All things Draft Pick. #3

[Fencer reregistered]

I have one final practical question about the trade, which so far I've not seen answered.

If LA gets the 7th pick (or later) of the 2018 draft, do we have a choice here as to taking this, or does the deal specify that we must then choose the 2019 Sac. pick?? In other words, is it an option or not?

No deal has been announced. All terms are speculation, which we are guessing were leaked by the Philly side, accurately or not as the case may be.

[Captain_Caveman]

Unfrigginbelievable.

We gave them a complete **** pile and won a title, and nearly 1-2 more.

So many bad takes I can't even process right now.

Nearly is nice. The Pats nearly have 7 titles. Doesn't count. As I added, I'd do that trade again for KG and Ray. That was a one off and sustainability is far more important. The Pats have won 2 more titles since then.

What are you even talking about?

We were a 25-win team that gave up jack and squat, lol.

NONSENSE.

[SmartWentCrazy]

To the complainers:

You should be thankful the sixers were dumb enough to give us the extra pick.

Why you ask?

Danny was 100% ready to choose a player at #1 who wasn't fultz, regardless of this deal.

Let that sink in, if you want to complain and bitch and moan.

Any info of who the guy is? JJ or Tatum?

I assume its JJ. Rumour about LA leaning towards JJ a couple of days ago was probably just a Magic tactic to try and break up the BOS-PHI deal...

Now that the deal is done LA seems to be leaning towards Ball again ( who was their pick all along)...

It's Tatum.

-There's no guarantee either Ball or Jackson will be available at 3. Ainge isn't taking that risk.
-A few months ago, Chad Ford reported that 'Some GMs have told them Fultz is #1 on their board.' Ainge has historically leaked info to Ford.
-The smoke screen right now about Jackson is very reminiscent of last year with Dunn. Expect these reports to continue. Then expect us to take Tatum.
-Jackson blew off a workout with us. Historically, Ainge hasn't responded favorably to this. (See: Randle, Julius).
-The two guys Ryan McDonough has brought in twice are Tatum and Isaac. He was raised in the church of Ainge and can be seen as a good proxy for Danny.
-Our workout with Tatum flew under the radar for a reason.

There's a small chance Isaac is our guy, but I've got a strong hunch it's Tatum.

[GoCeltics123]

I dont know why I keep hearing the Bulls name in this Boston talk. I personally haven't heard anything about the Bulls trying to trade Butler to Boston. Bulls are keeping Butler and we will draft Donovan Mitchell, Harry Giles (if medically good) or Justin Jackson.

From the Bulls board

[return2glory]

How does that justify the return?

You can still take Fultz, let Philly pick your guy, if he's there, and squeeze more out of them than a single pick with protection. If he's not there, you can still get a kings ransom for Fultz.

Now you may not even get your guy because the Lakers can take him. Not seeing the positive outlook...

Or maybe it was the Celtics that initiated the trade. And while the Sixers preferred Fultz because he was a better fit, they had the top three on a similar tier.

In which case getting a premium pick and still landing the guy you want is a heist.

Its really that simple, others cannot see it that way.

People don't see that because they don't want to see that. This is a draft where Ainge and several others have said there isn't much separation with picks 1-5. Watching some on the top 5 prosepects and not just their YouTube highlights, I agree with Ainge.

For some reason people are acting like Fultz is so much better than Ball, Jackson, Tatum, and Fox. It's like people forget that he has flaws in his game like the other top 5-6 guys.

People here look at Fultz and say he is a perfect fit because we need another shot maker and shot creator. Yes we do, but let's not act like Fultz is the only guy that can provide that. Ainge will be looking to get a shot creator and shot make in Butler and Hayward while still getting managing to get additional assets in that Philly trade.

[Captain_Caveman]

So trading everyone for one title is worth it? That's why the Pats are so great. They don't make reactionary moves and now have 5 titles. It's like the Spurs. We get to say.."we won a title in '08!"

They say...that's nice. We have 5.

I take it you were all for keeping Al Jefferson, Delonte, Ryan Gomes and Jeff Green and building for 4 or 5 championships with them?

I'm all for drafting Curry, Thompson, and green and winning multiple championships with them

What are you guys even talking about?

THAT MAKES NO SENSE!

[CelticsLV]

Ainge already tried to trade for Butler but the fact he tried to put top 1 protection killed the deal. 100% Butler is the traget.

[The Rondo Show]

We gave them a complete **** pile and won a title, and nearly 1-2 more.

So many bad takes I can't even process right now.

Nearly is nice. The Pats nearly have 7 titles. Doesn't count. As I added, I'd do that trade again for KG and Ray. That was a one off and sustainability is far more important. The Pats have won 2 more titles since then.

What are you even talking about?

We were a 25-win team that gave up jack and squat, lol.

NONSENSE.

Gotta win more titles than the Patriots to be a success in Viper's eyes. The Cavs have only won 1 title since LeBron came back. Patriots have won 2 in the time frame. HUGE mistake to ever bring LeBron back...what were the Cavs thinking?

[The Corey's]

I mean as much as I despised the idea of butler i suppose I can live with the idea of getting butler with this year's pick 3 and replacing this year's brooklyn pick with Sac pick in 19.

It's not terrible logic

[jcappy]

I have one final practical question about the trade, which so far I've not seen answered.

If LA gets the 7th pick (or later) of the 2018 draft, do we have a choice here as to taking this, or does the deal specify that we must then choose the 2019 Sac. pick?? In other words, is it an option or not?

No deal has been announced. All terms are speculation, which we are guessing were leaked by the Philly side, accurately or not as the case may be.

Very interesting. Let's hope there is a little more for us, because if we give up the #3 plus players for Butler, it would be much better if we're getting more from Philly.

[chrisab123]

How does that justify the return?

You can still take Fultz, let Philly pick your guy, if he's there, and squeeze more out of them than a single pick with protection. If he's not there, you can still get a kings ransom for Fultz.

Now you may not even get your guy because the Lakers can take him. Not seeing the positive outlook...

Or maybe it was the Celtics that initiated the trade. And while the Sixers preferred Fultz because he was a better fit, they had the top three on a similar tier.

In which case getting a premium pick and still landing the guy you want is a heist.

Its really that simple, others cannot see it that way.

To be fair. Do you really believe that Philly would have walked away if Danny didn't make the deal last night? At least get a bidding war going on for the pick. I'm sure if other teams knew the pick was available they could have gotten a lot more than the #3 and a possible top 5 next year/unprotected 2019. Unless you really really really want to be redundant on this team with **** Jackson. Who btw wants to smack women around and has a **** character. He has a broken shot and is a project on the offensive side of the ball. Why not wait until draft night?

[Double Helix]

Will be interesting to see if you guys try and trade some of these assets for one of the superstars Fultz was compared to because then you get the rich man's Fultz in their prime to play with IT and Horford in their primes and didn't have to wait on Fultz to develop. It's not easy developing ball dominant lotto talent while you also have somebody like IT.

If you could move the Nets pick, Josh Jackson and the Kings pick in 2018 for a legit superstar then even if Fultz did become Harden-lite you guys won't care because you'll have a new superstar playing alongside IT and Horford.

It just feels like there's another shoe to drop here somewhere.


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We'd care, because that's 2 Nets picks for the price of 1 by just drafting Fultz. So if Fultz does become a Harden, this trade is awful. I just think that's a pretty nutty/unrealistic goal for Fultz. He can't even drive and create contact against NCAA caliber athletes at the level Harden is able to against NBA athletes. Harden's driving game is at a level that Fultz is unlikely to ever come to close reaching, if you ask me. Harden is like 20+ pounds heavier and probably even still quicker too. Some have argued they are concerned about his shot due to his low FT%, but it's fact that he wasn't just destroying NCAA defenders off the dribble that concerned me. Guys like Kris Dunn laughably get compared to John Wall based on facing weaker NCAA athletes and then can't drive anywhere near the same once they move up to next level. Marcus Smart another guy who was an elite driver in college but can't do it in pros. Now the difference there is that i do believe Fultz can/will be a high level shooter so I'd be real surprised if he were ever an offensive bust like those guys are currently, but I also can't see the James Harden comparisons for a guy who doesn't get to the rim at will against even NCAA caliber athletes. Not to mention his FT rate is far worse because he favors acrobatic finishes that shy away from contact (think Kyrie, D-Rose) rather than Harden's full speed/try and go through the defender and create contact approach. That's just a less efficient style because FT's are the most efficient shot in basketball.

Now hey, crazy development can happen for any prospect so never say never. Who thought Curry and Kawhi would be this level of players? But I don't see much reasonable evidence suggesting that Fultz ever becomes a Harden like talent. It'd take an outlier developmental curve to reach that kind of level.

I think this is logical. The only counter would be that Harden, Curry, Dunn, Lillard weren't as good as Fultz at age 19. All of those guys had to go back to school at least one more year to reach the next level of development that made them clear cut high lotto picks. Some of them played 4 years of college ball.

Fultz entered college as a very high recruit and performed even better than expected, besting another teen PG who just so happens to be 6'6 and often compared to Jason Kidd. So, it's probably less about looking at how Fultz compared to those guys when they were drafted and more about how they looked at age 18/19 as well.

I'm not sure how good he will be though in his prime. It's a good time for PGs in this league who can shoot the 3 but there's also a lot of them out there. What makes him truly special? I'm not sure and it sounds like Ainge wasn't either.


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[Green89]

4 out of 5 of the top news stories at the top of the Real GM page are about the Celtics! Never saw that before. Even the 5th is somewhat Celtics related because it involves Fultz and the trade.

[theanimal23]

Hello. Bulls fan here.

Any info you are hearing from any of your board insiders or Boston sports media regarding a possibility of Celtics trading for Butler?

Thanks.

Nothing concrete.
What's the latest word on Wade? Does he opt out? Are you guaranteeing Rondo's 2nd year? Does that affect the possibility of Butler getting traded and for Bulls to finally start a proper rebuild?

Rumor is that Wade will opt in and team will have Rondo opt in - probably because they were not expecting to win 2 games in round 1. I think if Butler is gone, then Wade may opt out, unless he just wants that $ (but I can't see him doing that). A lot of this hinges on if Butler is around.

[SmartWentCrazy]

Im all in on Tatum. I'll be disappointed if we don't land him.

[KumaJG]

To the complainers:

You should be thankful the sixers were dumb enough to give us the extra pick.

Why you ask?

Danny was 100% ready to choose a player at #1 who wasn't fultz, regardless of this deal.

Let that sink in, if you want to complain and bitch and moan.

The trade is whatever. Just worried we are going to draft JJ who I dislike as a prospect.

[bbd24]

To the complainers:

You should be thankful the sixers were dumb enough to give us the extra pick.

Why you ask?

Danny was 100% ready to choose a player at #1 who wasn't fultz, regardless of this deal.

Let that sink in, if you want to complain and bitch and moan.

Any info of who the guy is? JJ or Tatum?

I assume its JJ. Rumour about LA leaning towards JJ a couple of days ago was probably just a Magic tactic to try and break up the BOS-PHI deal...

Now that the deal is done LA seems to be leaning towards Ball again ( who was their pick all along)...

It's Tatum.

-There's no guarantee either Ball or Jackson will be available at 3. Ainge isn't taking that risk.
-A few months ago, Chad Ford reported that 'Some GMs have told them Fultz is #1 on their board.' Ainge has historically leaked info to Ford.
-The smoke screen right now about Jackson is very reminiscent of last year with Dunn. Expect these reports to continue. Then expect us to take Tatum.
-Jackson blew off a workout with us. Historically, Ainge hasn't responded favorably to this. (See: Randle, Julius).
-The two guys Ryan McDonough has brought in twice are Tatum and Isaac. He was raised in the church of Ainge and can be seen as a good proxy for Danny.
-Our workout with Tatum flew under the radar for a reason.

There's a small chance Isaac is our guy, but I've got a strong hunch it's Tatum.

Spot on. Great post. I'm with ya all the way. I think Ainge has had Tatum #1 on his big board since November/December.

[BRUNiNHO91]

I mean as much as I despised the idea of butler i suppose I can live with the idea of getting butler with this year's pick 3 and replacing this year's brooklyn pick with Sac pick in 19.

It's not terrible logic

Still don't buy this Butler situation. We are making the pick imo..we are taking the guy we always wanted to take once we saw Fultz wasn't what we thought he was, we just got an extra future asset to do so..a really damn good one that. I bet the same guys kicking and screaming over Fultz here today will be flat out denying a trade of that same asset for Fultz when it's conveyed.

[ajones9219]

Pure, Pure speculation.

I think Danny has his eye on Jackson which isn't that out there...but obviously that leaves us with Jackson/Crowder/Brown and potentially Hayward. I could envision some sort of Avery/Jae for Drummund swap....with picks however needed (non LAL/Brooklyn). Then you could start Jaylen at the 2 and roll with

IT
Jaylen
Hayward
Horford
Drummund

It could be literally any other defensive center too....I just see Drummund as a possible because of his availability and the random Twitter shenanigans with him and Boston/IT.

[gocelts]

If Ainge didnt take Fultz at 1 on Thursday, the board would have had meltdown so be basically made his draft pick early... while he can entertain other offers for the next five days.

The key here is if passing on Fultz was wise...not the trade itself.

Personally I don't like it, but I admittedly didn't like Rozier and even thought we sold low on Rondo....so thats an example of what an average fan would know without all the intel a GM has to make a decision.