And the best days are still to come…
So we got the number one pick! The good news for the Boston Celtics just keeps coming. On to the Eastern conference finals and… well, we’ll see. Lets talk about what comes next, after the season. There will be many voices arguing for Danny Ainge to pull the trigger, get the marque name, go all in for a superstar. He can do it. He has the leverage, he has the money and so many options. He also has one hell of a team presently that is young, going to get younger, and going to get better too.
Getting a superstar this year means adding a maximum contract for at least three years if not more. Do that and the money needed to keep Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart gets much tougher to come by. Getting a Gordon Hayward or Paul George also takes minutes away from Jae Crowder and Jaylen Brown. Also to sign one of those guys you have to dump Kelly Olynyk to make room for their max salary. Do you really gain or do you lose? Anyway, that’s the issue we will all be talking about this summer.
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Likely the Celtics will use their pick on this kid Markelle Fultz who many seem to think is a sure thing. That’s another guard on an already guard heavy team. Lonzo Ball out of UCLA is another guard who is immensely interesting but not the scorer Fultz is. Josh Jackson and Jayson Tatum are also in the mix. Jackson is very like Brown, similar size and skill set. Tatum is a bigger body and probably more NBA ready than the rest. He could be a very good small ball 4.
While an NBA roster is twelve players, realistically there are only so many minutes to go around. Going into next year the Celtics have seven important players under contract. They are Avery Bradley, Al Horford, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown. This is very much the core of the team and it’s hard to imagine letting any of these guys go. If you keep these guys then signing Olynyk, if you can get him at a reasonable price, seems like a good idea. Basically you’re keeping your core from this year together for another year, then adding a top rookie and maybe bringing on some of the other kids waiting in the wings.
In the wings is Ante Zizic, an athletic big who has shown real potential overseas. So with the seven players under contract add Olynyk and Zizic and this years top rookie and we are at ten roster positions filled. That leaves two for the home green and three for the Maine Red Claws and well that’s still not enough for all the Celtic assets.
In the mix are Jordan Mickey, Guershon Yabusele, Demetrius Jackson, Abdel Nader, James Young and three second round picks the Celtics have this year. Something has got to give. Somehow Danny Ainge has to find a way to get value for all this wealth of talent.
Next: The Boston Celtics Make Their Own Luck
The smart play is to use some of these assets to trade for another big. If Olynyk is lured away by a big payday elsewhere then the Celtics will be weaker. Amir Johnson and Tyler Zeller might be added on one year deals if push come to shove, but it would be better to trade some of the kids for another quality big. That’s the play. That’s the move that will most ensure the budding dynasty. It’s all so clear and the sun is shining in bean town.