The Boston Celtics hold the rights to 3 first-round selections in this year’s draft and could wind up nabbing some much-needed shooters with said capital.
The Boston Celtics proved to have one of the best cores in the entire NBA during the 2019-20 season.
Rostering the likes of All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker, arguable All-Star snub Jaylen Brown, former All-Star Gordon Hayward, and 2020 All-Defensive First-Team selection Marcus Smart, it’s easy to see how this notion came to be.
That said, outside of this core-five the team’s talent pool was relatively shallow.
Sure, they had one of the most underrated starting centers in the league in Daniel Theis — ranked just behind Rudy Gobert in defensive real plus-minus — but, outside of him, the rest of the ream’s role-players could be viewed as easily replaceable.
Nowhere greater was this statement highlighted than within the team’s second-unit scoring impact, where they finished as one of the worst squads in the association. By year’s end, the shamrocks’ bench ranked 29th in points per game (28.5), 28th in 3-point percentage (31.8), and 20th in offensive rating (53.6).
This past postseason, their offensive woes off the pine flowed right along, as they finished things off (out of 16 teams) 14th in points per game (18.2 points) and dead last in offensive rating (39.6).
With this, it’s likely that the Cs will want to address this weak spot within the rotation this offseason in an effort to better position themselves for a run at glory come the 2020-21 campaign.
Being that they hold the rights to 3 first-round picks in this upcoming draft, utilizing said capital to help shore up this area would be the easiest and most cost-efficient way for the front office to go about things.
Should they end up taking this route, there are 3 great shooting prospects projected to be available at each of Boston’s picks that the Houdini believes should be on their radar: