2019-20 Boston Celtics Season

I fully expect a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. I worry about some teams like the Sixers yet only fear one team in the East and that's the Bucks. It's absolutely understandable, it just sucks. Normally maybe he doesn't even miss a game or it's one. Now he could miss multiple games at the height of our season. 

Anything can happen, the Sixers could beat us. I just don't see it as likely. They are flawed, yet the bigger issue is their Coach. It's going to take something big for them to beat us in a playoff series.

Well I feel these playoffs are Tatum's coming out party to the NBA. He goes from first time all-star to star. Heck he has a chance to go to superstar status if he plays like he did the last month plus of the season. I think the key to beating the Bucks is more Brown, Hayward, Smart, Theis and Kanter. I know what Tatum will do, I know what Walker will do when healthy. It's can the rest of them play big to make up for our lack of depth?

I feel like the layoff helps us as much as any team. All season we couldn't get healthy and almost never played with a full healthy roster. Tatum goes off and Walker wasn't close to healthy. Early in the year when Walker was healthy Tatum was missing layup after layup and then Hayward goes down. Now they have had basically a full off-season, then an extra training camp. Call me crazy but I expect the best Celtic team since the big three. With the massive wildcard being Jaylen Brown. Imagine he has a coming out party? The guy has had a very good season, but we have really yet to see what the Celtics look like with Tatum not missing layups, Walker healthy and Brown as the third fiddle. Can the Bucks match that? There much better depth might not matter in the playoffs.

I can't wait!

This draft doesn’t even have the picks right... we have the Bucks pick...

Bleacher Report is doing a top 15 at their positions ranking for play this season only.

The Celtics have:

PG: #9 (Kemba - but with a note that 4-9 can really be ranked in any order)

SG: #6 (Jaylen) and #11 Smart

SF: #5 (Tatum) and #7 (Hayward)

It got me thinking if this injury and COVId is going to help the Celtics keep Hayward here long term. Regarding the injury, Hayward has had to change his game and to his credit he has. He keeps getting better and better in his role but he’s clearly not the star player he was prior to and it’s highly unlikely he will ever be. As long as the owners are willing to spend, I think resigning him here for well less than a Max seems to be a real good possibility. Of course, I’ll need to see cap numbers 2 years from now and who has space.

I certainly agree with a lot of that. Yet given hindsight of how that unfolds I'm going Green, Carey/Oturu, then Anthony. I just like Green more unless someone can show me why Theo has a bigger upside. International guys are crazy hard, you need a lot more information. Workouts are huge, especially when they go head to head with top prospects. A guy like Hampton at least we have his high school record to analyze. I wouldn't hate it, I just have others rated higher at 16 right now.

RJP why is PG so high for you? For me we have Walker, Smart, and Waters. We've used Smart as a two guard because of Wannamaker and not having an another option at two guard. Yet I'd rather have Smart play PG, add Green to Langford and let one of them become a SG next to Smart. I just love Waters, he might end up being the best player we drafted last year. Crazy skilled, has the feel for the game, knows how to run a team and his athletic ability allows him to play bigger than he is. Perfect third PG for me. I'm certainly not against adding a PG for the future if it's the best value. I just can't overlook the G-League rookie of the year.

The Ringer scouting report on Anthony is basically what you said. For me outside of a big, a scoring reserve that can shoot for the bench is our second and heck maybe biggest need. In a lot of ways Anthony is similar to Monk. I don't think it happens, still think he likely gets picked in the top 15 though. I agree this draft is wild, yet I still see tiers. More like swap Stewart for Anthony.

The hard part is really judging who are the hard workers and team first guys. Our culture is crazy important, Irving proved just that. Look at Kendrick Perkins, his work ethic and being a good team player gave him a much longer career than his talent did. Then you have lazy yet very skilled Jared Sullinger's type who are out of the league.

That's really my questions on guys like Carey and Oturu. Are they hard workers, are they teachable, do they have high basketball IQ, or is there going to be issues? I think most people think Kanter has been good right? Carey's like getting Kanter for fives years on the cheap, with upside of being able to switch defensively and space the floor.

Pokusevski is interesting, but can he add a ton of weight to that frame? I mean Marcus Smart could easily muscle him around. I could see swinging for the fences at pick 30, yet not at pick 16. He's like Theo, you need way more information and scouting than I can do. Intriguing, yet there are always guys like him. Remember Bol?

I have no Idea on Toppin I've yet to look at guys we likely have no shot at in depth. I like Green, his combo of passing, shooting and D. Yet I also don't have a problem with any of them, it's more of what you want. At one point I thought Danny was predictable drafting, yet not anymore. It what really makes this fun. The only thing I'm convinced of is he'll take a big. Yet I have no clue what kind he goes for it could be Carey, Oturu, Stewart types or Reed, Williams, McDaniels types as small ball centers.

Did I miss something about Walkers Knee? You are making this sound like a long-term issue. I worry more about Hayward, he's still missing games because of his foot two years later. Yet I get it.

Why is size really an issue for your third PG? Especially when Walker and Waters are rather close in size? I'd worry because you really can't play them together, yet if Walkers out that isn't an issue. He's shown he can play against NBA size and athletes in the G-League, something no draft pick as done yet. He plays bigger than his size because of his 40.5 vertical, which is better than Walkers.

I'd also point out with two years of College ball and this year he'll have much more experience. Your going to have a hard time getting a guy who can come in and outplay Waters next year. Theo is much more of a long-term type player.

Now let's look at it from your point of view. I wouldn't be looking at Theo if PG is my #1 need right now. He's very young and is going to take time. I'd look at guys like Lewis, Dotson, Winston, Jones, etc. Heck Cole Anthony if he drops. Depending of what you think about Dotson shot, he's a crazy intriguing prospect. A guy leading one of the best College teams and he's crazy quick.

Hagans from Kentucky is a guy in the second round I'm highly intrigued by. He's certainly not NBA ready and doesn't have range. Yet he's like a poor man's Rondo and could be a really good defender in the NBA. Type of guy you stash in G-League for a year. Also his a good FT shooter, so there's some hope for his outside shooting down the line.

I'll say this, you have no shortage of PG prospects in this years draft. From pick 16 to mid second round you have many different options. Maybe I'm wrong about Theo, international guys are hard they don't play much. I just see him as a Langford, Robert Williams, Rozier type guy that will likely need years to develop.

This kind of tells the story about this draft, which if it stays this way will make draft night super fun because you won’t know who’s about to be picked.

Basically anyone in the top 6 could go number 1

The 10th player has a range between 4 and 16

The number 13 player has a range between 7 and 31 (although no way he lasts to 31)


www.google.com/amp/s/hoopshype.com/lists/nba-mock-draft-anthony-edwards-lamelo-ball-projections/amp/

While I agree that kinda tells the story right now, I don't see it being that extreme come draft night. Yet I also think they'll have a water downed combine at some point so we get measurements and athletic numbers. That always shapes the rankings. Without that it could be a little crazy. Yet I don't think you'll see a guy like Desmond Bane have a range of 18 to undrafted. It has to go one way or another. Even in this draft someone can't be good enough to go mid first round and then bad enough to go undrafted.  He's listed as a so-so athlete, so testing will hurt or help him.

Another rankings that lists Stewart over Carey and Oturu. I think people need to go watch some tape on Stewart. A Celtics piece like a week back was saying how he'd be great for us because he's like Harrell on the Clippers. You only make that comparison if you never watched tape of both players. Stewart is nimble for his size, he's just not close to the run and jump athlete Harrell is. Another comparing him to Bam, which again seems crazy. He's closer to Jared Sullinger than those players, yet he seems more nimble and in better shape.

Overall the draft has gotten crazy. Underclassmen used to stay in School unless they had a good chance at going in the first. Now they come out if they have a good chance at getting drafted. They are perfectly fine with going to the G-League. So you just have so many young guys that are hard to rank. It's a very good thing with a guy like Danny at GM.

That list wasn’t an opinion ranking it was a composite list of a bunch of mocks. “For our aggregate mock draft, we have used the rankings of CBS Sports, USA TODAY, Sports Illustrated, NBADraft.net, Rookie Wire, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, The Ringer, Stadium, The Athletic and ESPN.”

So Stewart was only higher because his average in all the mocks put him higher. High high was 4 spots ahead of Carey’s high and his low was 6 spots ahead of Carey’s low.


Yes the NBA has changed; it’s still to be determined how a guy like Waters can do, especially in the game plan situation of the playoffs. Just like it’s to be seen if a team can actually win in the playoffs with a 6’5 center. We will see.

www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/larkish01.html

We remember Shane Larkin right? He's basically the same size as Waters, with Waters having a much bigger wingspan and Larkin having a crazy elite 44" vertical. I thought he was a very good third PG for us.

Given the amount of picks we have I fully expect Danny to draft a PG. It just makes sense. It looks like a strong class with very good depth and we don't have a young stud waiting in the wings. Haha oh how it is being a Celtics fan with so many picks. Which is my general point, were talking about depth most contenders can't dream of. The Bucks don't have a third string PG, other teams have guys on TW contracts. Wanamaker is literally one of the better third string PGs in the NBA. Heck he might have the most win shares of any third string guy in the league.

I get where you are coming from, I'm just pointing out how in the context of the NBA it's kinda crazy. Waters coming off G-League rookie of the year would be one of the better third string PGs in the league next year. It makes sense for us, yet it's still crazy. We know this because multiple GMs said they tried to trade for Waters because he was better than guys on there current 15 man rosters.

Teams focus on best player available or filling one need in the draft. Yet here we are one of the best teams, tons of good young players, a bunch of guys with high upsides and we have three first round picks. Talking about adding another young high upside starter to a position that is likely top five next year with Walker, Smart and Waters. I truly get it, but it's still crazy.