Quote Originally Posted by flyingdutchdevil View Post
And with the #1 pick in the 2017 NBA draft, the Celtics select...wait...let's think this through first.

Right now, the Celtics are considering 4 players:

Markelle Fultz: Highest ceiling in the draft. Can play the 1 or the 2. Great length, great athleticism. Leadership likely an issue, but that's more attributed to poor coaching than the player.
Lonzo Ball: Best passer in the draft. He makes everyone better. Okay shot, but huge question marks about his NBA 3pt shooting as he shot 67% from the line. Also plays horrific defense. Family is a nightmare.
Josh Jackson: Best defender in the draft. Better offensive player than advertised. Like Wiggins, but 3pt shot is a question mark. Huge maturity issues.
Jayson Tatum: Lowest floor in the draft. Pretty much guaranteed to be a 20ppg player. But questions remain about other facets of the game (rebounding, defense, intangibles). Will he be Rudy Gay or Paul Pierce?

The Celts are in an interesting position. They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. They have the best young coach in the business. They have some All-Stars and really good role players. They believe in one another. They are excellent defensively.

The question for the Celts isn't, "how do we get better?" It's "how do we compete with the Cavs and the Warriors?" Everyone on the Celts with the exception of Avery Bradley is expendable through trades. Ideally, we'd like to keep Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, Terry Rozier, and Amir Johnson (as a back-up PF). We would love to keep Isaiah Thomas as a Super 6th man, but he's going to demand a max salary (and someone will pay). Olynyk, Green, Young, Jerebko, and Tyler Zeller are all expendable.

So what does that leave us? A core of Bradley, Horford, Brown, Smart, Crowder, Rozier, and Johnson is small and defensively amazing. What's really missing is a dynamic scorer in the backcourt and a scoring PF. The problem with the latter is that he doesn't exist as a top 5 player in the draft (Jonathan Isaac is way too raw and too risky for a #1 pick). So ideally, we'd love a dynamic scorer on the wing or the backcourt. Jackson is great for D, but not the best for O. Jayson Tatum is perfect, but is he really a #1 pick? Seems like we could trade down, get additional assets, and still draft Tatum (thanks DBR for not allowing that...). Ball will make everyone better, but chemistry, scoring, and defense are all massive question marks.

For the #1 pick, there really is one obvious answer. A backcourt of Bradley, Smart, Rozier, and Fultz is arguably the best defensive backcourt in the country with incredible scoring potential (Bradley is underrated, Smart is overrated, Rozier is wild, and Fultz can become a 20+ ppg scorer). Not to mention, he's a good kid in need of good coaching, and Stevens is giving you that coaching.

So, with the #1 pick in the draft, the Boston Celtics select Markelle Fultz.
psst, FDD, use the other thread