It is interesting to think about the top players in the draft being a position the Celtics may not need.
Butler is not a position of "need" either but that doesn't stop anyone from proposing trades to get him.
Personally feel Ainge will draft Jackson even with 1st pick though maybe trade down one or two spots if he can. Fultz does not strike me as an Ainge type player.
That's irrelevant.
Butler plays SG or PF, and our current players at those positions are Bradley and Crowder - neither of whom are stars, nor ever will be.
Butler is a star. He's a major upgrade over either of those two players, and he's on a very good, long term contract. If Butler is coming here, then chances are one of those guys is going out - hence "not being a position of need" is a moot point. He's be replacing the player at that position, almost certainly.
On the other hand our current PG is Isaiah Thomas. He is a core piece to this team moving forward. He is our best player. He's the second leading scorer in the NBA. He's an All-Star.
This isn't %12 or #16 picks were talking about here. When you draft a guy in the top 2 of the draft, there are certain ambitions / expectations that come along with that. Pick a guy that high and you are telling the world that "I think this guy has future star potential, and we want to build around him". If we used our pick to draft a PG at #1 or #2 it's sending a message to Thomas that he's position is under threat.
Look what happened when we drafted Smart - a month or two later Rondo was traded away.
Thomas, Bradley and Crowder all have contracts expiring before too long. Draft a PG at #2, and maybe that's enough to convince Thomas that he's under threat. Maybe it's enough to convince him to not re-sign here, and to walk.
Even if you draft him with the aim of using him at SG, maybe that's enough to convince Bradley to walk.
This is why the 2017 pick is far more useful to Boston as an asset then it is as an actual draft pick, and I've been saying this all along.
The top 4 or 5 guys in the draft are pretty much all point guards. You aren't going to draft a #5 talent at #1 just because you don't need a PG, because that would be idiotic - you always take the best player available. So Boston would need to take a PG.
That leaves you with Thomas, Rozier, Smart, Jackson, Bradley, Young, Green and Fultz (for arguments sake) - that's 8 guards on the roster. You obviously ditch jackson and Young. Probably ditch green. That's still 5 guards. Now Rozier won't get playing time, period...and you have Thomas, Smart, Bradley and Fultz all fighting for playing time.
Fultz won't be able to get more then 20 minutes probably, which limits the ability to see what he can do. Smart will get cut down to probably 20 minutes. Thomas will get cut down to 28 minutes or so, which will annoy him because we need him on the court...you end up with a massive mess.
The only way it makes sense to draft Fultz this year is if you trade away Bradley+Smart or Crowder+Smart. This way you open up the chance for Fultz to come in and get plenty of minutes as a 6th man backing up Thomas and whoever we have at SG.
So, it makes perfect sense to either trade the pick, or move players in order to make the pick more rational.
Lets say we trade the 2018 brooklyn pick, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart to Chicago for Butler.
Now we have Thomas, Butler and Crowder starting on the perimeter, with Fultz giving us 25-30 minutes off the bench at the PG and SG spot. That works.
Or if we trade Crowder and Smart for Carmelo...now we have Thomas, Bradley and Melo starting on the perimeter, with Fultz giving us 25-30 minutes off the bench at the PG and SG spot. That works.
If we keep Bradley
and we keep Smart
and we draft Fultz, then it makes no sense. It just wont work.