2017 Celtics offseason

That's a tough decision. For one I love the player, but can he ever play again?  Usually the answer is no, not without risking your life.  So with our last second round pick if there is just nothing there I can see taking him.  Thing is this draft is loaded, so that's not a given. 

But Danny is roster spot musical chairs so he can gamble a 2nd rounder on upside low floor

I love the upside guys,  but like I said most players don't ever play again with his issue.  This drafted is so stacked that international guys like Alpha Kaba might not even get drafted.  So unless the Celtics doctors think he can play or at least there's a decent chance, I take someone else.  This just happend to Austin from Baylor and he went undrafted.

So most likely I would rather target a player like Kaba.  An athletic PF, 6'10'' with a 7'3'' wingspan that can shoot the ball.  He's raw, has a low basketball IQ and needs to improve motor.  Type of guy 3-4 years from now that could really help us after developing overseas.

You need to give up on Sully. He's not walking back through that door. His time here was not good off the court nor was he in shape on the court. He's done in Boston even if we wanted a minimum deal and I'm good with that. He's not a winning player with his attitude and lack of work ethic - maybe the last guy I'd want around young impressionable players.

As far as these guys in the second round etc. it's going to be really hard to bring in a second round pick this year. With Fultz, Zizic and Yabu you have 3 new rookies already. Nader is a real possible fourth and that's on top of Brown being a second year guy. Only so much room for rookies. It's possible but it's going to be tough.

I can't give up on him.  That's my guy and he fits a big need.  Maybe getting cut motivated him.  He's still young, people can change.  If it doesn't work out cut him.

If we get a max free agent we are going to have a bunch of roster spots to fill, so we could easily fit a few second rounders.  It all depends if we gut roster to get max cap space.  We better have room for one no matter what, because that high second rounder is going to be a very good player.

If you clear money to get a max guy, you would have Horford, Thomas, Crowder, Bradley or Smart, Rozier, Brown, and maybe Jackson. That's 6 or 7 guys. Then max Guy, Fultz, Yabu and Zizic. So thats 10 or 11 players, most projections have Jackson gone. You have two exceptions to use to get some decent vets. So your other options are either a player like Nader, other second round picks, or vet minium players. Sullinger would be about as good as you could do talent wise on a vet min. big. Sure it's a long shot, but his rebounding, passing and ok D fill a big need. He needs to get in shape and change his attitude. My hope is that getting cut by Raptors was the wake up call he needed.

Very similar to an idea that CSNNE posed for their 5th installment of what trade would you make. They had Saric instead of Holmes.

To be fair, the whole idea is based on the idea that Jackson is seen by some as a superstar as well.

If you don't believe that (or, more importantly, Danny doesn't) then the idea loses merit, imo.

I look at this draft and see a bunch of potential all stars. Fultz looks like the safest player and I would take him #1.

That being said, I can certainly understand if Danny wanted a Tatum or Jackson, plus a bunch of other assets. Okafor, Saric/Holmes and the 2018 unprotected Lakers pick is a ton. If you wanted a perfect player for small ball PF those are two great options. They fit perfectly in our system. Especially Jackson, who's an elite athlete, great defender, team player, that just makes winning plays. Now you worry about his shot, even though he really improved as season went along. His FT % was really bad all year. If you believe his shot and ft% will improve, he probably is going to be the best two way player in this draft.

Getting that Lakers pick also gives you major options. You have an extra elite trading chip now. If you don't get a max free agent, you could look at trading Crowder and that pick for PG13. Or just add two more lottery picks next year. It's a very interesting option. Nevermind players like Okafor and Saric. Though it seems like a stretch that they would include both and the Lakers pick. I could see Okafor being a major bench player for us. Stevens is great at getting the most out of a player and Okafor has a world of talent. Would love to see what some good coaching could do for him. I can see a savy Vet like Horford really helping him.

I also see this trade talk and the talk of "other options at number 1" as a bunch of hot air in the 24/7 news cycle. NBA executives take advantage of it by feeding information and hoping to drum up interest. Fultz is easily the number 1 prospect in this draft. The biggest question mark they can come up with is he only won 9 games last year and his AAU teams never won either.

Yea no one really knows what heights Fultz will reach but his ceiling is equally as high as anyone else's and his floor is a lot higher too. If you want to knit pick and say Jacksons ceiling is higher because of his size that's fine but his odds of reaching it are so much lower than Fultz.

As far as the winning stuff goes, it should not be a real concern. First, the AAU stuff (not saying you care about this but want to get it off the table): this is a kid who was a late bloomer so when he was 12,13,14 on the AAU circuit he wasn't the player he is today. Didn't make varsity until his Jr and wasn't recruited prior to then either.

At Washington, his team sucked. Like really sucked and his coach was terrible too. People like to talk like one player can win in basketball or make all that difference and that's only true to a point. It's typically true in he NBA because everyone in the NBA is good and even the bad players can be straight out ballers when the attention is taken off of them because of one stud. Look at JaVale McGee. In college that's just not the case, especially for an 18 year old freshman in a big time conference on a crappy team.

Players can learn how to "win". What's harder is having the work ethic to improve your game, the desire to be great and the humbleness to not be a jackass. Fultz seems to have all those qualities.

Like I said, you have to come up with something to question and when not knowing how to win is that question for a just turned 19 year old then you are pretty damn golden. Since Fultz is newer to being "the man", it doesn't surprise me that he has to learn how to win in certain ways. Not for nothing, LeBrons biggest knock has been deferring too much late in games when he should take over, etc and that's something he's had to learn. This actually makes the Celtics the perfect landing spot for Fultz and other young guys (like Brown). The Celtics are going to be in highly competitive situations and playoff games and they can develop and learn in they environment from good veterans.

Sign me up.