Monday, June 18, 2007

10 things 10 days before the draft

Back for another shift in the draft mines. It sure is dark in here. Confusing too, what with all these different corridors. Look— my canary just died! Darn. He was the only who knew the right tunnel to take to get out. Oh well. Here's more draft ruminations:

1) Yes the Celtics could take a wing.... But my money's on a tall guy. At spot 5 at least one of Horford, Yi, or Brandan Wright will be available. The answer is simple: just pick the one that's left. If Conley goes beforehand, you get your choice of two of them. Just like it has been for months it looks like Yi or B., and I think that means Yi. Simple simple simple: The team needs a tall guy; get a tall guy.

2) Why I think the Celtics WON'T trade out of this draft unless somebody knocks their hosiery off: Because they got burned doing so last year. You could toast marshmallows on that Telfair deal.

No matter what you think of last year's draft day swap with Portland (I like Ainge but I think it was one of his worst moments) the Celtics are going to be doubly wary about pulling out again. (If a vet all-star is there they might have to do it, but any Rashard Lewis deal couldn't include the 5th pick. In that case you might be able to have your draft pick and your vet too.)


3) I also believe they not-so-secretly LOVE a few guys in this draft. One of them is Al Thornton. So among all the Trade Up—Trade Down—Trade Out scenarios, let me add one more possibility: How about trading for a SECOND lottery pick? When they went into the draft last year they had no picks. By the end of the day they had a first and second rounder. (As disappointed as I was in the Telfair deal that day, I really liked the Rondo trade.)

4) How about this for a longshot?: Atlanta and Memphis end up leaving Horford on the board. The Celtics then pick Al Horford at 5. Moments later a trade is announced and they acquire a 2nd pick in the late lottery and use that one to pick Al Thornton. Opening next season you have a frontline of Jefferson, Horford, and Thornton. That's an AL-star frontline— an ALL-AL frontline— when they're all on the court together and Delonte yells "AL!" everybody but Pierce is going to freeze and look over.

Can you bet on the 3-AL possibility in Las Vegas? Probably.

(Does Allan Ray count as an AL? Because then we'd be one AL short of immortality. The first team to put five ALs on the court at once! ALs everywhere would rejoice.)


5) Even though the Telfair deal was pretty miserable, the one good thing that could still come out of it is that the Celtics have the big expiring contract of Ratliff to use in a trade. In fact they have Szczerbiak's contract expiring the year after. One of those two big bundles of money is going to have to be used to re-sign young players. But one might bring something good back. As Sean Grande pointed out on the Celticsstufflive interview the other night, the Celtics are one of the few teams to have both expiring money and young talent to trade with. This is very enviable and a sign that the team has in fact made some honestly tangible progress in the last few years since the Battie-old-days when they had very little that anyone wanted.

6) Think about it. You hear the rumored swaps including names like Garnett, Gasol, Lewis, Marion, the wacky southern California guy, and other all-stars— and every single time the Celtics are rumored to be part of it. Not only is it realistic that the Celtics could acquire one of those players, but you find yourself saying, "No. Not me. I'm not trading Jefferson AND the 5th pick" or some variation of that. I mean can you imagine a few years ago saying, " No way I'm giving up Eric Williams, Jiri Welsch, AND Bruno Sundov for an all star. Uh uh. No freakin' way. We're keeping Bruno. He's untouchable!"

7) In other words, The Celtics already HAVE made a big jump. Not in their record- not yet. But in putting together an impressive group of assets including picks, players, and expiring contracts they COULD possibly make a big leap forward this year— especially if they stay healthy (That alone is worth about 15 more wins. Isn't it?).

8) Speaking of mines: Chris Wallace and Jerry West, the two West Virginians have joined forces sort of. Anyone know what the etiquette is as far as Wallace working for the Griz but knowing EVERYTHING about who the Celtics want in the draft? There must be some sort of protocol for this, otherwise the Celtics would just tie him up and duct tape his mouth until June 29th.

Leo Papile seems like he'd be really good at duct taping peoples' mouths, doesn't he?


9) And speaking of Papile: Ronco, the company started by Ron Popeil just went into chapter 11. I guess no one needs a Veg-O-matic or a Pocket Fisherman anymore. What a shame. ...Wait a minute. How did we get here? Oh I know: my seeing-eye canary died in the first paragraph and I lost my way. Focus. Focus...

10) In summary. I think the Celtics are likely to do things in this order:
--1 Keep the pick and draft a tall Chinese guy.
--2 Keep the pick and draft a tall other guy.
--3 Keep the pick and draft a fleet wingy guy.
--4 Trade the pick and receive an all star who is not insane.
--5 Trade the pick and receive an all star who is insane.
--6 Get a second lottery pick and acquire all the ALs they can.


However you look at it, they'll be better next year.

5 comments:

Gant said...

Remember the great Louis Jordan song: Five Guys Named Moe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jordan

http://www.allthelyrics.com/song/76231/

Now I can't stop thinking about Five Guys Named Al.


I wonder if Al Harrington is available.

Jan said...

Love it :) Keep it going, Gant.

Unknown said...

ive been a C's fan my whole life, so ive been reading everything i can leading up to the draft. espn, sportsline, etc. your has been the best, keep it up.

Gant said...

Thanks so much aldo and kent!

I'm just starting up here, so please spread the word!

Unknown said...

Gant,

This was a great review of the positive, yet real view of the C's progress from the ML, Pitino, Wallace days. Nothing is perfect...trades, drafts...but you are right on..now we have options = speculation = fun doing this and excitement about the future!