Prepare for Gordon, Vonleh, or Smart

[YoungOne87]

I'll take smart in a heartbeat

[chambers]

I'd still be very happy with Marcus Smart.

Does anybody else consider a potential starting back court of Rondo and Smart as a deadly combination?
Smart's college stats are eerily similar to Dywane Wade's at Marquette although he wasn't as efficient around the basket at 42% compared to Wade's 50% field goal percentage. Smart has also played point guard and taken less shots around the rim.
Smart this season: 18 ppg 6 rebounds 5.8 assists 3 steals with 29% from 3 point land
Wade's 2nd season at Marquette: 21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists,2.2 steals with 31% from 3 point land

Both 6'4" and built solidly. But yeah, he'd be a solid pick who may drop even to number 6 or 7 with his 'attitude' questions- something which I think Danny and Co will be able to erase quickly in a locker room of Rondo, Bass, Green and AB etc... (if they're all here).

It would REALLY open the door for trading Rondo though, and I bet Danny is considering this option very heavily.
Who knows if Rondo would or wouldn't resign in Sacto but that Lakers pick and the Sacto pick are very enticing.

Of the teams with potential top 3 picks that may give the pick up for Rondo in a sign and trade I'd make a list of

Detroit
Orlando
Lakers
Sacto
Utah.

Detroit playing so poorly has been a blessing for us because it's another team that would potentially consider trading a top 3 pick for Rajon.

With that top 3 pick I'd take whoever is around out of Wiggins, Parker, Embid.

Who knows, it's all part of the fun.
To answer Pho's question, I'd take Smart.

[goCeltics]

The big f up was against the bobcats when they played sully big minutes, even after he got hurt, avery's always hurt he shouldn't have played the last two games either.

[goCeltics]

I hope the jazz, magic and lakers appreciate the gift there gotten the last 2 days but our complete stupidity, we increased each team chances at a top 3 pick by 5-10% each and decrease our our own by around 20%. We have decreased our odds at a top 3 pick by half and people here are happy, unbelieavable.

[Who]

I would be very excited about Marcus Smart. He is #4 on my draft board right now and should maybe be higher depending on how bad Embiid's (#3) back is + maybe even higher than Exum (#2) too who is largely an unknown. Terrific athlete. Strength, explosive quickness, leaping ability. Great size for a PG. Decent size for SG. Terrific defender. Rebounds well. Can play both guard positions. Is going to be a much better scorer in the NBA (more open fast paced game will suit him better) than he was in college. Can provide secondary ball-handling / playmaking if plays SG.

Aaron Gordon, I believe is a really big risk. I like him but I am scared of him. His offensive game is awful.

Noah Vonleh, I don't like. I don't think he has a high ceiling. Too small and weak to play the C position in the NBA. He'll have to slide down to PF. Not enough quickness / explosive athleticism for the PF position (why Bosh comparison is not good). Ordinary athlete with good size/length. Tough to be dominant player without more of an athletic advantage. Needs to be ultra-skilled to work around that. To become one of 2-3 the most skilled PF in the league. His game doesn't really shout out that. Vonleh has good skill not great skill. I think he's a guy that will range between Jason Thompson to a top 15 PF (above average starter, no star).

So I'd go 1-2-3 in the above order if those are the best available picks. Really like Marcus Smart. I'd be very happy with him.

[Who]

I'd still be very happy with Marcus Smart.

Does anybody else consider a potential starting back court of Rondo and Smart as a deadly combination?

I do!

Smart has everything that is great about the Bradley-Rondo chemistry with better size, more rebounding and secondary ball-handling, and lots more shot-creation and scoring ability.

Although I would prefer to see Smart play in the backcourt alongside a guard who can shoot. But still, Rondo + Smart, loads to like about that. Ainge could even keep Bradley and bring Bradley off the bench behind those two to put together a crazily dominant defensive backcourt.

[cman88]

These last 2 games couldnt have gone worse for the cs. After being all but guaranteed a top 3 pick amd a shot at a top prospect now we are looking at guys who are at best role players.

A wasted season where we sucked but not enough..and somehow people are happy?

Maybe we can lose the next 2 and with some help from the basketball gods end up with a top 3 pick. This is a star league all this stuff about "building a winning culture" that the anti tankers talk about is absolutely useless without the horses in this league. Get the horses THEN build a winning culture

Im gonna feel sick if the lakers get theor next superstar and we are left in the dust 

[celticsfan8591]

This is a star league all this stuff about "building a winning culture" that the anti tankers talk about is absolutely useless without the horses in this league. Get the horses THEN build a winning culture

Thank you, I don't think enough people realize that a winning culture means squat if we're counting on Sully and Olynyk to carry us to our next title. 

[SHAQATTACK]

I predicted we'd win the last four games and I still think we will.  These are sorry teams......that should NOT be in playoffs....only there because overall weakness of east.  And the Celtics while losing kept playing good .  A winning streak was coming.

Sully , AB , KO are all finally healthy at the same time.   Green is playing more consistent  finally.  Pressey has matured .   They are over Lee leaving emotionally and Bayless is playing close to Lee s output . Johnson plays good minutes .

Pressey is a better point guard than Crawford . And more steady.

Coach is not a quitter .....plus many east coast  teams are sputtering here at the end ., and most are poor to begin with compared to west teams.

Perfect storm to upset the draft position for us.
Chance to draft high has passed by .  Shame ....giving the Lakers the edge once again......

East will be bad again next year. But this team will be stuck in 6  -8 seed playoff spot forever......without the talent to contend.

[cltc5]

Yes good Job celtics playing yourselves out of a top 3 pick.  Enjoy those good feeling as we continue the rebuild for the next 10 years

[BballTim]

  Other than some Celts fans and Rondo, at least.

  KG, Ray, Pau, AI, CP, Deron, Melo, Dwight, Shaq, Harden Iggy, Billups,

An informative list.

Of the players on that list, I think most were in situations that an educated observer might have seen as making a trade possible.  Usually stars that get traded are flawed in some way, or don't fit with their current teams plans.  Either that, or they are free agents to-be and have made known that they're interested in going elsewhere.

Deron is the one that stands out as being a surprise when he was traded, because he was still more than a year away from free agency.  But there was a major fight with Sloan (and Sloan resigning abrubtly, as I recall) that presaged the trade.


Second tier stars (as Billups and Iverson were at the time of those trades, for example), are more likely to get traded without so much hubbub and rumor-mongering beforehand.  But trading a top 10 pick for a second tier star, when all we have on the team currently is a still-recovering-from-a-torn-ACL second tier star, doesn't seem like a smart move to me.

  So you're saying that you could have predicted, 6 months to a year before they were either traded or requested a trade, that CP, Ray, Pau and Harden  would probably be traded? Not sure I'd buy that one.

[cometboy]

just to clear something up.

a couple of posters have stated we threw away a virtual guarantee of a top 3 pick. sorry, but that's wrong. even if we ended up with the 3rd worst record, i believe the odds are something like 37% of securing a top 3 pick. i certainly prefer that to where we are likely to end up, but the odds would be 2 - 1 against getting a top 3 pick. those are house odds. the word guarantee doesn't usually go with 2 - 1 odds agaist you (unless you're Joe willie).

also, remember the 5th pick in 07 turned into a championship. demarcus cousins was a 5th pick. paul pierce a 10th, i beleve. as everyone knows, there is also no guarntee the player selected will materialize or stay healthy. we will still end up with 2 good players this year, maybe one very good player.

i started a thread a while back that we would end up with the 5th worse record. it was easy to believe/hope otherwise when we tied orlando. however, it was an illusion.

....and it certainly isn't the end of life as we know it.

CB

[cltc5]

Gordon and Smart would be nice peices to work on.  Id take Gordon around 6 and smart around 10/11.  But we'd have to get rid of bradley for smart.  Gordon, as bad as green is, I dont see having that kinda athleticsm, so he'd be a SF project that would work well with a passing team.  Vonleh has Juwan Johnson written all over him

[nickagneta]

I still think that after Wiggins, Parker an Embiid that the player that comes out of this draft that will be the best is Tyler Ennis. He's got a complete PG game, brings a boat load on intangibles, he has good PG size and excellent floor general skills, is a good shooter and has a high BBIQ. I see a better version of Mike Conley in a couple years. Also, it appears that the players making the leap to the NBA that best develop are PGs nowadays.

Drafting Ennis is a problem given Rondo's position on the team but if you trade Pressey, Babb, Johnson, Anthony and Bogans and a pick for a player like Larry Sanders(Milwaukee might have Embiid and with Henson there would want to dump Sanders salary while saving do a cost savings move), you let Ennis tutor under Rondo for a half year and then trade Rondo at the deadline for a star that might become available. Sanders is a gamble as he might be a one year wonder and a complete bonehead but if not, he has exactly the skill you want to pair with Sully and Olynyk.

Then draft an offensive talent later to fill the wing position, someone like Warren or Hood.

That allows Danny to trade Green, Bass, Rondo and Wallace, using Rondo and picks to leverage someone taking on Wallace's contract.

I would bring back Bradley and Humphries in this scenario on good contracts.

Yes, it means another year or two finding ourselves in the lottery to find that ultimate superstar to add to the equation and yes it means another 2-3 years of being bad and developing talent but its the best thing I can come up with if we are selecting down around 7 or 8, not because of the talent we are getting in this draft but because the talent we are getting with this top pick is a PG.

[hpantazo]

just to clear something up.

a couple of posters have stated we threw away a virtual guarantee of a top 3 pick. sorry, but that's wrong. even if we ended up with the 3rd worst record, i believe the odds are something like 37% of securing a top 3 pick. i certainly prefer that to where we are likely to end up, but the odds would be 2 - 1 against getting a top 3 pick. those are house odds. the word guarantee doesn't usually go with 2 - 1 odds agaist you (unless you're Joe willie).

also, remember the 5th pick in 07 turned into a championship. demarcus cousins was a 5th pick. paul pierce a 10th, i beleve. as everyone knows, there is also no guarntee the player selected will materialize or stay healthy. we will still end up with 2 good players this year, maybe one very good player.

i started a thread a while back that we would end up with the 5th worse record. it was easy to believe/hope otherwise when we tied orlando. however, it was an illusion.

....and it certainly isn't the end of life as we know it.

CB

sure, a top 3 pick as the 3rd worst record is not guaranteed, but your a bit off on your odds there. We were tied for 3rd, in which the odds of a top 3 pick are 46.9%, so basically about 50%. We are very close to dropping to 6th to finish the season, for which the odds of a top 3 pick are 21.5%, so basically 22%, less than half of what the odds were at 3, a HUGE drop in the likelihood of getting a top 3 pick. It does matter significantly.

Still, if Parker stays in school, then it getting the 3rd pick doesn't matter so much anymore.