From now until draft day you’ll see about a thousand mock drafts posted by a thousand different sites. Essentially, you’ll find that the names associated and rumored with the Celtics are relatively the same: Marcus Smart, Julius Randle, Noah Vonleh, Aaron Gordon, etc. The real drama will be if Danny Ainge decides to trade one (or both) of the picks for an established player. But for now, here is another updated mock draft from Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com:
Marcus SmartBoston Celtics (25 – 57)COLLEGE: Oklahoma StateHT: 6-3WT: 227POS: PGAnalysis: General manager Danny Ainge likes Randle, Vonleh and Smart — but taking a point guard at this spot also would allow him to dangle Rajon Rondo and have a backup plan. Smart is physically ready to play in the league, and his floor game has improved in the past year.
Wait, so Goodman included a suggestion of dangling Rondo in a trade in something he wrote? SHOCKER!!! I’ll give him credit though, he did it less than two sentences. The man is great at it, I’ll give him that. Like Ainge, I like Smart’s fire, but he is a bit of a complainer and a flopper (go on youtube and look) but that’s stuff that can be fixed (hopefully) from a guy that’s so young. Not a bad choice here and if you’re wondering he has Randle going 5th to Utah (odd, since they have a surplus of PFs) and Vonleh going next to the Lakers.
As for the 17th pick:
T.J. WarrenBoston Celtics (25 – 57)
COLLEGE: NC StateHT: 6-8WT: 220POS: SF
Analysis: He’s not an exceptional athlete, but neither was Paul Pierce. Warren can flat-out score, and his perimeter shot is hardly broken. Boston needs a guy like Warren, who was the ACC Player of the Year and carried NC State last season.
Bravo, Mr. Goodman you were able to make a comment about the C’s that didn’t include some sort of a dig at Rondo. I’d be fine with this pick here, but it depends on who goes ahead of him. Goodman has Rodney Hood going to the Bulls at 16 and Adreian Payne going to Phoenix at 17.
There’s also this interesting tidbit of information about international prospect Dario Saric:
So ONLY the C’s or Lakers? I guess the Adriatic League MVP respects only the best teams, traditionally in the NBA. Have to admire that.
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