Since Al Horford opted to jump ship and sign his lucrative $109 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers two offseasons ago, the Boston Celtics have been seriously struggling to find a consistent talent to roll out at the five spot.
Sure, they’ve experimented with the likes of Enes Kanter, Daniel Theis, Robert Williams, Tristan Thompson, and Grant Williams — just to name a few — and have found some success in doing so, but at this current junction in time the center rotation is still one that is being figured out, both for the now and the future.
Looking back, it’s fun to think about the “what could have been” scenarios had Danny Ainge and co. opted to go in different directions when dealing with past decisions.
From free agency moves to trades made (or lack thereof), the Celtics have found themselves intertwined with some of the biggest storylines over the past several seasons — with being tied for the title of winningest franchise in league history, frankly, it comes with the domain.
The question is, if they had a chance to do things over, what would they change up?
Recently, Bleacher Report put out a piece that saw a complete redo from the storied 2019 NBA Draft and, in the piece, their initial selection at 14th overall, Romeo Langford, still finds himself on the board at this position.
However, in writer Grant Hughes’ alternate universe, he has the Boston Celtics taking Texas center, Jaxson Hayes.
The Boston Celtics select Jaxon Hayes in 2019 NBA Re-Draft
In reality, the young big was taken eighth overall by the New Orleans Pelicans on the illustrious night. Since then, however, he has been surpassed by other players picked after him, thus why his stock fell so low in this re-draft.
For his career, he boasts reletively sub-par averages of 6.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and just shy of a block per game on 67 percent shooting from the field and, due to the acquisition of Steven Adams this past offseason, has seen his role diminish in this playoff-hopeful Pelicans rotation.
That said, his highlight-reel dunks, rim-protecting skills, and freakish athleticism has managed to keep him in the lottery in this B/R piece which, in the Houdini’s eyes, is just.
Though Jaxson Hayes may be a work in progress prospect like who the Cs actually wound up taking in Langford, we’d venture to say that having more center depth would be more appealing than wing depth.
While it’s only a re-draft, we approve of this alternate reality scenario.