
With so many comparable talents in the 2-25 range of the draft, it makes little sense to trade two of these top 25 picks for one of these top 25 picks. The only player with a chance of being as valuable as both 21 and 22 is PJ3, and if he looks like he's going to be that good, he's going to go top 5.
It should be pretty easy to reload with this draft. Danny should be able to address both the immediate and long-term future with his three picks in this draft.
The people who don't think we'll get any immediate help from this draft just haven't been paying close enough attention. JaJuan would probably get drafted mid-late 2nd round in this draft, if he got drafted at all. Marshon Brooks would be picked as late as the mid-late 2nd round.
You're still bitter that the C's missed out on Brooks? Will Barton should still be available in the early-mid 2nd round, and should be just as good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBsojdLTqWYI like the idea of forming a roster like the one this year, where our bigs can stretch the floor and our guards can rebound and penetrate into an open lane. There is a TON of talent that fits with this offensive style.
Dion Waiters and Tony Wroten will both be able to get to the rim at will in isolation situations, and we'd be lucky to get either one to replace Ray as 6th man guard. They are both better than even a healthy Ray right now. Athleticism rules in the NBA today, especially in the backcourt.
Both Waiters and Wroten will be able to guard Wade, Rose, Westbrook, Deron Williams, and all the other 1s and 2s in the league. Wroten will even be able to guard some 3s in this league, meaning that Rondo, Bradley, and Wroten could all get time on the court together.
For bigs that fit the Celtics spread style, Moultrie and Nicholson are two of the best inside/outside threats in this draft, with only PJ3 possibly being better in that regard right now.
Another big who can stretch the floor is Melo, who has a decent and improving mid-range jump shot that he will be able to shoot over most anybody.
For small forwards, Harkless would be a great versatile fit who excels on the boards and can clean up after our outside shooting bigs and our driving guards. However, with Pierce and Jeff Green already on the team, Harkless wouldn't make great sense at this point.
One of Waiters or Wroten, and one of Moultrie, Nicholson, or Melo would be an outstanding first round for both the short and long-term.
The only trade-up idea I like would be packaging our 2nd rounder with 21 or 22 to move up a few spots for somebody Danny is really excited about.
There are two other trade back ideas I like:
Trade 21 and 51 to Cleveland for 24 and 33 or 34. At 24, either Nicholson, Melo, or Wroten should still be available, and we'd move way up in the second. Cleveland would be up for this trade if somebody they really like drops to 21.
Another trade-down idea I'm open to is trading either 21 or 22 to Cleveland for BOTH of 33 and 34. This trade down would make more sense for the Celtics if they also traded up in the first round using pick 51 to do so. Otherwise, it doesn't make too much sense to draft 4 rookies, especially since an undrafted FA is likely to make the Celtics roster.
But there will be plenty of good players available at 33 and 34. Jeff Taylor might even be one of them. Evan Fournier is likely to be there as well, as will Kevin Jones, Will Barton, and other quality plug and play talents.
This is a really exciting draft, and us Celtics fans have so much to be optimistic about!
If Garnett is re-signed, the Celtics are coming back strong next year with lottery quality talent and Jeff Green too.
Topic: Great reason for optimism with this draft! (Read 1923 times)