The Boston Celtics should consider selling high on Memphis Grizzlies pick

Once seen as one of the most valuable assets in the NBA, it appears the 2020 Memphis Grizzlies pick is losing its allure by the day. With this in mind, might the Boston Celtics look into selling high on the draft rights while they still can?

Since the infamous — or famous, depending on what franchise you hold allegiance to — 2014 trade between the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets, the shamrocks have found themselves in possession of a treasure trove of valuable draft capital. In the deal that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to New York’s second favorite borough, the C’s received three unprotected first-rounders in 2014, 2016 and 2018 as well as the right to swap picks in 2017.

With these picks, the team managed to nab the likes of Jaylen Brown (2016), Jayson Tatum (2017) and Kyrie Irving (2018 pick traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers), thus shortening their “rebuild” phase to just one year (2013-14).

Since the 2014 season, aside from what they received from Brooklyn, the Celtics managed to acquire the draft rights to 14 different picks, six of which wound up being first rounders. Their most recent “cash in” came this past June where Boston drafted Romeo Langford with the 14th pick in the draft (from Sacramento, via Philadelphia).

Next up, the C’s will be coming into the 2020 NBA draft with the potential to have as many as three first round draft picks. They attained the rights to the Milwaukee Bucks pick in June’s draft-night trade that sent Aron Baynes to the Phoenix Suns, and have held the rights to the Memphis Grizzlies pick since the Jeff Green trade back in 2015. Being that both picks are protected (top-7 & top-6 respectively) for this year, due to the construct of the deal, there is always the possibility that each of these assets will wind up being unprotected come the 2021 draft.

However, with the fact that the Bucks are coming off of an appearance in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, and currently hold the league’s best record at 32-6, it is a safe bet that the Boston Celtics will end up with the rights to the pick this season instead of next, with the likelihood of it falling anywhere within the mid-20’s all the way to dead last at 30. With this in mind, it would appear that, while it is indeed a first-round pick, its value is certainly not too high.

The Memphis pick, on the other hand… now there’s an intriguing little fella!

After trading away franchise cornerstones Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, it was quite apparent that the 2019-20 season would be the true start to a full fledged rebuild for the Grizzlies. This past draft, the team opted to take point guard Ja Morant with the second overall pick to pair alongside 2018 lottery-selection Jaren Jackson Jr to form a great one-two punch down the road.

Expectations were quite low for the Grizzlies heading into the season, having many believe the team would certainly fall into their top-6 protected selection, thus giving Boston their unprotected pick in 2021. And, while this team is by no means ready to be considered a playoff contender, they have surprised many during the early stages of this season.

Currently holding a record of 16-22, Memphis finds themselves just two games behind the eighth seeded San Antonio Spurs. They are ninth out west and seventeenth overall in the association.

With the way things are currently progressing the Grizzlies could certainly play themselves out of their top-6 protected pick in 2020 which, in turn, would be bestowed to the Boston Celtics. And while this may seem like a positive for the C’s, when looking at their draft selections outside of the top-5 over the better part of the past decade, perhaps it may be in their best interest to offload the pick while the value is still relatively high.

The three most notable selections for the Celtics at pick six or above over the last 10 years are Avery Bradley (2010), Marcus Smart (2014) and Terry Rozier (2015). Outside of these two — too early to tell about Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters — Danny Ainge‘s track record is a tad bit underwhelming, to say the least.

The revolving-door of late first-round talents on the organization consist of the likes of Fab Melo, R.J. Hunter, Ante Zizic and Guerschon Yabusele, just to name a few. This should come as no shocker when I say this is by no means a list of household or, frankly, memorable names.

Perhaps the best course of action for the Boston Celtics would be to look to move the pick while the oven’s still hot.

They already have their own pick in this year’s draft, which is slated to come — at the least — somewhere in the 20’s. The Bucks’ pick, as previously stated, is destined to be a high one. Why not try to get the most out of their highest valued draft asset to potentially better the chances of the team acquiring an impact player for not only next season, but for the remainder of this one.

With the likes of Andre Drummond, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Kuzma finding themselves on the trade rumor-mill, perhaps a pick like Memphis’ could prove to be enticing enough to nab one of this season’s top available talents in a potential package.

Am I saying the Boston Celtics absolutely need to trade the Memphis pick away? Of course not! Still, being that it is expected to be a lottery pick — and could even turn into an unprotected pick in 2021 — it would be wise for the team to see exactly how high opposing team’s currently value this once-priceless asset.