Imagining the Future After Game 3
By Adam Miller
All hope was lost. The Celtics looked absolutely crushed both mentally and physically.
The Cleveland Cavaliers sucked the life out of the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After the Game 2 44-point loss things seemed like they couldn’t get any worse, but they did. The backbone of Boston, Isaiah Thomas, suffered a hip injury which put an early end to his postseason. A sweep appeared to be inevitable. Then Game 3 happened.
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard the Celtics magically beat the Cavs to end their undefeated rein in the playoffs. Boston was forced to find offense from someone not named Isaiah Thomas. That person was Marcus Smart. The C’s top scorer notched 27 points on 7 of 10 shooting from behind the arc. He also chipped in 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and a block to show off his balanced effort.
First, let’s lock in what we assume to already know. In a virtually position-less league the Celtics will continue to be guard heavy. After being awarded the 1st pick in the 2017 draft it seems they will add yet another guard. A general consensus would tell you that the University of Washington’s star point guard Markelle Fultz will be selected by the green and white. This means the Celtics will most likely cut ties with either Smart, Avery Bradley, Terry Rozier. If I had to guess, I’d say Rozier will be the one shipped from Beantown. This will give the Celtics four extremely talented guards on team friendly contracts for at least the next year.
Ante Zizic and Guerschon Yabusele are two other pieces for the future. The overseas talents are finally looking to make their debut in the NBA next season. If they make the roster, both bring needed qualities to Boston. Zizic is a 7 foot center who gets high praise for his rebounding and shot blocking prowess. Former Cavaliers coach David Blatt also has has high praise for the big man.
"“I’m telling you, B.S. aside, you will not find a better kid than Ante Zizic. You will not. Anywhere. Hands down.”-David Blatt"
Yabusele gives the Celtics a scoring punch who can play both forward positions. In the D-League East semifinals, he scored 26 points willing the Maine Red Claws to victory. One must think that Boston intends on using the duo’s skills next season.
The next step is to pursue a top-tier free agent. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Celtics plan to “aggressively” pursue Gordon Hayward. Hayward appears to be a solid fit for the C’s due to his familiarity with his former college coach Brad Stevens. He could seamlessly fill the final void in Boston’s “Big 3” with Thomas and Al Horford. Hayward’s scoring punch could really help the Celtics take a jump into the elites.
The finally step is to hold onto your assets. Many people will want the Celtics to trade for force a trade for a big, but that’s unnecessary. There’s simply no great bigs that are worth trading the 2018 Brooklyn pick or any contributing player. The only scenario where the Celtics could trade for a big is if they are uncertain they can resign them. If Boston holds onto their assets and wait they will more than likely be rewarded with a top big man in the 2018 draft class. Whether that be Mohamed Bamba or DeAndre Ayton the best move would be to get a Center through the draft.
If all of this happens the Celtics could be looking at a starting rotation of Thomas, Bradley, Hayward, Crowder and Horford. Then Boston could call upon players like Smart, Fultz, Olynk, Zizic and Yabusele to round out their bench. Obviously, this may never happen, but if it does this group may be able to defeat Cleveland and finally dethrone LeBron James.