Last night, the NBA Draft Lottery was held, and much to the surprise of many, the Boston Celtics secured the number one draft pick, despite being in the playoffs and having the best record in the Eastern Conference. So, how did the Boston Celtics ended up with the number one draft pick? Let’s back track.
The Boston Celtics made a deal with the Brooklyn Nets back in 2013, when they dealt Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn in exchange for a few draft picks. Four years later, Danny Ainge and company have been stocking up draft picks, while making shrewd moves during this season trade deadlines back in February and establishing Isaiah Thomas as their star player. As a result, the Celtics find themselves in the driver’s seat more than ever, especially with a deep team that has flexible contracts, and on top of that, you also have would-be free agents like Jimmy Butler, Paul George, and Blake Griffin, whose teams were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. All seems right for the Celtics and why shouldn’t it be. After all, come July, Boston could be on the few destinations for superstar talent to find themselves in the hopes of winning a championship ring, as well as the future home of Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball.
As for the other teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Sacramento Kings, it was draft lottery business as usual. With the Lakers taking the number two draft pick, there’s a good chance they’ll take Fultz or Ball as their point guard of the future, considering that there is still much more work to be done. The 76ers still find themselves as fixtures for the draft and a high possibility of missing out on Fultz and Ball. That’s something the 76ers shouldn’t really worry about to say the least.
With young talent like Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Nik Stauskas (pronounced stau-skas), and T.J. McConnell, the 76ers are still building for the future. All they would need now ironically would be another point guard, but then again, the 76ers would need a shooting guard-small forward combo to help them out as well.
Another team that also trusts the process are the Minnesota Timberwolves. With rising stars like Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Zach LaVine, the Wolves could finally have another piece to their puzzle to make them contenders within another year or two. They have Ricky Rubio at the helm as their point guard, but if they draft a power forward come time for the NBA Draft, the Wolves will not only have youth, but they will be one step closer to contending in a still vicious Western Conference.
The Sacramento Kings have the distinction of having not only two draft picks, but also the distinction of getting the Philadelphia 76ers into the top three of the draft lottery. After losing DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans after the all-star break and tanking for the rest of the regular season, the Kings once again hit the restart button. For one thing, they have Ben McLemore, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Darren Collison at their disposal, but in the draft, the Kings will most likely need another big man that they can fruitfully build around, but with less headaches and drama that Cousins brought with him to Sacramento and even a small forward, now that Rudy Gay could be testing the free agent waters in the summer.
Other notable teams that also had decent draft picks at best were the Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, and the Dallas Mavericks. With the Suns having the fourth pick, it will be slim pickings for them to find a suitable back court partner for Devin Booker, but then again, they have Tyler Ullis, Eric Bledsoe, and Brandon Knight. The Suns can compensate by scouting for the third best point guard in the draft or they can find a small forward to help continue building their team.
The Orlando Magic continue to find themselves as another draft fixture. In last season’s draft, they took Domantas Sabonis, only to trade him to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka, and to say the least, that plan really didn’t work out in the Magic’s favor. If the Magic wanted a big man, namely a power forward, this year’s draft would be the best opportunity for them, especially coming on the 25th year anniversary of when NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal was drafted by the team.
The New York Knicks had a woeful season that went wrong for very weird and absurd reasons. Aside from this, the Knicks can breathe a sigh of relief now that their season is over and will have to look at seeing what they must do in the draft. With Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose not having a good season for the Knicks, that may lead to speculation on what position or positions that the Knicks should draft for, which are small forward and point guard respectively.
As for the Dallas Mavericks, the good news is that Dirk Nowitzki will return for his 20th season with the team. The bad news is that Nowitzki didn’t have faith in their draft luck. The Mavs will need to find a successor for Nowitzki, one where Dirk can mentor the rookie until it is his time to take over for the Mavericks. With players like Harrison Barnes, Wesley Matthews, Nerlens Noel, and Seth Curry, the Mavs will need a young big man that could take over for Dirk one day.
Other teams that were in the draft lottery, but had low chances of getting the number one draft pick included the Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, and the Charlotte Hornets. The 2017 NBA Draft takes place June 22 at 7pm in Brooklyn’s Barclay Center. It will be televised live on ESPN.
The Heat Check Magazine 