OK, maybe Frankie Goes to Hollywood references are not the best lead-inwhen the Celtics hopes and dreams for the next ten years takes a nosedive eerily similar to the 1997 Rick Pitino draft fiasco.
First the bad news: NO ONE wants the number five pick. I repeat, the damned thing is untradeable. That said, there are really only two options available for the Celtics with the pick: best available big guy, or pocket-rocket point guard take 27.
Ian Thomsen over at SI.com beat the snoozing Boston basketball media (someone wake up Peter May to write another Ainge-bashing column please) about the folly of trading basically rookie-of-the-year Brandon Roy for Sebastian Telfair. Then, with the lottery placement that should have belonged to Boston with a ROY on the team instead of a third-string point guard, the Blazer jump into a top spot. My stomach hurt just reading it.
So the Celtics look at Brandon Wright (will be gone by pick 4), Al Horford (is he a fit in Boston?), Roy Hibbard (another version of Kendrick Perkins), and Yi Jianlian, a Chinese tall and skinny guy who can sit on the bench behind Big Al (this is who Thomsen thinks the Celts will grab). Oh joy. As far as point guards (still an area of need), Mike Conley and Acie Law are the only two expected to go in the top 15, so hopefully Ainge will grab one to go along with Rondo and give the Celtics a semblance of an offense other than the standard "hand the ball to Pierce and stand around waiting for him to shoot".
There is no way to spin this, though the media and the Celtics will try. It sucks. The Celtics were screwed over and lost the chance for one of the two impact players availabe, and there is no Dwayne Wade dropping to them this year. Steel yourselves for another year of mediocrity.
First the bad news: NO ONE wants the number five pick. I repeat, the damned thing is untradeable. That said, there are really only two options available for the Celtics with the pick: best available big guy, or pocket-rocket point guard take 27.
Ian Thomsen over at SI.com beat the snoozing Boston basketball media (someone wake up Peter May to write another Ainge-bashing column please) about the folly of trading basically rookie-of-the-year Brandon Roy for Sebastian Telfair. Then, with the lottery placement that should have belonged to Boston with a ROY on the team instead of a third-string point guard, the Blazer jump into a top spot. My stomach hurt just reading it.
So the Celtics look at Brandon Wright (will be gone by pick 4), Al Horford (is he a fit in Boston?), Roy Hibbard (another version of Kendrick Perkins), and Yi Jianlian, a Chinese tall and skinny guy who can sit on the bench behind Big Al (this is who Thomsen thinks the Celts will grab). Oh joy. As far as point guards (still an area of need), Mike Conley and Acie Law are the only two expected to go in the top 15, so hopefully Ainge will grab one to go along with Rondo and give the Celtics a semblance of an offense other than the standard "hand the ball to Pierce and stand around waiting for him to shoot".
There is no way to spin this, though the media and the Celtics will try. It sucks. The Celtics were screwed over and lost the chance for one of the two impact players availabe, and there is no Dwayne Wade dropping to them this year. Steel yourselves for another year of mediocrity.
Comments