Is Fultz a no brainer at this point?

[NHCelticsFan]

The consensus in the media seems to be Fultz.  He does look like a very special player and I would personally consider him the top choice.  I really can't make the argument for anyone else over him.

I think one way of looking at it is this...

Who is going to lead the NEXT era of Celtics?  Once guys like IT, Al, etc hit their peak years?

It seems that Jaylen is in that group.  The 2018 draft is loaded with bigs, so there is a good chance we could get a key piece for the future in that draft, and then you have Fultz.

We could be building our future core with Fultz, a top guard prospect, Brown, a top wing prospect, and a top big prospect from next years draft.

I trust Danny and co. to look at the players and decide, but I think Fultz is the clear choice as of right now.

[Tr1boy]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

[MBunge]

Fultz, if healthy, is about as close to a no-brainer as you can get.  People bring up Ball, Jackson or Tatum and they might all be really good, but Fultz put up incredible numbers for a freshman on a team that honestly only had like one other even decent college basketball player on it.  The second best guy on Washington would probably have been coming off the bench for UCLA, Kansas or Duke.

Heck, Durant at Texas at least had DJ Augustin, who has been a legit rotation player in the NBA for nine years.

Mike

[mef730]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

If the future pick is the better of the Lakers/76ers pick next year, sure, I'm listening. But we aren't getting that deal.

Mike

[CF0022]

Only thing I see changing my opinion is if the Celtics get swept by cleveland or get really dominated. Then I could see Ainge maybe making a trade to et a more established superstar and more build this team that way.  That's the wildcard to me.  It could really flip where we do d ecide to try to build our team another way with more established stars.  I don't think that's the plan right now though.

I think that's the backwards way to do things though.  I think we want to keep acquiring pieces as it stands.

We haven't been b uilding this to suddenly just go another directon.  Most of the guys here are here for the long haul at this point.

[droopdog7]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Says you.  What if the sixers don't want to trade up?

[trickybilly]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Says you.  What if the sixers don't want to trade up?

The sixers want Fultz more than anyone..

[Ilikesports17]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Because I don't think Ainge risks it.

Last year most mock drafts had Brown going 8th. Ainge didn't trade down. He took his guy. 2 years ago, Terry Rozier was projected to go towards the end of the first. Ainge didn't trade down. He got his guy.

Now it's a little different here because there's a more clear hierarchy of players.

However if Ainge thinks a guy is better than Fultz I don't think he's gonna take any risk whatsoever and I think he just takes the guy he thinks is the best player in the draft at #1

[Tr1boy]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Because I don't think Ainge risks it.

Last year most mock drafts had Brown going 8th. Ainge didn't trade down. He took his guy. 2 years ago, Terry Rozier was projected to go towards the end of the first. Ainge didn't trade down. He got his guy.

Now it's a little different here because there's a more clear hierarchy of players.

However if Ainge thinks a guy is better than Fultz I don't think he's gonna take any risk whatsoever and I think he just takes the guy he thinks is the best player in the draft at #1

this is the ticket...

there aren't many things that can go wrong

You draft Fultz ...  Lakers are not likely to draft Tatum....but if they do ....deal is off with the 76ers for example (you make this a condition)...and you still end up keeping Fultz

Otherwise , 76ers pick Tatum and give you whatever worthwhile extra

[ETNCeltics]

Fultz is a superior prospect to Tatum. Would be absurd to trade him away. I'm confident Ainge won't fall into something this stupid.

[Tr1boy]

Fultz is a superior prospect to Tatum. Would be absurd to trade him away. I'm confident Ainge won't fall into something this stupid.

I'm a fultz fan

but can i ask you, how you came up with this conclusion? 

We are not talking about Lebron James , Durant ...easy no doubt future all hof type talent

So how are you sure Fultz is a superior prospect to Tatum? or even Ball who he battled against... it was an even matchup

This draft depth is excellent... but imo there is not a player that stands out head over heels over another (in the top 8 )

If there was such a prospect (like a Lebron or Durant) fans would not be creating trade possibilities with this pick...but you are seeing it

[Ilikesports17]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Because I don't think Ainge risks it.

Last year most mock drafts had Brown going 8th. Ainge didn't trade down. He took his guy. 2 years ago, Terry Rozier was projected to go towards the end of the first. Ainge didn't trade down. He got his guy.

Now it's a little different here because there's a more clear hierarchy of players.

However if Ainge thinks a guy is better than Fultz I don't think he's gonna take any risk whatsoever and I think he just takes the guy he thinks is the best player in the draft at #1

this is the ticket...

there aren't many things that can go wrong

You draft Fultz ...  Lakers are not likely to draft Tatum....but if they do ....deal is off with the 76ers for example (you make this a condition)...and you still end up keeping Fultz

Otherwise , 76ers pick Tatum and give you whatever worthwhile extra

I don't think you can make that condition...

I just don't think ainge makes that trade. I think Ainge is taking BPA here. I thinkAinge will identify a BPA meaning he won't have 2 or 3 guys he is equally happy to get. Thus he's not risking losing his guy by moving back in the draft.

He didn't do it with Rozier, he didn't do it with Yabu, he didn't do it with Brown and I don't think he'd do it with Tatum (or Jackson).

If he thinks the guy is better than Fultz or Ball then he immediately has reason to think that someone else(magic johnson) might too.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

To answer the title question, yes. It's Fultz and then everyone else at this point.

[Tr1boy]

If Danny wants Tatum, then it will be in a trade with Philly down to #3 along with maybe Saric and a future 1st.

I don't think Danny wants Tatum more than Fultz, though.

nah, I think if he wanted tatum, hed just take him first.

from a business perspective how does that make sense? when you can get extra and get Tatum at 3 anyways?

Because I don't think Ainge risks it.

Last year most mock drafts had Brown going 8th. Ainge didn't trade down. He took his guy. 2 years ago, Terry Rozier was projected to go towards the end of the first. Ainge didn't trade down. He got his guy.

Now it's a little different here because there's a more clear hierarchy of players.

However if Ainge thinks a guy is better than Fultz I don't think he's gonna take any risk whatsoever and I think he just takes the guy he thinks is the best player in the draft at #1

this is the ticket...

there aren't many things that can go wrong

You draft Fultz ...  Lakers are not likely to draft Tatum....but if they do ....deal is off with the 76ers for example (you make this a condition)...and you still end up keeping Fultz

Otherwise , 76ers pick Tatum and give you whatever worthwhile extra

I don't think you can make that condition...

I just don't think ainge makes that trade. I think Ainge is taking BPA here. I thinkAinge will identify a BPA meaning he won't have 2 or 3 guys he is equally happy to get. Thus he's not risking losing his guy by moving back in the draft.

He didn't do it with Rozier, he didn't do it with Yabu, he didn't do it with Brown and I don't think he'd do it with Tatum (or Jackson).

If he thinks the guy is better than Fultz or Ball then he immediately has reason to think that someone else(magic johnson) might too.

Pre deal Conditions exist

Rozier pick is different... Bulls picking just a few spots ahead were rumored to be interested in Rozier..

Big difference in what you can get extra from 1 to 3 vs 16 to18 also

[ETNCeltics]

Fultz is a superior prospect to Tatum. Would be absurd to trade him away. I'm confident Ainge won't fall into something this stupid.

I'm a fultz fan

but can i ask you, how you came up with this conclusion? 

We are not talking about Lebron James , Durant ...easy no doubt future all hof type talent

So how are you sure Fultz is a superior prospect to Tatum? or even Ball who he battled against... it was an even matchup

This draft depth is excellent... but imo there is not a player that stands out head over heels over another (in the top 8 )

If there was such a prospect (like a Lebron or Durant) fans would not be creating trade possibilities with this pick...but you are seeing it

About as sure as can be. Fultz is superior in every regard to Tatum. Ball's game is full of flaws, I'd wager he won't even be considered. Fultz's skill set is way beyond Tatum. But some people have convinced yourselves that Tatum fills a need, and Fultz does not.

If we were to trade down, who does the team we trade with want? They'd be trading up Fultz, and no one else. The very premise of the trade scenarios in this thread make that painfully obvious and prove my point. No matter what happens, Fultz will be the #1 pick in the draft, no matter how many ridiculous trade scenarios people post. He is head and shoulders  above the other prospects, and the top pick in virtually every mock draft you'll find.

The only fans I see making trade scenarios are impatient ones who think this potpouri roster of ours is a couple of quick fixes from being title worthy. It isn't.

Fultz is the top player in the draft, and unless we can parlay him into someone like Anthony Davis, the right move is to keep him.