This is the most interesting NBA Draft I can remember. It has the right combination of depth of talent, unknown commodities, and intriguing teams at the top of the draft, and that was before Joel Embiid broke his foot. There are a thousand different things that could happen on Thursday, and it has the potential to be a landmark day for the Boston Celtics. Here are some of the storylines to follow:
University of Kansas center Joel Embiid was a lock to get picked #1 by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but now his injury has teams second guessing their draft strategy. Now, teams like the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers (the NBA’s two most successful franchises who have only missed the playoffs in the same year twice hold the #6 and #7 picks, respectively), who did not think Embiid would be available to them are back in play to land the talented Cameroonian big man. The foot injury is concerning for sure. Bill Walton’s career was derailed when he broke that same bone in his foot. Same thing with Yao Ming. On the other hand, Michael Jordan broke that bone and was fine. Jordan was at least six inches shorter than Walton, Yao, or Embiid, but Embiid is younger than any of those guys, so who knows?
Even without foot and back (which kept him out of the NCAA Tournament in March) concerns, Embiid was a high risk with a potentially high reward. Every draft selection has risk, but it seems that big men have the greatest chance of going bust. Remember Greg Oden? What would the NBA landscape look like today if the Portland Trail Blazers had taken Kevin Durant at #1 instead? Just because Embiid has the ceiling to be the next Hakeem Olajuwon or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, doesn’t mean he’ll get there. For the Celtics and the Lakers, that’s still a risk worth taking. If he reaches his potential, he could be the next great big man in the NBA, and those guys are hard to find. Dwight Howard and Roy Hibbert have yet to prove that they can carry a team to a championship, and while Tim Duncan just won his fifth career NBA Title with San Antonio last week, and he’s one of the all time greats, he’s also 38 years old and it’s safe to say he has more years behind him than ahead of him. One thing I really like about Embiid (and Andrew Wiggins, not that there’s any chance of him being available at #6) is that he played for the Kansas Jayhawks. The greatest Celtic I ever had the pleasure of watching, Paul Pierce, was also a Kansas Jayhawk. I would love to see the next great Celtic come out of Kansas, if it’s not one of the many kids with New England roots that keep making it into the Draft.
With Embiid falling in the draft, the Milwaukee Bucks, will likely take either Jabari Parker from Duke or Embiid’s Kansas teammate Andrew Wiggins at #2, whichever one doesn’t get picked by Cleveland. Before Embiid’s injury, it looked like Milwaukee was locked in on Parker and the Philadelphia 76ers would take Wiggins with the #3 pick. This puts the Philly in a tough spot. The Sixers made perhaps the most blatant attempt to tank the 2013-14 season and improve their draft standing, and they were rewarded for their efforts with the #3 pick. Going into the 2013-14 college basketball season, Wiggins was the most talked about prospect and he appeared to be falling into Philly’s lap. Embiid wasn’t as appealing to the Sixers because they used a lottery pick last year on a big man in (and Everett, MA native) Nerlens Noel. Wiggins was supposed to be the piece they could add to Noel and (Hamilton, MA native) Michael Carter-Williams and make a real effort to compete this year. Without Wiggins, the might be back in the lottery again next year. This has draft pick implications for the Celtics, too. Because of a previous trade, the C’s could get Philly’s 2015 1st round draft pick, but only if the Sixers make the playoffs. It’s going to feel weird, but Celtics are going to be rooting for their longtime division rivals to make the playoffs to add another pick to their stockpile.
Depending on who is still available when the #6 pick comes around will have a lot to do with what the Celtics decide to do. They might keep the pick and come home with Embiid, or Arizona’s Aaron Gordon or Indiana’s (and Haverhill, MA’s) Noah Vonleh, or Kentucky’s Julius Randle. They might trade that pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with some combination of draft picks (the Celtics have this year’s #17 pick from the Brooklyn Nets as well as Brooklyn’s 1st round picks in 2016 and 2018, all thanks to Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce) and players on their roster (Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger seem the most likely since they’re young, still have high upside, and are both power forwards) in exchange for All-Star power forward Kevin Love. If they Celtics land Love, they could also try make a trade for Omer Asik, but if they can’t get Love, Rajon Rondo might get traded out of town and the rebuild through the draft will continue. Danny Ainge has plenty of options, and we will have a much clearer idea of what the Celtics will look like going forward this time next week. Who knows? Maybe if the C’s look like a contender again, free agent former captain Paul Pierce might make a return to Boston.
The speculation will continue until the night of the Draft. For all I know, a big name might be coming to Boston that nobody has mentioned yet. Nobody was talking about the possibility of Ray Allen coming to the Celtics until he was traded there on the night of the Draft in 2007. Once the Celtics had Allen along with Paul Pierce, it was easier to convince Kevin Garnett to go Boston. All I know is that something big will happen, it’s just a matter of time before we know what that is.
Dave's Words 