A little over 36 hours after landing the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, the Celtics weren’t yet fielding trade calls regarding that selection, according to president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. However, as A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com tweets, Ainge expects the phone to start ringing by next week.
Ainge has indicated that he’s open to every option with that top pick, including a potential trade, but Celtics sources tell Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders that the most likely outcome is the team keeping and using the No. 1 selection. As Kyler notes, the C’s recognize that draft picks don’t come with any guarantees, but they also believe that the pick is very valuable from a financial perspective — getting a potential star on a rookie contract may be more appealing than trading for an established star who is already on a lucrative deal and will only get more expensive.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- The debate over whether the Celtics should keep or trade their pick is a lively one. Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com (Insider-only link) weigh the pros and cons of the two approaches, while Charles Curtis of USA Today argues in favor of trading it and Michael Pina of Vice Sports makes the case for keeping it.
- Assuming the Celtics keep the first overall pick, Markelle Fultz is the obvious favorite to be selected, but expect the team to work out several of the top prospects before making a final decision, Steve Kyler writes in his piece linked above.
- Boston is expected to be a major player for Gordon Hayward if the All-Star forward opts out of his contract with Utah, but as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders observes (via Twitter), the club may have to part with Kelly Olynyk in order to create enough cap room for a max contract.
- Celtics swingman Gerald Green, who will be eligible for free agency this offseason, has signed with agent James Dunleavy of Independent Sports and Entertainment, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). Green was previously represented by BDA Sports.
I think they should try to move someone other than Olynyk to make room for Hayward. If we get Hayward we won’t need Crowder so we could move him but we would need to make shore that Heyward is coming first. We don’t want to move Crowder and find out that Heyward isn’t even coming and now have a gap at the 3 spot. I just feel that Olynyk is too valuable off the bench. Him and Smart are good enough to be starters on other teams and are a great fit coming off the bench for us.
Crowder is one of the most valuable players at his contract number. Boston doesn’t appear to have any intentions of trading him. The Pacers were interested in Crowder in deadline talks revolving PG13 and Boston stated that they weren’t interested in any deal involving Crowder. Plus he can play the 4
I love Olynyk. I’ve been someone who has constantly defended Olynyk having a spot in the rotation. Even if he does post clunkers every now and then, I would love to see Olynyk back.
Realistically, it may be a challenge. Olynyk could be squeezed out by the draft-and-stash guys Yabusele and Zizic. Even if he did come back, I’m not sure he’d have the same role with those guys here and possibly Crowder at the 4 with Marcus or Jaylen starting. I really think he is a huge piece off the bench for the Cs and he did his job this year, but realistically, I’m not sure he comes back.
right
I wouldn’t mind getting Fultz but I also wouldn’t mind us trading back into the top 12 somehow(maybe a possible Crowder or Bradley trade) and get someone like Collins or Allen and move Horford back to the 4 where he is better suited. Having a lineup of Thomas and Fultz(I think Fultz would start at the 2) and Heyward Horford and then Collins or Allen. That is a largely improved lineup. But the more I think about it, let Heyward go some place else and save our money for another star a lineup of Thomas Fultz Crowder Horford and either Collins or Allen with Smart and Olynyk coming off the bench is a big improvement over our already dangerous lineup and give us a better shot against the Cavs
Still would get F’d by the Cavs
Not sure how starting two rookies will make the Cavs worried at all
Get rid of Tyler Zeller and add Hayward and either bring Crowder off the bench or have him play at the 4
Add Hayward, Draft Fultz, Trade Smart/Crowder for a F/C and the team has improved enough to contend with Cavs, then they have the Nets pick coming up outright.
Playoffs it’s about matchups not best starting roster on paper, need crowder to play defense against Lebron, if we draft and keep Fultz, he’s not starting but will be a good offensive guy off the bench
Wish Cousins could be F/C in that trade
Hey fellow Green Teamers, let’s come back to reality! None of the rosters mentioned above has any chance against the Cavs/Warriors … in fact, unless Trader Danny somehow swindles AD from New Orleans w/o giving up the farm, I don’t see an NBA all star team challenging the Cavs/Warriors for the next 3-4 years. Our best ally will be AGE! Everyone wants to win now, especially Trader Danny, but thankfully the LeBrons have totally schooled the C’s which should make Ainge realize that his best bet is to keep building for the ROARING TWENTIES when Brown, Fultz, Smart, Zizic, Big Panda will be hitting their stride! We really need a couple of bigs for that run to come to fruition and in the meantime, IT and Horford will make the ext couple of banner,was years at least enjoyable to watch during the long cold winter nights ….