Despite the upset win in Cleveland last night, the Boston Celtics can still begin the process of looking ahead to next season. After that game two DESTRUCTION at the hands of the Cavaliers, at home, which social media had a ton of fun with, you know that their elimination is inevitable.
Maybe the best joke Friday night was “the Boston Celtics are the first team in NBA history to tank AFTER winning the NBA Draft Lottery.”
Last night’s win only just delayed the reality that their season is actually over for a couple, or maybe a few days. The Cavs weren’t really all that interested in this one, and it showed. “They weren’t engaged,” said NBA on TNT Analyst Kenny Smith on the Cavs lack of involvement in Game three.
The future does indeed look very bright for the Boston Celtics though, as it’s extremely rare for a #1 seed to also hold the #1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. Taking a look at the NBA mock draft databases, such as Walter Football, Hoop Doctors, DC Pro Sports Report and Eat, Drink, Sleep Football, it appears that the pick will be Washington guard Markelle Fultz.
The overwhelming majority of all the mocks on the internet have Fultz slotted to Boston, but there is an occasional Josh Jackson or Lavar Ball projected as well.
Fultz will give the Boston Celtics another great piece to go along with the solid nucleus that they already have.
NBA on TNT Analyst Chris Webber on the Boston Celtics youth, including Jaylen Brown:
“Be happy with this season. They’ve been able to build a new culture, and that has started with Jaylen Brown. The future is still very bright for Boston.”
Webber also discussed on how losing to Cleveland could change Boston’s rebuild strategy:
“I think the Celtics are maybe two years ahead of their [rebuild] plan. Maybe this series says [to Boston], ‘Listen, we had this team and we thought we needed this or that…but if we run into [Cleveland] again, we will have to adjust. It will be interesting to see how this series affects them and their thinking moving forward.”
The Celtics have an alpha dog in Isaiah Thomas, a young up-and-coming star in Jaylen Brown, and a potential superstar on the way in Markelle Fultz (or whomever they select later next month). We haven’t even mentioned Al Horford, Jae Crowder, Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley yet.
“You have to love his improvement,” said Webber on Avery Bradley.
“This kid really worked on his game. He’s able to space the floor and not just [become] a one-dimensional player, [he’s] really opening up his offensive game.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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