Darth Celtic wrote:FYI. The Celtics fans, front office, and basically anyone who has a clue was cheering for the Griz pick to not convey this year. This draft is very bland from 3/4-30. A 14 pick and a 8 pick are about the same talent level.
Getting the 9th pick in this draft is way, way worse than 10th pick next year or so on along with a chance that it ends up top 5 unprotected in 2021. The Grizz REALLY wanted it to convey this year. Moving to 2 helps though. Right now I would bet the griz are happy they moved up to 2 over giving us 9, but it's not a slam dunk.
Tough call, even before the Gasol trade. The key is does Conley want to stay (I would imagine he would
like to play for a contender) and what sort of asset can they get back for him.
Jonas Valanciunas was not a bad pickup if they can extend him.
I do point out, however, that the Griz won 10 of their final 25 games (40%), of course with Conley, mostly
against teams competing for playoff spots.
Forty percent puts them at the same position as this year, tied for seventh (7, 8 and 9). The makings of a
bottom-five team are there without Conley, a 10 and above team with him and Morant and a slightly
improved play of Chandler Parsons (in the final year of his albatross contract).
I thought the Bleacher Report trade speculation was interesting. They list the Celtics as a possible destination -
the pick goes back to Memphis in exchange for taking on Hayward's horrible contract. I suspect that won't fly
with the C's fan base, but would probably be a smart move because it would give you an additional $30 mil
to go after another free agent.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2836616-trade-packages-and-landing-spots-for-mike-conley-if-grizzlies-draft-ja-morant
