We are about to run away with the Atlantic Division. Go into the playoffs with an underdog mentality and hopefully win a series or two. What do I do? I make a draft/offseason thread. So after the Antoine Walker and Jiri Welsch trade, our roster has been revamped, slightly changing our draft needs that we discussed prior to the all-star break. Looking forward at the college and international draft crop, one can tell that this draft is deep, with plenty of power forwards and point guards. We will fill some of slots with small free agent signings in the off-season. So first, we need to decide on our team need (s) of the most important value. Our current roster:
C: Raef Lafrentz / Mark Blount / Kendrick Perkins
PF: Antoine Walker / Al Jefferson
SF: Paul Pierce / Justin Reed
SG: Tony Allen / Ricky Davis
PG: Gary Payton / Delonte West / Marcus Banks
First, let's make some educated assumptions. Let us postulate that Antoine Walker and Justin Reed being resigned in the offseason. For now, let's assume that Gary Payton doesn't come back leaving us with the same roster sans Payton. Danny Ainge could possible pull off a Blount or Lafrentz trade sometime before next year's deadline, but let's not assume that. From looking at that roster, there isn't really a "weak" position, but we don't have any superstars.
Now, we all know that we want immediate sucess, but it always helps to look into the future. Our center position, excluding Kendrick Perkins, has proven to be average. We can deal with this for the next couple of seasons, but a change will soon be needed. Ideally we (I) want, a three man front-court rotation of Jefferson, Player A, and Perkins with Antoine getting minutes at PF, SF, and PG (occasionally). Let's assess what we have right now. Perkins is projected to be an enforcer and defensive stopper. His offensive game is limited as of now, but I like him to become a solid, hard-working player. Now I might be biased, but I, like most Celtic fans, see Al Jefferson as a future star. His offensive game is good, with his array of post moves and good low-block mentality. Right now, his conditioning, defense, rebounding position, and passing need work. With two opposite players complimenting each other, a third balanced big man would be perfect. Now, concerning the draft, if a projected star is available where the Celtics are picking, I think he should be selected regardless of position. But, if the talent is even, a center/power forward hybrid would be great, especially considering that they are getting harder to find.
Earlier in the season, I heavily proclaimed that Hakim Warrick would be an ideal selection after hearing encouraging reports on him and watching him dominate in the Big East, but that was before the Walker traded. With and improved Jefferson, Perkins, and Blount (hopefully), Walker should split his minutes in the PF/SF positions while playing point guard sparingly. This means less minutes for Pierce, Davis, and Allen. If we select a raw center, no ones minutes will decrease as we will bring him along slowly as we did with Perkins. Warrick is a ready player meaning he needs 15 minutes immediatly. We can't find time for him and considering SF is an easy position to fill, unlike center, I think we shouldn't select him. Now let's judge our potential first round pick and where we will end up:
Right now, I feel that we are poised to take the Atlantic. Realistically, we will end up with 42-45 wins and a third seed. Let's do two scenarios regarding our draft pick:
One, the Los Angeles Lakers miss the playoffs. We do not get their pick this year. This means we end up with our pick, which will be from 15-18. Two, the Lakers make a late-season run and end up with the eighth seed. This means that they will likely have the higher record and we do get their selection this year. Atlanta is owed the lesser of our two picks, so we give them Los Angeles'. We end up with a first round pick around 15-18. Now, let's look at our potential draftee:
I'm sick of writing.
Johan Petro.